Juno Counsel September 2026

Hepetema | September 2026

Can you believe we’ve hit the ‘ber’ months already? That's September through to December, and suddenly there's a bit more sun, the pace is picking up, and there’s a little more energy around [Wellington code for wind]. Well done to all of us for getting through the gloomiest bit of winter.

This month we celebrate Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, and the invitation to keep using the reo we know and add a little more. He pai ake te iti i te kore. A little is better than none.

It can be a reminder to value small efforts and keep going. Progress doesn’t have to mean changing everything all at once. It can be about finding ways to do what matters better. Trying something, seeing how it goes and adjusting from there.

There’s plenty of that thinking in this edition: bringing Risk, Ethics, Advocacy and Legal together at Xero, navigating what AI adds as well as what it saves, the winding path to a “dream job” in children’s medical research, and making in-house careers more visible to law students. Good ideas to borrow, and a little something new to try.

People and practice – People and teams, in their own words

Legal team overview: Xero REAL team

How does a global legal function decide where to focus? Xero’s REAL team shares how Risk, Ethics, Advocacy and Legal work together, where AI and legal tech fit, and what’s still on the wishlist.

Read how Xero’s REAL team prioritises legal work

In-house legal spotlight: Millie McCulloch

From research agreements and AI to supporting children’s medical research, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute General Counsel Millie McCulloch shares the winding career path that brought her to her “dream job”.

Inside legal life at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute

Fresh eyes: Building connections into the profession

Law students hear plenty about private practice. But how much do they see of life in-house? Jayden Lin, founder of the Asian Law Students’ Association (ALSA) Auckland, shares why ALSA was created, who gets exposure to the profession, and where in-house fits.

Read Jayden Lin on building connections into the legal profession

Learning – Ideas and conversations we can explore together

What does high-performing in-house legal actually look like?

Where should legal focus its finite time and resources? How do you build influence, make good use of technology and AI, develop your people, and keep wellbeing in the picture? This September, we're bringing in-house legal leaders together to compare notes on what that looks like in practice.

Auckland Tamaki Makaurau · Fri 4 Sept

Wellington Pōneke · Thurs 10 Sept

Christchurch Ōtautahi· Thurs 17 Sept

If you lead an in-house legal function and would like to come along, we may still have a few places available. Ask us about an invitation.

Interested in the conversation? Follow Juno Legal on LinkedIn for updates and takeaways from the conversations. We’ll bring the themes together more fully in the next edition of Juno Counsel.

Liabilities and indemnities: four things your CEO and board should know

When liability clauses land with senior leaders, the legal detail can quickly get complicated. Juno Lawyer Amanda Horgan distils four things CEOs and boards should understand about the risk they're agreeing to.

Get clear on liabilities and indemnities

T-shaped lawyers: getting above the day-to-day

What does it take to add value beyond excellent legal advice? Following Peter Connor's Juno Learning session on T-Shaped Lawyers, we've pulled together practical ideas for building the broader skills that help in-house lawyers contribute strategically.

Put the T-shape into practice

Resources – Practical and useful

OFFICE HACK: Teams messages sending too soon?

Kia ora Sa

Oops, sent too soon...

If you’re forever accidentally sending Teams messages when you meant to start a new line, you can now change what the Enter key does.

In Teams, go to Settings → Chats and channels → When writing a message, press Enter to… and choose Start a new line.

Now Enter starts a new line instead of firing off your half-finished message.

To send, use Ctrl + Enter or click the paper plane/send button.

No more accidental sends. Or at least, one fewer way to accidentally send them. Prefer to see how it's done in action? This video shows you how to set it up.

WHAT WE'RE READING

Nigel Latta’s Lessons on Living has been getting plenty of love at the Juno Virtual Watercooler. So good, and properly laugh-out-loud funny. One of his three principles for life is “drive the bus”, a nudge not to be a passenger in your own life.
Are we making good enough decisions about AI? Technology consultant Nikhil Suresh’s Al Mania Is Eviscerating Global Decision-Making asks whether the rush to do AI is getting in the way of solving the right problems. It’s provocative (and sweary), and definitely doesn’t sit on the fence. Bill Gates asks some of the same questions, with a mix of optimism and caution about what lies ahead in The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical.
And for another angle on what we might be handing over to AI: language. In The death of language, Tainui Stephens writes about language learning in the age of AI, and why language is much more than words and information.

That’s us for this edition of Juno Counsel. We’ll leave you with this snowy Team Snap of Juno Lawyer Monique van Bellen taking her niece to the top of Coronet Peak for the first time. A pretty joyful way to farewell winter.

Whatever Hepetema has in store for you, we hope there’s a little sunshine in it. A little is better than none.

Ka kite anō,

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