Team size:    13

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

By design, we get involved in everything – it’s a prerequisite of demonstrating our value. Indeed, noting that we’re not a ‘profit centre’ we badge our function more as a ‘profit leakage avoidance team’ – allowing the organisation to grow at pace, but safely.

We’ve supported the development and launch of new products, particularly our used EV salary sacrifice offering. This has required building entirely new contractual frameworks, revisiting risk allocation, and designing documentation that is both compliant and commercially agile. It’s an excellent example of how the legal function works hand‑in‑hand with product, commercial, and operational teams to bring something new to market quickly but in a compliant way. But it doesn’t stop there, we support in the design and the implementation, but then stay close to the teams to understand how it landed – what went well and what didn’t – so we can continue to advise but also take any learning for next time.

In parallel, we’ve continued maturing our own internal processes and contract suite. As the business grows, the legal support model needs to evolve with it, so we’ve been modernising templates, streamlining negotiation workflows, and embedding clearer governance and decision‑making pathways. This has had a material impact on speed, consistency, and risk management across the organisation.

We’ve done a substantial amount of work on the ongoing maturity of our Consumer Duty framework. As expectations continue to evolve, we’ve been refining our approach to product governance, fair value assessments, customer communications and outcome testing. This has involved cross‑functional collaboration across the entire consumer business and has further embedded a culture of doing the right thing for customers.

Each of these projects reflects the breadth of what modern in‑house teams are expected to deliver – strategic insight, commercial pragmatism and robust governance – all while enabling the business to innovate and grow.

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

At Zenith we’re entering a period where customer demand, regulation and technology are all converging in ways that play directly to our strengths. The shift towards electrification, data driven fleet solutions, and more sustainable mobility models is creating openings for businesses that can move quickly and provide clarity in an increasingly complex environment. For us, that means the chance to deepen strategic partnerships with customers as they navigate EV transition planning, infrastructure decisions, and the operational challenges of running mixed or fully electric fleets. Businesses are looking for trusted advisers, not just suppliers, and that positions us, and our Legal & Compliance Teams, well. I see the next six months as a moment to lean in rather than hold back. The opportunity lies in helping the business, and our customers, navigate change with clarity, whereas the risk lies in underestimating the speed at which that change is happening. With the right governance, strong cross functional collaboration, and a forward-looking legal approach, it’s a period that can strengthen competitiveness rather than destabilise it.

Another area I see as both an opportunity and an obligation over the next six months is how we nurture and develop the next generation of talent. There’s a perception in some quarters that advances in AI will reduce the need for junior lawyers, but I completely disagree with that narrative. What we’re seeing instead is a shift in the type of contribution young lawyers make, not a reduction in their value. In many ways, the environment is becoming even more competitive for junior talent because the expectations are higher: they need to be legally sharp, commercially aware, and technologically fluent.

For us, investing in early‑career lawyers isn’t an optional nice‑to‑have; it’s a strategic necessity. We actively develop junior team members because we recognise the unique strengths they bring in a developing AI‑enabled legal function. They’re naturally adaptable, open‑minded about new tools, and often the quickest to integrate technology into their daily workflows. That makes them critical in helping the wider legal team evolve. AI isn’t replacing junior lawyers, it’s changing the skillset, and arguably amplifying their impact.

I think the future legal team will be a blend of human judgement, commercial pragmatism, and smart technology. Junior lawyers play a huge role in that combination. We want them to use AI to accelerate their learning curve, not to shortcut their development. Tools can help them analyse large datasets faster, draft with more precision, and spot trends earlier, but the judgment, the ethical lens and the commercial instinct must still come from the individual. Those qualities only develop through exposure, mentoring and meaningful responsibility.

One of the opportunities ahead is continuing to create an environment where talent grows, where junior lawyers feel empowered, supported and genuinely part of our strategic journey. If we get that right, AI becomes an enhancer rather than a threat, and we build a legal team that is robust, future‑ready and capable of navigating complexity with confidence.

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

Early in my career I was given a piece of advice that stayed with me: say ‘yes’ as much as possible. At the time it felt daunting – and, if I’m honest, quite often pushed me well outside my comfort zone – but it was transformational. Saying yes meant stepping into unfamiliar areas, taking on work that didn’t neatly fall within my job description, and getting involved in projects where I wasn’t yet the expert. But that was exactly the point. It allowed me to become truly embedded in the business, not just in the legal questions but in the full operational picture.

Looking back, I’ve come to believe that it’s far more important to say yes at the outset than it is to default to no. “No” closes doors. “Yes” opens them, even if the path isn’t immediately clear. By saying yes, I gained visibility, trust, and context. I learned how decisions were made, how different functions worked together, and how the organisation actually operated beneath the surface. It accelerated my development far more than staying within the safe confines of a narrowly defined legal role ever could.

One of those opportunities, one that I would never have experienced if I hadn’t embraced that mindset, was the chance to take part in a secondment in the United States. It came up quickly, at a time when I could easily have talked myself out of it, but instead I said yes. That secondment turned out to be one of the most formative chapters of my career. Working alongside the local transactional team, I was exposed to a different legal environment, a different business culture, and a completely different pace of work. I learned to adapt fast, to communicate across cultural and linguistic nuances, and to support commercial teams who operated in ways that challenged my assumptions.

It also taught me the value of agility – legal, commercial, and personal. When you’re dropped into a new jurisdiction and expected to add value from day one, you quickly develop the ability to absorb information at speed, ask better questions, and work with uncertainty. Those skills have stayed with me and continue to shape how I lead and how I advise today.

In many ways, saying yes early on created the foundation for everything that followed. It taught me that growth rarely happens in comfortable spaces, and that some of the most important career developments begin with a willingness to take a step into the unknown.

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

It must be the ability to pair legal excellence with commercial clarity. The days of simply identifying risk are gone – you need to translate complex issues into practical, outcome focused advice that helps the business move forward with confidence – at all levels of the organisation.

Inhouse lawyers today operate at the intersection of regulation, technology, data, sustainability, and shifting customer expectations. The ability to absorb change, anticipate what’s coming and adjust your approach quickly is essential. Lawyers are expected to have a solid legal foundation, but Boards now demand inhouse teams think strategically and commercially and to apply that foundation to real-world business requirements in a way that genuinely supports growth and development.

The most effective inhouse counsel don’t sit on the sidelines; they embed themselves in decision-making, build and invest in relationships, and understand how the business truly works. That proximity means you can shape strategy early, rather than react late. You have to influence without formality, guide cross functional teams, and strike the right tone between enabling innovation and protection. It’s not about being the loudest voice in the room, it’s about being trusted, credible and solutions driven.

Beyond legal and commercial acumen, modern inhouse counsel need strong emotional intelligence. Many of the most important issues you handle are raised long before they become formal legal problems. Being approachable, knowing how to listen, and sensing when something warrants deeper examination all form part of the judgement that defines a successful inhouse lawyer. You also need the ability to operate confidently amid ambiguity. Businesses move quickly, and decisions often need to be made with imperfect information. Bringing structure, calm analysis, and a clear sense of priorities is a major part of the role.

A modern counsel must also contribute to shaping that organisational culture. Good governance is not just a set of policies; it’s the behaviours and decision-making habits you help embed. A strong legal function encourages transparency, supports ethical decision-making, and ensures the business is equipped to handle complex issues with maturity and consistency. This cultural influence is just as important as resolving individual legal questions.

And finally, the best inhouse lawyers act as educators as much as advisers. You add significant value by building legal literacy across the organisation, creating frameworks that allow colleagues to make well-informed decisions, and designing processes that reduce friction rather than add to it. The goal isn’t to be a gatekeeper; it’s to empower the business to operate safely, confidently and at pace. A modern inhouse counsel succeeds when they help the organisation avoid problems, not just solve them.