Company: Vocus Group
Job title: General counsel NZ & GM regulatory
Emily Acland is general counsel for the wider Vocus New Zealand group, which consists of 16 subsidiaries across five brands with almost 700 employees. In September 2019, she was also appointed general manager of regulatory, a recognition of the respect Acland has earned within Vocus over the years. She now leads the company’s regulatory and commercial engagement and has become an integral member of numerous industry bodies across both telecommunications and electricity. She sits on the New Zealand executive team and is a privacy officer, chief risk officer and company secretary for the New Zealand group. In the past 12 months, Acland has negotiated and finalised numerous complex transactions including a long-term submarine cable deal with a large multinational company. Towards the tail end of 2019, she completed a wider intellectual property and trademark refresh for Vocus, covering 30 marks and six new registrations across the five brands. Acland is currently working through an update of the entire suite of Vocus sales templates, from RFP response to final MSA to ensure a more customer friendly approach. She was awarded the Young In-House Counsel Award at the NZ Lawyer Awards in 2018 for her accomplishments.