Zespri General Counsel Katherine Evans

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Katherine Evans is in-house counsel with Zespri, where she has worked for over 15 years, assisting the world’s largest kiwi fruit distributor to deal with a range of often complex trade, regulatory and litigation issues.

After qualifying with a law degree in Ottawa has grappled with the complexities of a global business. Among the innovations she has developed has been the creation of a ‘virtual in-house team’ with Baker + McKenzie, which involved considerable investment of time and money to have a major law firm understand the nature of the business.

The development has seen significant lengths to codify processes and reporting lines across all jurisdictions, and to formalise legal involvement in decision-making from an early stage.

Her changes have included creating an automated paperless contract approvals system and moving the business’s extensive and widely dispersed IP portfolios to one global provider.