Adrian Moffatt

QYL Vice- President 2010

Employer:	Diversified Mining Services Ltd
Position:	Legal Counsel
Age:	32
Area/s of Practice:	Corporate/Commercial but now a bit of everything working in-house
Study:	Completed a Bachelor of International Business (Hons) in Europe with a stint in the UK (long story). Worked in finance for Commsec in Sydney for a few years before doing my law degree at Bond. Currently completing a Grad Dip in Applied Finance (Corporate Advisory) through FINSIA/KAPLAN.
Why the move in house?	Prior to going in-house last month I was an associate in the corporate/commercial team at Carter Newell. Whilst there I was lucky to undertake 3 in-house secondments with clients in the engineering and mining services sectors. I really enjoyed the scope of projects and work (both legal and non-legal) that I was involved in and I found being able to use my business and finance knowledge as well as my legal skills very rewarding. I would highly recommend the secondment experience to anyone. Therefore, I guess my secondment experiences, my general interest in business and strategy and my long term goal of moving into executive management were the main drivers for the move in-house.
The in-house experience	The in-house experience: The in-house role that I have taken on is a “greenfield” role (the company never had a legal department before). Without the extensive resources, research facilities and support you are used to in a law firm, it can be very demanding being across a vast array of areas of the law required in-house. However, the hardest part I have found with the role is selling yourself to the business and justifying that you are more than just an expense and road block for the business. Whilst not having time sheets is one of the obvious (and best) benefits, I have decided to maintain a basic timesheet system (30 min blocks) so that I can report back to management on what I have been doing and where the work is coming from.
Favourite Book	I enjoy reading autobiographies and biographies, Richard Branson’s books are pretty good.
Favourite TV Show:	Love watching Top Gear and most sports but am also ashamedly a big fan of reality tv as long as it does not involve singing or cooking, I like to see people with no talent get their 15 minutes of fame :-)
Why a Lawyer:	I guess having 4 generations of law behind you it’s hard to stay away.
What if you weren't a lawyer?:	Life would be less stressful, my work life balance would be better and I would have never had those bad dreams about time sheets and billing :-) (Is that what you mean?)
Where in 10 Years:	Hopefully in executive management or running my own finance/funds management company.

E-mail:queenslandyounglawyers@gmail.com