In-house view

Cadbury Australia-NZ General Counsel Karen Perret worked closely with Freehills on the sale of Schweppes to Asahi.

"The legal issues associated with the sale were extremely complex and interesting - for example, the need to separate the beverages business from the confectionery business - but I loved every minute of it," she says.

Because of Cadbury's iconic status, much of Perret's work has an IP focus and securing intellectual property rights was one of the key drivers of the Asahi deal.

And rather than decreasing the workload for Perret's team, the current gloomy economic climate has actually increased it. "We are currently reconfiguring our chocolate and candy operations in Australia, and New Zealand for example, and it is this kind of more strategic initiative that is occupying our time," she says.