The Australian Women's Register

Sandy Mak was born in Malaysia in 1973 to Chinese Malaysian parents. Formally known as Hueih-Hsien Mak, she completed her primary and secondary school education at SMK Convent Klang. Sandy arrived in Australia in 1994 to undertake a Bachelor of Laws/Commerce (Accounting) at the University of New South Wales.

Upon finishing her degree, she commenced her legal career at what was then Freehill Hollingdale & Page in Sydney. At Freehills, she worked with renowned mergers and acquisitions partner, Braddon Jolley, who became her mentor and who set her on the path to becoming a mergers and acquisitions practitioner.

After some time at Freehills, Sandy left for London to work in the corporate team at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she met her husband. She was then seconded to Freshfields’ Hong Kong offices for a short period before returning to Freehills in Sydney in 2006.

Sandy left Freehills in 2008 to join Corrs Chambers Westgarth as a corporate partner. She has since been involved in some of the largest and most high profile transactions in regulated and unregulated mergers & acquisitions. In 2013 Sandy was awarded “Female Partner of the Year” by Lawyers Weekly and was profiled in 2014 by Australasian Lawyer Magazine as a “Hot 40 Lawyer” for her contribution to the legal community.

In addition to her practice as a corporate lawyer, Sandy is currently the co-chair of the Diversity Council and a member of the executive leadership team at Corrs. As an Asian female in a highly male dominated field, diversity within the legal workforce is a key focus for Sandy. She has developed the firm’s diversity strategy to retain and expand its pool of female talent and to remove barriers to women’s progression to senior positions, including partnership. Under Sandy’s leadership, the diversity programmes at Corrs are aimed at providing staff with flexibility in their working arrangements and creating a more inclusive working environment.

Sandy spends a significant amount of her time on the education and mentoring of junior lawyers both within the firm and without. She is actively involved in the recruitment programme for lawyers at the firm and passionate about nurturing young legal talent.

At the time of writing (2015), Sandy was a lecturer at Sydney University’s Law School in the area of Corporate and Securities Regulation and a guest lecturer at the University of New South Wales on schemes of arrangement, as well as the editor of the chapters in Halsbury’s Laws of Australia in Takeovers, Acquisitions and Fundraising.

Sandy lives in Sydney and is married with three children.