Episode 11: Kirk Simmons, Head of Legal, Canva
Kirk Simmons is the Head of Legal at Canva.
Canva is one of the most exciting Australian companies at the moment and after some awesome experience at eBay and Cricket Australia, Kirk saw an opportunity at Canva and took it.
As their first in house lawyer, he has grown the team to nine in under 4 years, as Canva’s growth continues to skyrocket as well. No two days are the same for Kirk at Canva and his advice rings true for all in-house lawyers in fast paced companies that are in scale up mode.
Look, I’m not going to lie, this episode had its fair share of technical difficulties. The irony of this occurring to two lawyers in the tech space is not lost on me.
The audio gets a little funky around the 17-minute mark and we lost a chunk of my question to Kirk, so I recorded it again but it is not seamless. But stick with us, Kirk saves his best pearls of wisdom for the end of the episode.
In this episode, we discuss:
Kirk’s leap of faith out of private practice after many years as a litigator;
transitioning between diverse industries in-house;
what life is like working for Canva, one of Australia’s most exciting tech companies;
growing the legal team from one to nine in under four years to support a hypergrowth company;
How the Canva legal team manages contract workflows and the unique way that they engage with their colleagues; and
Kirk’s best piece of career advice.
Connect with Kirk:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirksimmons1/
