Who We Are

A data-driven transformation – Sonia Haque-Vatcher, Ashurst Risk Advisory partner

Karen Davies

Sonia Haque-Vatcher’s career has taken her from London to Sydney, via Central Europe, Canada and the US, and from book publishing, to tech companies, banks and professional services firms. In March 2024, Sonia became a partner in Ashurst's Risk Advisory Australian Data & Analytics practice, covering data risk management - also known as data governance - and advanced analytics.

Sonia said, "It was fantastic to be admitted as an Ashurst partner. It’s a really great example of the firm bringing to life its commitment to outpacing change, especially as I’m not a lawyer."

In 2020, Ashurst established it first Risk Advisory practice in Australia, in response to clients seeking assistance with embedding and operationalising legal advice. That practice is now 17 partners strong. Its success led to the launch of the UK Risk Advisory practice, and more recently the Middle East Risk Advisory practice.

As Sonia explained, "Ashurst’s Risk Advisory offerings are legal-led. We call it 'legal-led' because there is always a legal challenge at the heart of what we do. Now, by offering the combined expertise and services of our legal teams, Ashurst Risk Advisory and Ashurst Advance, we can better support our clients to outpace change too."

Data risk management

As most companies manage data, they must address the associated risks. To support this, the Data & Analytics team provides solutions that help clients navigate and comply with the complex regulatory and legal frameworks in which they operate, ensuring that they understand whether they:

  • have the right permissions and consents in place for data collection and use#
  • are classifying and storing data appropriately and securely
  • are verifying that the data meets quality thresholds, is accurate, and is fit for analysis or decision making
  • are responsibly using data in the way they said they would
  • are retaining data for the agreed period in compliance with legal, regulatory, and business requirements
  • are securely deleting or destroying data that is no longer needed or has reached the end of its retention period

"In this space, we often work closely with our fabulous Digital Economy Transactions (DET) legal team to help our clients achieve compliance by remediating situations and implementing new frameworks. These solutions include policies, processes, standards, roles and responsibilities", explained Sonia.

Data analytics

The Data & Analytics team analyses and interprets data to provide valuable insights and help determine findings, confirm hypotheses, resolve disputed calculations and solve complex problems.
For example, the Australian team (which literally includes two rocket scientists) recently worked with Ashurst’s Dispute practice in a profit-sharing dispute involving a significant volume of market trading data that needed to be extracted in a useable format, checked for quality and analysed. "We extracted 72,000 reports, which equates to 20 million rows of data, to determine trends, patterns, hedging positions and closing profits", Sonia explained.

In another case, the team worked on a wage compliance program supporting a company that was concerned some of its workers may have been unknowingly underpaid. The team meticulously analysed extensive data spanning multiple years, encompassing both current and former employees, as well as a variety of employment contracts and awards to thoroughly assess the appropriate course of action.

A natural problem solver

Sonia is a natural problem solver with a passion for turning complex challenges into actionable solutions through data. "Data risk can often be overlooked, misunderstood or seen as intimidating. Organisations want to leverage data for a competitive edge, to foster growth or solve problems, but many don’t know where to start or what risks they face", Sonia explained. "I’m deeply committed to helping clients protect their customers' and stakeholders' data, ensuring it’s handled and disposed of appropriately. I also aim to help them fulfil their data obligations, ensuring customers feel secure and protected from risks such as fraud or breaches."

Sonia’s fascination with technology and data started at an early age, under the influence of her father. "My dad is amazing. He grew up in a migrant family in the UK at a time when it was not a fun place if you were not the same colour and kind as others. Although he never really spoke about it, I suspect he had a hard time at school because he ended up dropping out of school without any qualifications. Instead he started work at an early age, enrolled in night school and then college, where he qualified as a mechanical engineer. Because he was always trying to better himself, he started developing and offering to run technical courses for the company he worked for. From a young age, I tried to help him. I started by printing his overhead projection slides to his exacting engineer standards, then progressed to adding clip art to his presentations, and, in teaching myself how to use our family’s computer, I became the family's go-to technical person. I’m strongly influenced by my father’s self-determination, work ethic and perfectionism."

Since feeding programming cards into that family computer in the loungeroom, Sonia has gone on to have an impressive career in driving large-scale transformation. She has held senior and executive leadership roles at a number of organisations, including Barclays Bank, Deloitte and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). At the CBA, she led a global team of data and analytics professionals to deliver world-class analytical and AI solutions.

Of all of the changes she has helped drive, her work at the CBA on fraud and scams has been the most satisfying. "During my role at the CBA, I used advanced analytics and AI models to detect potential cases of fraud and scams, and to prevent future fraudulent transactions from occurring. It needed to be fast-paced, in a continuously evolving space, and the AI model we designed helped prevent bad actors from clearing out customers’ accounts."

She added, "Through analysis, I also discovered that most scams were occurring through payments made to cryptocurrencies. Since recovering funds from these transactions is extremely difficult, we initiated a conversation about implementing cryptocurrency limits to minimise potential exposure. The CBA became the first bank to implement such limits, resulting in a significant reduction in the amount of money lost to scams, and they are now an important part of efforts to help protect customers."

Another of Sonia’s career highlights is her involvement in developing the entire technology strategy for the London 2012 Olympics. "We were essentially setting up a new organisation that was only going to be around for five years and then dissolved. Every single piece of tech – from race-timing equipment, desktops and radios, to mobile phones – for every single location and venue had to be sourced, accounted for, tracked and returned to suppliers. Honestly, it hurt my brain. But I was proud to be a part of the Olympics in my home city at the time, so it was very special when, as a thank you, I was presented with a relay baton that had been used during the Games."

When Sonia’s not at work, she enjoys spending time with her two young children. She also loves indulging her creative side, which includes baking and making costumes. While she admits to a certain level of trepidation as Book Day approaches each year, she did volunteer for a school project to make ‘birthday capes’. When she dropped her children to school one day, she was delighted to see a child skipping through the playground with a rainbow-coloured, sequinned birthday cape she had sown flowing behind them.

Sonia has lived by the adage that you are in charge of your own career destiny. As she said, "There will always be people cheering in your corner but you have to back yourself and trust your instinct. I’ve made big and daunting career changes by knowing that 'this is the right thing for me'. I really encourage everyone to have a go and push themselves when opportunities arise."

 

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