Team size: 32

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

Our organisation has faced unprecedented change in the last 12 months following a significant merger (£2.5bn) with competitor, Redrow, resulting in “Barratt Redrow PLC”, now the UK’s largest housebuilder. As an ‘Integration Lead’, I adopted a “trusted strategic advisor” approach to help integrate the two businesses. I needed to be pragmatic and agile in managing the legal and compliance risks associated with large-scale data migration, IT systems rollout, a mass redundancy programme and policy redesign to achieve a common operating framework in short timescales.

A key priority for me during this period was to reset our functional vision and strategy to ensure alignment with the priorities and growth targets of the newly combined group. I redesigned our legal operating model to ensure we had the necessary resource and capabilities to meet the projected mid-term needs of Barratt Redrow PLC. This involved in-depth resource modelling, skills gap analyses and team development on “growth mindset” to build our resilience.

I encouraged curiosity and openness amongst my team to adopt new ways of working and, together, we implemented new legal technology to improve efficiency and ease our workload. This included a matter management tool, an AI-assisted contract review tool and an AI compliance chatbot.

Following the integration process, I was pleased to receive encouraging feedback from our CEO: “Phebe is refreshing, strategic, considered and driven. She is a very professional, engaging and talented member of the Senior Leadership Team and has brought clearer direction for the function and strong management of integration.”

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive work environment?

Diversity and inclusion are deeply personal to me, shaped by my own background growing up in a deprived area of Blackpool, as the first in my family to attend university and enter the legal profession without connections. Having faced barriers securing my first break, I now see my leadership role as an opportunity to open doors for others. Since joining Barratt Redrow, I have doubled the legal team from 16 to 32 in four years, ensuring this growth prioritised diversity across ethnicity, gender, nationality, age, geography, educational background, and routes into the profession. Key initiatives have included structured recruitment with diverse candidate pools and selection panels, offering work experience to school, college, and university students, supporting flexible return-to-work options for new mothers, and mentoring female talent as part of our organisation’s talent programme. Beyond these initiatives, I strive to role model inclusion through empathy and kindness, which I believe are essential enablers of D&I, and was particularly proud when a young team member said I embodied the principle that kindness makes a leader stronger, not weaker.