General Counsel: Insurance, Wealth & Retirement | Aviva
Elsa Raper
General Counsel: Insurance, Wealth & Retirement | Aviva
What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?
As General Counsel for Insurance, Wealth & Retirement for the UK and Irish markets, my role is to safeguard Aviva by ensuring we do the right thing, collaborating with the business for growth and to achieve the best outcomes for our customers. Over the past year, the team have contributed to significant M&A transactions, including the acquisition and integration of AIG’s UK protection business. My team also partners closely with the business to drive efficiencies and simplify operations.
A notable recent matter which I’m particularly proud of, was leading efforts to rationalise our legal entity structure. This was a complex project requiring the meticulous review of over 3,700 contracts. Working with the business, we developed an AI tool within our infrastructure to expedite this review but with a high level of accuracy. My team provided decisive leadership throughout and developed an AI-powered solution that enabled us to deliver substantial benefits, such as cost and time savings. This activity would have traditionally taken over 12 months but was completed in 10 weeks following a two-week setup. This rapid turnaround not only streamlined the review but allowed my team to focus on providing strategic input and guidance during the process. We now have a versatile AI tool that can be utilised for future initiatives.
What do you see as an opportunity or risk over the next six months?
There are a range of key risks and opportunities, from the macro/ geopolitical lens to continued advancements in AI and the impact on different sectors. However, I wanted to share a more specific opportunity for GCs around measuring performance and demonstrating the clear benefit a Legal team brings to the business. As a Legal function we measure our performance in a number of ways which includes working closely with our panel law firms for clear oversight of service, performance and value. We saw a clear opportunity in implementing a new digital-first, data driven approach to the panel’s management, with a roll-out of a full-suite of MI. We aligned the panel priorities with Aviva’s values and strategic pillars.
All firms have goals set against Customer, Growth, Sustainability and Efficiency, which we measure to ensure we provide an excellent service. The key opportunities are:
I) The data we measure includes a value-add framework and tracker which standardises the way firms attribute value to the non-advice activities. This is a groundbreaking move – previously, each firm recorded and attributed value differently. This consistency has allowed us to share data with the panel and benchmark against their peers.
II) We pioneered the value-add services we receive to include collaboration and support on responsible business initiatives. From a sustainability perspective, we introduced an ESG roundtable series so that the panel firms can collectively share how they are progressing against their own targets.
III) All firms have goals on how we collaborate to tangibly make a difference to DE&I and cohesively to support our Aviva internship programme by providing full day insights into their respective firms.
IV) We implemented a data-driven approach and set up a continuous improvement culture by capturing matter feedback. We have also leveraged improvements for our own team by identifying training needs and building this into our functional training plan.
Together, this activity gives us greater oversight on performance as we rank each firm on their capabilities, financial reporting, communication skills and quality of their advice.
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?
I am passionate about fostering a culture of continuous learning and development within my team and the legal function. I really believe in doing this in a holistic way, focusing on core skills and knowledge, emerging trends / needs and soft skills. We have developed a function wide training programme called Edge which has four different curriculums:
We also develop our functional capabilities through specific working groups (Sustainability and Gen AI) ensuring these are part of our core skills and knowledge set. It also ensures a level of consistency across our teams within the markets.
We also run various secondments within the Function, providing the team with opportunities to move roles and learn new skills.
Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?
There are two experiences that particularly stand out. The first was when I started my career at Aviva, working within the business on a major reorganisation of our legal entities (various Part VIIs under FSMA) and subsequently a reattribution of our with-profit funds. My role centred around managing the relationship with the regulator, which meant my role diverged from the traditional legal path. In fact, Aviva is the only company to have successfully completed a reattribution under the new regulatory framework.
During this period, I built a detailed understanding of different business areas, Aviva’s products and services. Reflecting on this experience, it stands out as not only unique but also immensely beneficial. From outset, I learnt to balance the detail while maintaining sight of the broader context and external factors. The ability to connect these dots has remained a valuable skill throughout every subsequent role in my career.
The second experience which particularly stands out was working on the integration of Friends Life (one of the largest ever acquisitions in the insurance market at that time- £5.6bn) whilst simultaneously working on a cross-border transaction of the closure our business in Ireland to operate via a UK branch. Both of these matters were highly engaging, marked by their complexity and rapid pace. The opportunity to manage these significant undertakings provided invaluable insights and developed my ability to navigate challenging and dynamic environments.
What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?
The modern in-house counsel must be able to work in partnership as a trusted adviser, demonstrating both curiosity and agility. I believe that our primary responsibility is to protect the organisation by consistently doing the right thing, acting with integrity, and providing guidance that aligns with the business’s values and objectives.
We play a crucial role in delivering the organisation’s strategy by collaborating closely with the business. Aviva’s legal function strategy is fully aligned with the wider business strategy: we share the same strategic goals and are focused on achieving the same deliverables. This alignment ensures that the legal team is not operating in isolation but is an integral part of the organisation’s overall direction and success.
To be effective, we must maintain a sense of curiosity. I encourage my team to step outside their day-to-day responsibilities and become involved in different projects and initiatives across the business and undertake secondments. This approach enables them to continue developing their skills, broaden their experience, and contribute more meaningfully to the organisation’s objectives.
On a personal level, I have also sought to expand my own capabilities by volunteering for executive sponsorship of projects and applying my legal expertise to new areas, such as transformation initiatives. This willingness to take on new challenges has allowed me to stretch my skill set and make a broader contribution to the business.
