From London's offices to Sydney's beaches – get to know the leader shaping the future of LexisNexis in APAC
After more than a decade with LexisNexis, Katy Fixter is stepping into one of the most promising growth markets in LexisNexis – leading the company’s Asia Pacific operations as managing director. The move brings her full circle, back to a position deeply connected to the legal profession that she first entered as a commercial real estate lawyer in London.
It also marks the start of a new life down under, as she and her family prepare to relocate to Sydney – a move she says feels like a natural next step, both personally and professionally.
Fixter is no stranger to LexisNexis. Since making the leap from legal practice, she has worked across multiple areas of the business, including Vice President and General Manager of Global Nexis Solutions and Head of Practical Guidance at LexisNexis UK. The transition has been driven by the same client-focused approach that she honed in private practice.
“My time as a real estate lawyer both in private practice and in-house in the financial services sector showed me the extent to which legal work is all about providing excellence to the customer,” Fixter tells NZ Lawyer. “I’ve brought that customer focus to all of my roles at LexisNexis. I’d also grown-up using LexisNexis resources at university, so the move seemed like a natural fit!”
When the Asia Pacific leadership position opened up, she didn’t hesitate.
“It puts me back in the legal market, which has always been a passion for me,” she says. “It’s also come at the most exciting time where things are changing so fast in terms of technology, and in the way that law is practiced.”
Stepping into the role, Fixter has a clear vision for the future: driving innovation, strengthening local connections, and ensuring LexisNexis remains a trusted partner for legal professionals across Asia Pacific.
One of her top priorities is bringing AI-driven legal technology to market, ensuring it integrates into legal workflows in a way that genuinely benefits lawyers. Lexis+ AI is set to launch in New Zealand this year, powered by generative-AI, it provides legal professionals an integrated solution to quickly find relevant cases, documents, and insights and draft documents and client advice. “As we’ve seen since its global release in other markets, Lexis+ AI is set to be a game changer for the legal industry in New Zealand. It brings conversational search, drafting, summarising, document analysis, and linked legal citations to the fingertips of every lawyer. It’s like having your own personal legal assistant,” she notes. The new solution can save hours in a day for legal professionals.
Another upcoming release, Lexis Create+, aims to streamline the contract drafting process, something Fixter is also excited about.
“As a transactional lawyer, a large part of my day was spent drafting and reviewing contracts. Seeing how that drafting workflow can be improved has been really exciting for me, and I really see the difference it can make, I wish it had been available to me” she says.
But innovation isn’t just about technology – in fact, the technology cannot work without a strong foundation of in-depth local expertise. This means deepening relationships with legal professionals, associations, and industry partners, and delivering solutions that make sense for each unique market.
Fixter notes that New Zealand has an extensive team of local experts on the ground, and LexisNexis is always engaging with customers in New Zealand through product development and testing stages. “For instance, for our upcoming Lexis+ AI product, we have recruited legal Subject Matter Experts with qualifications and experience in New Zealand law to help evaluate the outputs of our AI tools, ensuring that the responses are accurate and relevant to the local market,” she adds.
“While we are a global business, it’s so important for us to have that local focus,” she explains.
“We also have a purpose to help foster and promote the rule of law, equality, and access to justice. As we’re doing that, it’s important to partner locally with customers and associations – our recent consolidation of Cook Islands laws was a great example of that.
“We’re also forging a partnership with Tika, a legal charity which focuses on supporting survivors of sexual harm in New Zealand, a first-of-its-kind legal charity offering a new pathway to justice for survivors. These kinds of partnerships are vital for us in helping improve access to law for all.”
For Fixter, stepping into this role is not just about driving innovation in the Asia Pacific legal market—it’s also about harnessing the strength of LexisNexis as a truly global organisation.
With teams working on cutting-edge legal technology around the world, there is an opportunity to bring the best ideas, tools, and expertise to customers across the region, with regions like New Zealand reaping the benefits.
“We work very closely with our product teams across the world, and we’re often trying to do similar things – engaging with customers on AI, for example,” Fixter notes.
“We have lots of global knowledge sharing networks that help us learn and take best practices from each other. That’s particularly helpful as many of our customers work globally, and so we’re helpfully placed to boost that synergy.”
Beyond her professional goals, Fixter’s move to Sydney marks an exciting new chapter for her and her family. While she is eager to immerse herself in the legal industry across the region, she is also looking forward to the lifestyle change that comes with it.
“We’re all really looking forward to relocating to Sydney and spending time across New Zealand and Asia,” she says.
“We all love being outdoors, swimming and playing sports – so we hope we’ll fit right in!”
As for New Zealand, it already holds a special place in her journey. In the adventure capital of the world, Fixter ended up facing one of her biggest fears.
“I used to be really scared of heights, and while in Queenstown, I decided I was going to paraglide,” she recalls.
“We managed to get to the top of the mountain, and having it be a tandem flight was helpful to spur me over the edge– but I got to the bottom and thought, I want to do that again! I think I cured my fear of heights then.”
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