Law week is an annual event that promotes public understanding of the law and its role in society. In 2018, ACC Australia will celebrate law week by profiling a selection of our members and their contribution to society and the broader legal profession.
Today, we profile, Ria Manguray, Legal Counsel at Tourism Australia.
Ria Manguray, Legal Counsel at Tourism Australia
From paralegal, to law student to in-house counsel
It’s reasonable to suggest that Ria Manguray has followed a particularly atypical path to life as a Sydney-based legal counsel with Tourism Australia. Born in the Philippines, she grew up in Saudi Arabia, before relocating to California. Studies in the Netherlands followed, before a return to California and then a move to Sydney.
Of course, what’s of greater interest is her varied legal roles. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Political Science from the University of California Los Angeles, Ria held paralegal roles in family law, refugee law, litigation and intellectual property. After a decade as a paralegal, formal legal studies beckoned, and Ria chose Sydney University for the completion of her Juris Doctor. There she served as a part-time paralegal and assistant to Sydney barrister David L. Williams SC, while completing those studies.
Ria recalls the initial introduction to the Australian court system fondly. “It was quite eye-opening; the ceremonial aspect was quite regal compared to my experiences in the US.” Though the challenge of juggling full-time legal studies while working part-time were a constant, Ria gained valuating legal research and drafting experience that complimented her studies and provided a strong grounding in the Australian legal system. A further highlight of her Juris Doctor studies was the completion of an intensive Philosophy of Law program at Humboldt University in Berlin.
After graduating, Ria, having wanted to work in-house, proceeded to an in-house role with consumer goods Fortune 500 company, Procter & Gamble. There she was part of a small team overseeing thirteen brands, including household staples, Gillette, Pantene, Fairy, and Oral-B across local and regional different business units. “I had an incredibly supportive manager, Senior Legal Counsel, Jessica Miller, and former Vice President of Procter & Gamble – Australia and New Zealand, Antoine Brun, who encouraged and pushed me to develop my legal and leadership skills from day one,” she recalls.
A desire to work in an in-house government role beckoned and eighteen months later Ria joined Tourism Australia in her current role. With a staff of two-hundred, Tourism Australia, under the Federal Department of Trade, Tourism & Investment has a mission of promoting Australia as a global destination for leisure and business travel.
One of Ria’s first projects was working on Tourism Australia’s Crocodile Dundee campaign that culminated in an advertisement aired during the 2018 Super Bowl. According to Tourism Australia figures, the campaign has now reached an audience of one billion, eighty percent within the target US market.
Notably, Ria was honoured to be recognised as a finalist for Lawyers Weekly Corporate Counsel Awards 2018 – Travel, Tourism and Hospitality, especially given the fact she is still in what is deemed the ‘early stages’ of an in-house career (under 5 PQE). The award recognises outstanding performance by an individual / team working in-house, including corporate and public-sector lawyers.
For someone that moved straight from graduation to an-house role, albeit with a decade in paralegal experience behind her, Ria has an interesting perspective of the in-house sector, arguing that the view of being a legal counsel as simply a ‘generalist’ is inaccurate. “My experience is that in-house counsel are not just ‘jacks of all trade’ as a lawyer, we are also specialists in possessing a comprehensive understanding of the business, the industry, and our stakeholders as a trusted adviser. A skillset that requires the application of legal foresight across commercial and compliance roles, in order to effectively contribute to the business and its objectives.” With that in mind, Ria is looking to continue to enhance her leadership and influencing skills to make her a more effective contributor to current and future organisations as she progresses in her in-house career.
Though happily settled in Sydney with her son, Ria remains driven to build on the momentum of her growth and development as in-house counsel, and particularly keen to pursue pro-bono opportunities whilst working to expand her professional networks.
