Draft:Robert O'Grady

Robert Andrew O'Grady (20 March 1994) is an Australian lawyer working as general counsel for Caleb & Brown. Previously, O'Grady was a senior lawyer at Gilbert + Tobin in financial services, payments, fintech and web3.

Personal life
Robert Andrew O'Grady was born in Sydney on 20 March 1994. He is the eighth child of Robert Leslie O'Grady and second child of Pauliene Joan O'Grady. O'Grady is primarily of Irish and Swiss-Italian descent. His paternal great grandparents immigrated from County Clare and settled in Sydney, Australia in the early 1900s.

Robert grew up between Nelson Bay and the Hunter Valley on the mid-coast of New South Wales. O'Grady attended Hunter Valley Grammar School and was elected Middle School Captain in 2008 and School Captain in 2011. He played second row for the HVGS First XV rugby team, the Nelson Bay Gropers and the NSW Country Rugby Union Team. O'Grady played piano and percussion and was a member of the HVGS wind orchestra, stage band and percussion ensemble. O'Grady completed the HSC and graduated in 2011, achieving tenth in the state for Business Studies.

In 2012, O'Grady attended the University of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of International and Global Studies (International Business and Chinese Studies (Language)) in 2014 and a Juris Doctor in 2017. Between 2012 to 2014, O'Grady was a resident of St John's College, University of Sydney and was a fresher during the period of The Untouchables scandal in 2012. O'Grady was the drama secretary in 2014, during which time St John's College won the intercollege Palladian Cup. O'Grady also met his partner, Riley Chaffer, during this time and with whom he currently lives in Double Bay.

Avid Collective
During his time at university, O'Grady founded a mobile application called 'NightGuru', which focussed on connecting patrons with Sydney bars and nightclubs. NightGuru was founded along with fellow St John's College residents, Luke Spano and Alex Bain. In 2016, NightGuru merged with a Melbourne based nightlife mobile application, 'WhereToTonight'. This merger resulted in the formation of a multi-brand collective now operating in Surry Hills as Avid Collective. Spano remains as the CEO of Avid Collective, while O'Grady and Bain are advisers to the business.

Gilbert + Tobin
During the summer of 2016/17, O'Grady joined Gilbert + Tobin as a summer clerk. O'Grady was one of the firm's first 'techno-legals', a hybrid lawyer role designed for technologically minded lawyers. O'Grady was appointed as a techno-legal along with Alex Connolly, who later left the firm to found the Ethereum Gaming Layer 2, Immutable.

O'Grady joined the firm's 'Fintech + Web3' team in December 2017, focussing on financial services, funds, payments and web3 clients. O'Grady was an active lawyer in the early stages of the ICO craze in 2017 and 2018, and established some of the first decentralised autonomous organisations for Australian based web3 businesses. During his tenure, O'Grady assisted various offshore digital asset exchanges to enter the Australian market, including advising in relation to the establishment of an Australian licensing framework for crypto businesses.

In 2023, O'Grady was deployed as the principal lawyer in Wpay, the payments acquiring and gifting function of Woolworths Group. O'Grady also led Gilbert + Tobin's payments capability, advising card schemes, payment facilitators, acquirers and digital platforms on Australian payments law.

During his time at Gilbert + Tobin, O'Grady authored various chapters on financial services and web3, including Global Legal Insights: Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation, International Comparative Legal Guide: Fintech and ''Global Legal Post: Law Over Borders Cryptoassets Guide. ''

Board appointments
O'Grady has held various positions on directorship and advisory boards, including:


 * Director, NightGuru (2014 - 2016).
 * Emerging Leaders Advisory Board Member, Centre for Legal Innovation (2023).

Caleb & Brown
In July 2024, O'Grady was appointed as the general counsel for Caleb & Brown, a digital asset brokerage and funds management firm based in Melbourne, Australia.