Company: National Australia Bank
Title: Legal counsel
Age: 28
Sarah Johnson joined NAB’s commercial legal team in 2018 as legal counsel. Soon after commencing her post, Johnson was seconded by NAB’s Complex Wealth Advice Remediation portfolio. In a post-Royal Commission environment, NAB’s remediation programs are critically important to rebuilding the trust of the bank’s customers by correcting the errors of the past as accurately and quickly as possible. This portfolio has a high level of visibility both internally with the most senior leaders in the bank and externally with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, as well as NAB customers and shareholders. Johnson is the lead commercial lawyer responsible for providing legal support with respect to several strategic, high-value and high-risk engagements which were negotiated in a regulated, competitive, contentious and high-pressure environment. Her work on these engagements have proven Johnson’s commercial savvy and her ability to quickly grasp complex operational arrangements to identify necessary quality and risk controls across multiple providers. She’s come up with creative solutions to move projects forward when multiple stakeholders had competing interests; she’s influenced decision-makers to embed a culture of compliance among all stakeholders; and proven herself to be a strong negotiator.