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Your name: Freyja Handy

Your job title:  Senior Vice President and General Counsel (Europe)

Your company’s name: Legends Global

Team size:  12

Major legal advisers (optional): Bird and Bird, CMS, DLA [note: we are currently running a tender to appoint panel law firms, so this may be subject to change by the time of publication]

  What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Highlights from 2025 include:

onboarding new catering services contracts at FC Porto and Chelsea FC, with the latter requiring a particularly rapid mobilisation within a matter of weeks rather than months

establishing a new catering company in Sweden

supporting redevelopment projects at Wembley Arena (London) and Avici Arena (Stockholm)

negotiating high-value naming rights and sponsorship deals across the business

restructuring of the legal team into 3 groups: UK, Continental Europe and Northern Europe. Alongside this we have a Special Projects workstream to give the team opportunities to collaborate across regions on key strategic projects. This structure has created a clear pathway for internal progression, and I was delighted to promote two team members as part of the reorganisation.

developing a bespoke legal intake platform on Microsoft Teams, to create a new “legal front door” for the business to request support. We have leveraged our ‘Legal Beagles’ brand to make the platform fun and engaging to users and are working on Legal Beagles merch for 2026 to support the official launch!

What do you see as an opportunity or risk over the next six months?

In 2025 we onboarded Harvey (AI Legal tool) across the European legal team. These tools offer a genuine opportunity to provide faster more efficient advice to the business. However, we are mindful of the risk of reliance on these tools, particularly for junior team members who may lack the experience to critically evaluate AI generated outputs. We don’t want responses to be accepted at face value. We have sought to address this by:

Implementing training and guidelines for the legal team which emphasise that the Harvey tool is a starting point, not the final answer

Sharing examples of AI errors among the team to build awareness and make the risks more tangible

Supervision of junior team members’ output

As the legal landscape evolves, what steps are you taking to foster a culture of continuous learning and development within the legal team, ensuring that they are all well-equipped to address future legal complexities?

We have structured the legal team geographically rather than by practice area or service line, ensuring everyone gains exposure to the widest possible variety of work. This approach prevents team members from becoming pigeonholed and develops well-rounded lawyers.

All team members participate in Special Projects, giving them direct involvement in key strategic initiatives. We hold an annual legal team away day where we explore ways of working, legal technology and ideas for improvements, complemented by online and in person training from external law firms throughout the year.

We actively horizon scan for legislative and regulatory changes affecting our industry, sharing insights across the team and business.

Above all, I encourage the team to be curious, stretch themselves, and step outside their comfort zones. What matters most is how they approach problems, not necessarily having the answers at the outset. I think that best empowers the team to deal with future legal complexities.

  What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Approachability – lawyers don’t need to be stuffy or hide behind complex jargon – clear, plain language builds trust and gets deals done faster. I want the business and external counterparties to find the Legal Beagles a pleasure to work with.

Pragmatism – be reasonable from the outset, don’t die in a ditch over unimportant points, and be prepared to compromise. Every negotiation reflects on the business, so setting a professional, collaborative tone is essential.

Versatility and curiosity – get stuck in, embrace challenges, and ask questions. The best in-house lawyers truly embed themselves in the organisation – understanding commercial drivers, building relationships across teams, and becoming a trusted partner rather than a gatekeeper.