Team size: 13

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

Our team has recently played a significant role in Marsh McLennan’s transformative growth in the UK. We have taken the lead on numerous M&A transactions and integrations, delivering an almost three-fold increase in the company’s revenue.

Additionally, we have driven the cornerstone acquisition of JLT and paired with a string of acquisitions to build our commercial segment business across the UK. We have woven these businesses into one integrated enterprise through extensive internal restructuring while taking action to protect value.

The Covid-19 business interruption test case brought by the FCA against several insurers was the most significant piece of insurance litigation in the UK; it was the first case to proceed under the Financial Markets Test Case Scheme. Our team made submissions to the FCA, which influenced the selection of policy wordings and issues in the test case, ultimately leading to a Supreme Court decision favouring policyholders. We continue to work closely with our claims leadership to advance our clients’ Covid claims following the test case and considering ongoing litigation in the UK Courts.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Successful in-house legal teams will need to continue to extend their awareness and expertise across emerging areas of opportunity and risk — ESG, data, cyber, sanctions and the implications of the macroeconomic environment. While there will remain no substitute for building and maintaining strong relationships with our commercial colleagues, we should also explore legal technology solutions such as contract automation and AI.

A focus on inclusion and diversity will also be critical as we look to bring the best talents into our industry, which is why we have established our own diversity and inclusion-based work experience programmes following the pandemic.

The unusual business environment created by the pandemic has been swiftly followed by the Ukraine crisis, and attendant supply chain costs rising and increasing inflation. Are you now putting more emphasis on preparing for the unforeseen and, if so, what does this entail?

We work closely with our risk and compliance colleagues to anticipate and analyse risks to the enterprise, including the implications of the Ukraine crisis for clients and colleagues and the insurance ramifications of surging inflation. Through training and guidance, we then focus on raising awareness and mitigation efforts with our colleagues and clients. We have also developed our own ‘Root Cause Analysis’ methodology in order to understand the fundamental causal factors. These may, in turn, point to opportunities for improvement across the wider business to mitigate future risk.