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, Ruby Anandajayasekeram, Senior Legal Counsel, Shell Australia
Ruby Anandajayasekeram, Senior Legal Counsel, Shell Australia
“Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being invited to the dance”
Australian citizen, Canadian born, Sri Lankan heritage, having lived and travelled extensively around the world, Ruby Anandajayasekeram certainly never anticipated a legal career, yet she became a lawyer because she pursued what she enjoyed doing.
A summer clerkship at Arthur Robinson & Hedderwicks (now Allens Linklaters) in Melbourne gave her an appreciation and perspective for legal practice which was completely different from studying law at university. That clerkship quickly turned into a five-year career with Allens, which included a secondment with Shell. At Allens, “I was surrounded by lawyers who were at the top of their game, and despite working crazy hours, they found the time to coach and develop me. It was an amazing experience and I learned so much!”. An in-house opportunity then beckoned and Ruby, drawn to the people, culture, global business, and interesting work, returned to Shell in a permanent legal role.
Joining a global team of over 700 lawyers, Ruby started as a generalist in-house lawyer, before pursuing an interest and eventually specialising in environmental law (she was recognised as a leading in-house environmental lawyer in the Doyle’s Guide in 2016 and 2017). She has worked in Shell’s Melbourne and London office, and now supports the Downstream global mergers and acquisition team in the Asia Pacific region, focussing on post-closing rights and obligations. In addition, Ruby leads a global community of Shell lawyers, designed to share and leverage their legal knowledge and experience in the areas of health, safety, security, environment and social performance. Outside of Shell, she sits on the Executive Committee of the Association of Corporate Counsel (Victoria Division) and sees it as a way to give back, connect with, and collaborate on issues facing the in-house profession in a world that is fast changing.
As part of the Shell legal team, Ruby now works virtually (mainly) from home in Melbourne, reporting to her manager in Malaysia with clients and key stakeholders around the globe. Importantly, working virtually allows her to successfully integrate both work and life outside of work. “It’s demanding and I have the added challenge of time-zones - there are early morning calls, late-night calls and some travel.” Ruby is certainly quick to argue the virtues of working virtually “I have a great role at Shell and I can do the things that are important to me outside of work - I’m able to walk our eight-year-old daughter to school most mornings and aside from occasional travel, I’m home for dinner every night and can have a quality evening with my family before logging on later at night. Our family works together to support and enable a dual career family.”
On the subjects of diversity and inclusion, Ruby is a vocal advocate, arguing we can all do more to include and empower those around us. “I’ve always had an interest in gender diversity in the legal profession, though it was only after I had our daughter that I became increasingly committed to gender parity and trying to understand why, despite women making up 50% of law graduates from at least the early 1990’s, the top of our profession still lacked diversity and why the numbers at the top remained disproportionately low.”
Significantly though, Ruby isn’t merely an advocate for diversity and inclusion, she’s also an active promoter and with the support of Shell, is determined to forge a work and community environment that recognises and values diversity and equal opportunities for all. “Whether it’s a male lawyer feeling comfortable to take parental leave and to work flexibly in their organisations (without fear of being judged) or a female lawyer having a seat at the leadership table because they deserve it.” One of Ruby’s current initiatives involves collaborating with a Shell legal colleague in Brunei to roll out a ‘reverse mentoring’ initiative that focuses on Shell’s legal leaders reflecting on their leadership style with the focus of the mentoring discussions being “becoming a more inclusive leader”.
Having been fortunate to have experienced firsthand the benefits of mentoring and sponsorship in her own career journey, Ruby continues to mentor colleagues through the ACC Australia mentoring program, as well as informally mentoring local and international colleagues both within and outside of Shell. She recently contributed Norah Breekveldt’s book “Me and My Mentor: How Mentoring Supercharged the Careers of 11 Extraordinary Women” which was released for International Women’s Day 2018 and as part of the Victorian Womens Lawyers Work Practices Committee, is working with others to develop a mentoring program for its practitioner community. “Mentoring is an enriching and rewarding experience, and I am continuously learning. It’s a small investment of my time, but I realise from my own experience that it can be life changing for someone else.”
