Congratulations, Cathy Reid PSM
AGS's Deputy Chief Counsel Commercial Cathy Reid, was awarded a Public Service Medal in the Australia Day Honours 2019 'for outstanding public service through the provision of legal advice and contributions to the strategic management of major Commonwealth infrastructure, marine and aviation projects'.
During her time at AGS, Cathy has worked on some of the largest Commonwealth commercial transactions. During the 1990s when the Australian Government was engaged in a large-scale privatisation program, Cathy was one of the Commonwealth's foremost legal experts on asset sales and privatisations. These projects broke new ground in Australia, and involved billions of dollars in sale proceeds. As a senior legal adviser with a strong focus on the public interest, Cathy pioneered new and innovative approaches to complex issues that have since formed the precedents for many Commonwealth transactions and remain relevant today. In the 2000s, Cathy advised on a series of significant Commonwealth infrastructure, maritime and aviation projects.
Significant projects on which Cathy has been a leading legal adviser reveal common characteristics of being high-value and transformative and as a result raise novel and complex legal issues to which, in each case, Cathy has brought outstanding strategic legal skills to address, often leading a team of AGS lawyers advising on the project.
For example, Cathy worked extensively on the privatisations of ANL, Australian Airlines, Qantas, CSL, the Phase 1 and 2 Airports as well as the privatisation of Sydney, Bankstown, Camden and Hoxton Park Airports for more than a decade. These projects involve working in multi-disciplinary teams, managing issues across a wide range of different legal disciplines (corporate law, HR, land and environment, liability and insurance, finance, tax, contract, constitutional, to name just a few).
Over the last 15 years, Cathy's practice has had a significant focus on infrastructure, transport and corporate governance in the Commonwealth, as well as senior roles in the practice.
Since 2014, Cathy has led the AGS team supporting the Department of Infrastructure's Western Sydney Airport project. This is a major Commonwealth project, with Cathy as team leader coordinating and managing the AGS team and working extremely closely with the Department and other advisers.
She is recognised across the Commonwealth as a leading legal adviser with commercial acumen and a person of integrity, pragmatism and thoughtfulness.
The Australian Government Solicitor Michael Kingston said, 'In my view, Cathy is one of the most widely respected commercial lawyers within the Commonwealth. Her reputation for hard work, strategic and practical advice and dedication is well-deserved. Her work over almost 30 years on many of the Commonwealth's largest transactions represents a career spent in public service.'
Congratulations, Cathy.