Interview with Aimee Pomogacs - SLO of the Year Winner 2023
A spur of the moment decision resulted in Aimee Pomogacs, the Group Head of Legal at Grill’d and Koko Black being awarded the Sole Legal Officer of the Year at the 2023 Australian Corporate Lawyer Awards. Aimee is an experienced senior lawyer with broad knowledge and experience in general commercial law across a range of industries.
In her role as Group Head of Legal, Aimee established the legal function within the businesses and is responsible for all legal matters. She is passionate about enhancing the profile of the in-house legal function by building trusted relationships with stakeholders and providing strategic and commercial legal advice. We sat down with Aimee to hear about her experience with the awards program and how it has been able to transform her personal belief about her skills and the learning gained through the nomination process.
How did you find the nomination process?
“The nomination process was simple. The questions asked were relevant to the kind of work and achievements you would like to demonstrate as a SLO [sole legal officer], and the reasonable word limit meant you didn’t get tied up in complex responses or lost writing an essay about yourself. The most difficult part was writing submissions that were designed to demonstrate why I thought I deserved to win the award, when I probably didn’t really believe that I did because I felt I would be no competition to what I was sure would be an extremely high calibre of nominations.”
What did you learn about yourself and your work through completing the submission?
“Simply put, I learnt a lot. It wasn’t until I started to work through my submission that I was able to truly reflect on how much I had achieved in my role, and particularly as a SLO. During the process, I quickly realised that I had never taken the time to step back and acknowledge the amount of work that I had undertaken because I was straight on to the next project or matter. If nothing else, the submission process made me realise my achievements and be proud of them, regardless of the award outcome.”
What does your achievement mean to you?
“This achievement means a great deal. Firstly, I will say that it gives me some serious imposer syndrome because there are so many deserving lawyers out there for this award, particularly the 2023 finalists. It also makes me extremely proud to have my achievements recognised, in particular by my industry peers, and for the SLO role more broadly to be acknowledged through the award.
A SLO gig is hard. It can sometimes be isolating and you are constantly having to juggle competing priorities as a single lawyer servicing the entire business. Having an award that recognises these challenges and acknowledges the contributions SLOs make to their businesses is extremely important and helps us remember that our hard work and dedication does not go unrecognised.”
What has winning meant for you in your workplace?
“It has been very humbling to receive the level of support and recognition from the business both during the nomination process and following the award result. Winning has helped strengthen my relationships within the business by increasing the trust and credibility of the legal function. More broadly, the award has helped to increase my general profile in the industry. It has also helped me connect with other SLOs, providing a great general support network.”
What would you say to people thinking about nominating for the awards this year?
“Don’t let the fear of self-nomination put you off. As a SLO, you will not have a legal team to put forward a nomination for you and it is unlikely that the broader business would have a general awareness that these type of industry awards exist. So, if not you, then who?”
What are you waiting for? Nominations for the ACC Australia Corporate Lawyer Awards closes on Friday, 9 August and is your chance to be recognised as one of Australia’s leading in-house lawyers.
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