Speaking to Lawyers Weekly, Mr Lloyd said that he was very grateful to be recognised with the Excellence Award. 

Mr Lloyd said that he was very lucky to have exceptional clients and a wonderful team, “with whom I have worked for a long period, and who deservedly share the recognition”. 

In achieving the Partner of the Year awards, Mr Lloyd has been recognised as a leader in the profession at the top level. 

Mr Lloyd said that winning the award was a great achievement and that it was great to receive messages of congratulations from peers and clients and “to renew my acquaintance with some people [whom] I had not heard from in a very long time”. 

Bruce Lloyd currently heads Clayton Utz’s dynamic national TMT group and is the relationship partner to Australia’s biggest telcos. The team handles many of the most critical IT and telecoms projects for various government departments and major banks in addition to those for corporate clients in areas such as the transportation, banking and finance and automotive industries. 

Mr Lloyd’s clients include leading global multinational technology companies and social media enterprises, and he has advised on some of the most significant telecommunications infrastructure projects in Australia. 

As a practice leader, Mr Lloyd said that there are many excellent practitioners in the market, with no shortage of technical expertise. 

VIEW ALL

“I think what sets any practice apart [are] its people and the calibre of the clients and projects they work on,” Mr Lloyd said.

Mr Lloyd emphasised the importance of guiding and mentoring the next generation of lawyers by fostering a culture where younger lawyers remain stimulated and engaged through mentoring programs and networking opportunities. 

“By fostering a culture of development and inclusion in the team, we have been able to provide our lawyers and clients with valuable learning opportunities on some of the key challenges in the sector in recent years,” he said.

In becoming a leader in his sector, Mr Lloyd reflected on the development of his team including mentoring relationships within the team and providing opportunities for secondments across all levels of experience, as well as consolidating the learnings from those secondments.

“These practices, among others, have enabled us to develop a team to deliver the most effective legal services for our clients,” Mr Lloyd said.

Looking ahead for the IT, media and telecommunications practice

With COVID-19 in place, Mr Lloyd said that the media and telecommunications industry has no doubt been affected, with his clients facing uncertainty in every role in their lives – as lawyers, business leaders, parents, family members and friends. 

“No doubt great flexibility and ingenuity [have] been shown by them in keeping with the efforts of the wider community in dealing with public health and economic consequences of the crisis,” Mr Lloyd said.

“What we can do is provide certainty in these uncertain times by continuing to provide timely, robust and incisive advice when the client needs it most.”

Mr Lloyd said that the changing situation has forced them, as legal advisers, to think creatively about how they can deliver on client needs.

“The seismic shift in the way Australians have moved to online work, learning, entertainment and communicating has meant, for the telecommunications sector, a period of intensive activity to ensure the continuing operation of Australian networks on which we all so vitally depend,” he said.

“We are part of that, ensuring the legal and regulatory obstacles have been overcome immediately in the national interest.”

Looking ahead, Mr Lloyd said that beyond the immediate challenges of the current pandemic for the media and telecommunications, this sector “will be unrecognisable 10 years from now”.

“The current regulatory framework will evolve against the backdrop of rapidly evolving tech innovation,” Mr Lloyd said.

“This will require sound regulatory and legal expertise to support clients to successfully navigate and facilitate the resolution of technological, commercial and regulatory issues.”

The entire sector looks to shape into an interesting medium according to Mr Lloyd, and it will be very interesting to see the medium and longer-term post-pandemic effects on the telco sector in Australia and the enduring impact on how Australians work, learn and entertain themselves online. 

Future challenges will include longer-term impacts on the ACCC granting urgent interim measures allowing the five main carriers to work together, supply chain issues for the sector and cyber security implications of remote working.

Nominations for the Lawyers Weekly Partner of the Year in Completion, Trade and Regulation category is open. 

Nominate NOW and take the first step to being recognised as one of Australia’s top legal professionals. Don’t miss your chance to win this coveted award. For more information on the awards program, click here, or to start your submission today, click here.