<strong>Team size: </strong>  Currently three but looking to expand  

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

Over the past year, the legal team has been deeply embedded in some of the most strategically significant initiatives across the Castore Group, supporting rapid international growth while protecting long‑term brand value. 

A standout transaction has been Castore’s acquisition of Belstaff and the subsequent integration into the group. This involved supporting the acquisition process itself, followed by leading on post‑completion integration: aligning governance, contracting frameworks, IP strategy and ways of working, while ensuring Belstaff retains its heritage, identity and independence within the wider group. 

In parallel, the team has led or supported a number of complex, multi‑jurisdictional partnerships across elite sport, including long‑term relationships with England Rugby, Rugby Australia, Alpine F1, Haas F1, Hertha Berlin and multiple Hundred cricket franchises.  Each deal brings unique challenges around IP and licensing, performance and termination rights, regulatory and sporting body compliance, marketing activation, and reputational risk across multiple territories. 

Alongside M&A activity, we have been central to a broad range of high‑value commercial, distribution and licensing arrangements that underpin Castore’s global expansion. This includes negotiating and implementing major long‑term distribution, licensing and retail partnerships across the globe. 

My role has extended well beyond closing transactions. Given the size of the team, we punch well above our weight, and the focus has been on designing scalable legal frameworks, simplifying deal structures, and acting as a strategic partner to the business to enable speed, consistency and commercial ambition while protecting the brand.  

<strong>What do you see as an opportunity or risk over the next six months? </strong> 

The key opportunity is to continue converting Castore’s momentum into repeatable, scalable growth as the group expands across new brands, territories and partner ecosystems. Legal plays a critical role in enabling that growth by standardising positions, simplifying processes and providing clear commercial guardrails so the business can move quickly and confidently. 

A particularly powerful opportunity sits in harnessing the use of AI within our existing technology stack, including the adoption of new, intelligent workflows. This will materially improve productivity, efficiency and speed of execution, allowing us to move far quicker than many competitors in adopting and embedding new ways of working. Given the size of the brand, we are a speedboat in a sea of oil tankers, and that agility enables us to turn technology into a genuine competitive advantage. 

The corresponding risk is that rapid global expansion can amplify regulatory, execution and reputational exposure if not managed carefully. My focus is on early legal involvement in strategic decision‑making, proactive risk identification, and ensuring risk is framed in commercial terms that inform decisions rather than slow them down. 

<strong> Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense? </strong> 

Technology is something I am deeply passionate about. We have embraced Microsoft 365 Copilot within a secure Azure environment and focused on adopting new AI‑enabled workflows. From our perspective, you don’t need to spend thousands on external and elaborate AI service providers. Instead, we have been gaining a deeper understanding of creating workflows and creating our own Co-Pilot workflow library. Used properly, this has improved first‑draft quality, issue‑spotting and internal communications, acting as a genuine force multiplier without significant additional cost or headcount. Just as importantly, I have developed an AI Usage Policy for the wider business on how to use AI responsibly and effectively, ensuring it enhances judgement rather than replaces it. 

<strong> What are some of the main trends impacting your industry sector specifically? </strong> 

The sports, fashion and lifestyle sector is increasingly global, competitive, fast‑moving and reputationally sensitive. Partnerships span multiple jurisdictions and governing regimes, increasing the importance of scalable contracting frameworks, IP and brand protection, and regulatory awareness. There is heightened scrutiny around consumer protection, marketing claims, supply chains and ESG. In‑house legal teams are expected to move at pace, embrace technology and operate as commercial partners rather than technical gatekeepers — something we see as an opportunity. 

<strong>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? </strong> 

This is something I am deeply passionate about. I want my team to have great careers and see their development as a key measure of my own success. We focus on practical, embedded learning rather than abstract training, including deal‑based learning, knowledge sharing, post‑transaction reviews and coaching on emerging areas such as AI. The aim is to build judgement, confidence and commercial understanding so that the team can operate independently and proactively.  

<strong> In your role, how do you balance the need to protect the organisation’s interests today while also considering legal implications and opportunities that may arise in the future? </strong> 

We ‘enable’ commercial ambition while at the same time, ‘protecting’ our assets, interests and reputation. That balance comes from being pragmatic, solutions‑focused and commercially minded, while retaining the independence and courage to challenge decisions that may compromise long‑term value. 

<strong> General counsel often speak of the need to be strategic to reach the pinnacle of the profession. What does being strategic mean to you?  </strong> 

For me, being strategic means being truly embedded in the business, not adjacent to it. It is about anticipating issues before they arise and shaping decisions early rather than reacting late.  It is about translating legal risk into commercial outcomes, building frameworks that scale with growth, and helping leadership teams make better decisions faster, even when that requires uncomfortable conversations.  

<strong> Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting? </strong> 

Belstaff acquisition and bringing them into the Castore Group has been a standout moment given the history of the brand.  As a passionate fan of sport, working for adidas in London for the 2012 Olympics was career defining as well as working on and being at the centre of Castore deals with England Rugby, Feyenoord, Red Bull F1, Everton, Rugby Australia, Alpine F1 to name a few.  The standout moments though are creating deep and everlasting connections and relationships with partners and colleagues across the globe. 

<strong>We are currently living through a time of geopolitical change, and the world order that we have come to take for granted for many years is being rewritten. Does this affect your company’s risk profile and, if so, what are you doing to mitigate this? </strong> 

Geopolitical volatility increases supply‑chain, regulatory and operational risk across jurisdictions. We mitigate this through diversified contracting structures, clear force‑majeure and termination protections, proactive regulatory monitoring and close collaboration with commercial and supply‑chain teams.  We see this as an opportunity. 

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

Commercial credibility, independence, sound judgement, adaptability and the ability to lead through complexity in a calm and pragmatic way.  Modern in‑house counsel must also be comfortable with risk, technology and able to move at pace.  Need to be confident acting as a strategic partner rather than a reactive adviser.