Retail and Consumer Products | Tesco
Team size: 200 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Pinsent Masons The GC hot seat at Tesco is not to be taken...
Insurance | Prudential
Team size: 150 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Norton Rose Fulbright, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom,...
TMT | Citymapper
Team size: 2 Major law firms used: Taylor Wessing In early 2016, transport app Citymapper rose $40m of Series B financing from Index Ventures and Benchmark Capital, the latter a...
Retail and Consumer Products | Thomas Cook
Team size: 40 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Latham & Watkins, Lighthouse Law, Slaughter and May When profiled for last year’s GC Powerlist,...
Retail and Consumer Products | Wm Morrison Supermarkets
Team size: 10 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, DWF, Eversheds Sutherland, Shoosmiths It has been a difficult time at £17bn-turnover, listed supermarket giant Morrisons. Major litigation over...
Energy | National Grid
Team size: 200 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, BDB Pitmans, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Dentons, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, Herbert Smith Freehills, Irwin Mitchell,...
Retail and Consumer Products | Pernod Ricard
Team size: 35 in the HQ team Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, DWF, Macfarlanes, RPC, Shepherd and Wedderburn Amanda Hamilton-Stanley is relishing the opportunity of being group GC of...
TMT | WPP
Team size: 130 (22 core team) Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Bristows, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Simkins, Slaughter and May The world’s largest marketing and public relations...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | British Airways
Team size: 28 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Linklaters, Slaughter and May Andrew Fleming was just 31 years old when he landed the head of...
TMT | News UK
Team size: 24 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells, Kingsley Napley, Lewis Silkin, Taylor Wessing, Wiggin As GC of The Sun publisher News UK, Angus McBride has...
Retail and Consumer Products | graze
Team size: 2 Major law firms used: Charles Russell Speechlys, Keystone Law, mpm legal, Shoosmiths, Travers Smith Anna Cosgrave has not looked back after swapping a high-flying M&A role at...
TMT | Pearson
Team size: 170 Major law firms used: Charles Russell Speechlys, DLA Piper, DWF, Fieldfisher, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Kemp Little, Pinsent Masons The GC and chief legal officer...
Banks and professional services | Barclays
Team size: 840 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Dentons, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons, White & Case ‘You don’t want a...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | British Land
Team size: 13 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, Mayer Brown, Simmons & Simmons Brona McKeown joined FTSE 100 real...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Severn Trent
Team size: 10 Major law firms used: Eversheds Sutherland ‘I’ve been trying to focus on what drives risk and what drives poor behaviour,’ Severn Trent group GC and company secretary...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Heathrow Airport Holdings
Team size: 25 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Eversheds Sutherland, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Owen White, Pinsent Masons, Towerhouse Carol Hui has been GC at...
TMT | Facebook
Team size: 35 Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, Lewis Silkin, Osborne Clarke, RPC ‘Kenny is well known in the legal world and a true specialist in the digital market,’...
TMT | Skyscanner
Team size: 12 Major law firms used: Bird & Bird, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Pinsent Masons The remit of Skyscanner chief legal officer Carolyn Jameson inevitably expanded following the...
Banks and professional services | London Stock Exchange Group
Team size: 50 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lawyers On Demand, Radiant Law A pioneering use of alternative legal providers has contributed to Catherine...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Bridgepoint
Team size: 4 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, Latham & Watkins, Macfarlanes, Ropes & Gray, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Slaughter and May, Taylor Wessing, Travers Smith The well-known former...
Insurance | RSA
Team size: 25 Major law firms used: Linklaters, RPC, Slaughter and May Charlotte Heiss’s career has gone from strength to strength since being named as a Rising Star in the...
Insurance | AIG
Team size: 140 Major law firms used: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Clifford Chance, Clyde & Co, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Macfarlanes, RPC, Womble Bond Dickinson ‘We’re in...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Capita
Team size: 35 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, DWF, Eversheds Sutherland, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons Claire Chapman became chief GC of outsourcing company Capita in mid-2018. She was the company’s...
Retail and Consumer Products | Coca-Cola European Partners
Team size: 100 Major law firms used: CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Gowling WLG, Norton Rose Fulbright, RPC, Shearman & Sterling, Slaughter and May, Squire Patton Boggs, Womble Bond Dickinson...
TMT | The Financial Times
Team size: 19 Major law firms used: Bristows, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, DLA Piper, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Pinsent Masons Dan Guildford, GC of The Financial Times (FT), featured in...
Chemicals, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals | Spire Healthcare
Team size: 10 Major law firms used:CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, DAC Beachcroft, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Kennedys, Pinsent Masons, RPC, Wedlake Bell Daniel Toner, GC of Spire Healthcare, features in...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Serco Group
Team size: 45 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, DWF, Pinsent Masons ‘I was the company’s first general counsel,’ Serco Group’s David Eveleigh recalls about his...
Banks and professional services | Standard Chartered
Team size: 600 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Dentons, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Slaughter and May Geopolitical risk – as well as...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Monzo Bank
Team size: 9 Major law firms used: Hogan Lovells, Simmons & Simmons, Taylor Wessing Monzo Bank has seen meteoric growth since being founded in 2015, having already become the UK’s...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Citadel Europe
Team size: 12 Major law firms used: Arthur Cox, Latham & Watkins, Lewis Silkin, Linklaters, Matheson, Norton Rose Fulbright, Sidley Austin, Simmons & Simmons, Slaughter and May Donna Rix, GC...
Energy | Royal Dutch Shell
Team size: 1,014 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland, Norton Rose Fulbright, Reed Smith ‘Part of the thinking we now have within Shell...
Insurance | AXA UK
Team size: 30 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, DAC Beachcroft, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons It has been a frenetic few years at the UK arm of French insurer...
TMT | Telefónica UK
Team size: 31 Major law firms used: DWF, Herbert Smith Freehills, Shoosmiths, Simmons & Simmons For GC Edward Smith and the Telefónica legal function, the past year can be split...
Retail and Consumer Products | Kingfisher
Team size: 60 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Bird & Bird, Clyde & Co, Eversheds Sutherland, Foot Anstey, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy,...
Banks and professional services | Visa Europe
Team size: 60 Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Lewis Silkin, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons, PwC Legal ‘She has shown good leadership and has got the...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | BlackRock
Team size: 60 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters US-based BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management company with nearly $6trn in assets under management. EMEA...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | AQR Capital Management
Team size: 10+ Major law firms used: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Simmons & Simmons AQR Capital Management GC and head of compliance Eva Sanchez has been kept busy since joining...
Insurance | Legal & General
Team size: 22 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland, Pinsent Masons, Slaughter and May ‘He’s an average musician,’ says Legal & General chief executive Nigel Wilson of his...
Energy | Centrica
Team size: 265 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Eversheds Sutherland, Norton Rose Fulbright, Slaughter and May The long-serving GC of Centrica, Grant Dawson, has been one of...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | The Carlyle Group
Team size: 14 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Ropes & Gray Anti-bribery and corruption regulations...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Morgan Sindall Group
Team size: 6 Major law firms used: Pinsent Masons, RPC, Slaughter and May ‘One of our challenges is to buck the perception that all construction is bad,’ says the GC...
Banks and professional services | HSBC
Team size: 1,200 (75 in the UK) Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Addleshaw Goddard, Dentons, Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons, Simmons & Simmons For...
TMT | Sky
Team size: 90 in the UK Major law firms used: Herbert Smith Freehills It will be the end of an era when James Conyers steps down as Sky’s GC this...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | TransferWise
Team size: 7 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, JAG Shaw Baker, Paul Hastings At payment firm TransferWise, GC Jenifer Swallow says everyone ages in dog years: ‘There’s just...
Banks and professional services | KPMG
Team size: 39 Major law firms used: DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons Jeremy Barton, GC of Big Four firm KPMG, is one of the leading lights...
Insurance | Just Group
Team size: 12 Major law firms used: Clyde & Co, Eversheds Sutherland, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Macfarlanes, Pinsent Masons, Slaughter and May, Taylor Wessing” Joanna Nayler, group GC at...
Banks and professional services | Santander
Team size: 500 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Eversheds Sutherland, Hogan Lovells, Reed Smith, Slaughter and May, TLT John Collins attracted headlines in December 2015 when he...
Retail and Consumer Products | Amazon
Team size: 80 Major law firms used: Taylor Wessing If you are not unashamedly customer focused, a career working at Amazon might not be for you. As John Stone, Amazon’s...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Seedrs
Team size: 15 Major law firms used: Fieldfisher, Penningtons Manches, Simmons & Simmons Karen Kerrigan has been at the front line for crowdfunder Seedrs since its conception in 2012. Her...
Retail and Consumer Products | Notonthehighstreet
Team size: 3 Major law firms used: F-Lex, Keystone Law, Lawyers On Demand, Osborne Clarke It is hard to picture a more drastic change of scenery: swapping 15 years of...
Banks and professional services | Lloyds Banking Group
Team size: Around 300 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Ashurst, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Eversheds Sutherland, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters Kate Cheetham is...
Insurance | Aviva
Team size: 360 Major law firms used:Allen & Overy, DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons, Slaughter and May People have been on Aviva group GC and company secretary...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | CVC Capital Partners
Team size: 9 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Latham & Watkins, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, White & Case ‘I am told by my mother that I...
Retail and Consumer Products | MADE.COM
Team size: 3 Major law firms used: Three Major law firms used: Bird & Bird, Gowling WLG, Lewis Silkin, Osborne Clarke Lisa Tomlins, a former senior lawyer at online takeaway...
Energy | SSE
Team size: 75 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer After a merger-induced interlude, SSE’s GC Liz Tanner has stepped back into the...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Funding Circle
Team size: 32 Major law firms used: Ashurst, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Simmons & Simmons, Womble Bond Dickinson Peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle capitalised on its status as...
Retail and Consumer Products | Heineken UK
Team size: 10 Major law firms used: DLA Piper In 2017, the UK arm of global brewing giant Heineken made a substantial £403m acquisition of around 1,900 pubs owned by...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Royal Mail
Team size: 40 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Dentons, Herbert Smith Freehills, Slaughter and May Despite resigning as GC of Royal Mail in 2018 in favour of switching to...
Banks and professional services | PwC
Team size: 36 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright, Taylor Wessing You would have to go a long...
Banks and professional services | Nationwide Building Society
Team size: 55 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Eversheds Sutherland, Linklaters According to Mark Chapman, GC and society secretary at Nationwide Building Society, it is ‘watershed...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Rolls-Royce
Team size: 70 Major law firms used: Eversheds Sutherland, Slaughter and May ‘It’s been a hell of a busy year,’ reflects Rolls-Royce GC Mark Gregory. The back end of a...
Retail and Consumer Products | Nestlé
Team size: 7 Major law firms used: CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Eversheds Sutherland, Linklaters Most are aware of the stringent regulation that modern banking GCs must contend with, but...
Retail and Consumer Products | Dyson
Team size: 200 Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, Gowling WLG, Osborne Clarke, Eversheds Sutherland, Kim & Chang, Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom In January, Dyson...
TMT | Uber
Team size: 50 Major law firms used: Covington & Burling, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, NautaDutilh ‘Matt Wilson at Uber is someone who...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Smiths Group
Team size: 75 Major law firms used: Eversheds Sutherland, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Whitecap Legal ‘I’m extremely passionate about being an in-house lawyer, and I’m all for being very...
Banks and professional services | The Royal Bank of Scotland
Team size: 300 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters ‘We are increasingly ensuring our lawyers, save for where they absolutely have to be...
TMT | Virgin Media
Team size: 45 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Bird & Bird, Burges Salmon, Dentons, Harbottle & Lewis, Herbert Smith Freehills, Macfarlanes, RPC, Womble Bond Dickinson Virgin Media...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Lombard International Assurance
Team size: 40 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper, Linklaters Monica Risam, the highly regarded former Aviva UK Life GC, joined Luxembourg wealth-structuring company Lombard...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Trainline
Team size: 10 Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, Fieldfisher, Kemp Little As the GC of a constantly evolving mobile ticketing app, Neil Murrin has had to keep up with...
Retail and Consumer Products | Ocado
Team size: 28 Major law firms used: McKenzie, DWF, Fladgate, Herbert Smith Freehills, Shepherd and Wedderburn, Slaughter and May ‘I went from banker to in-house lawyer to barrister to grocery...
Energy | Gazprom Marketing & Trading
Team size: 24 Major law firms used: Baker Botts, Herbert Smith Freehills, Holman Fenwick Willan, Lewis Silkin Nicholas Ansbro, the long-serving GC of Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GMT), has had...
Retail and Consumer Products | Sainsbury’s
Team size: 28 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Dentons, Linklaters Nick Grant stands among the veterans of the in-house community, acting as Sainsbury’s head...
Retail and Consumer Products | Dixons Carphone
Team size: 47 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer The last five years have seen Dixons Carphone unify its operations following the £3.8bn merger between...
Retail and Consumer Products | Associated British Foods
Team size: 65 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Herbert Smith Freehills, Macfarlanes ‘We should have a lean team,’ comments Associated British Foods (ABF) director of legal...
Chemicals, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals | Bupa
Team size: 174 Major law firms used: Herbert Smith Freehills, Slaughter and May, White & Case International healthcare company Bupa had a busy year for M&A in 2018. The company...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | BAE Systems
Team size: 250 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Eversheds Sutherland, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer The experienced and influential group general counsel of defence multinational BAE Systems, Philip Bramwell, has...
Energy | Rio Tinto
Team size: 150 Major law firms used: Allens, Ashurst, Herbert Smith Freehills, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Sullivan & Cromwell A high-profile bribery investigation in Africa...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | GAM
Team size: 30 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Homburger, Macfarlanes Rachel Wheeler was already regarded as one of Aviva’s leading in-house lawyers before...
Energy | Anglo American
Team size: 80 Major law firms used: Linklaters, Shearman & Sterling Richard Price left behind more than 20 years in private practice to become group GC and company secretary at...
Retail and Consumer Products | Unilever
Team size: 500 Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, Linklaters ‘Everything is just getting faster,’ says Unilever chief legal officer and group secretary Ritva Sotamaa. ‘The...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | The Crown Estate
Team size: 18 Major law firms used: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Hogan Lovells Originally featuring as a Rising Star in the 2014 GC Powerlist, The...
TMT | Vodafone
Team size: 500 Major law firms used: Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Norton Rose Fulbright, Osborne Clarke, Slaughter and May, Squire Patton Boggs, Wiggin A long-standing ambassador for the in-house legal profession,...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Standard Life Aberdeen
Team size: 100 Major law firms used: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Slaughter and May Rushad Abadan, GC of asset management firm Standard Life Aberdeen, has earned a strong reputation for persevering...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Worldpay
Team size: 24 Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Sidley Austin, Wiggin When Ruwan De Soyza, deputy group GC of Worldpay, moves on later this year, the newly merged...
TMT | BT
Team size: 388 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Axiom, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Halebury, Matheson, Paralaw, Reed Smith...
Banks and professional services | Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Team size: 150+ Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, Shearman & Sterling, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom GC Powerlist regular Sajid Hussein...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | WorldRemit
Team size: 7 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Bird & Bird, Orrick, Slaughter and May, Stephenson Harwood ‘If you want to join a start-up like WorldRemit, make sure you...
TMT | BBC
Team size: 55 Major law firms used: CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Fieldfisher Perhaps unsurprisingly, the BBC was heavily in the public eye throughout 2018. But unusually for GC Sarah...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | WeWork
Team size: 75 Major law firms used: Eversheds Sutherland, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Whitecap Legal A few years ago, Sarah Nelson Smith was dealing with documentaries about chickens. Now...
Chemicals, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals | GSK Consumer Healthcare
Team size: 55 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Bird & Bird, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Kirkland & Ellis, Simmons & Simmons, Slaughter and...
Fintech, Sponsors and Investors | Apax Partners
Team size: 2 Major law firms used: Clifford Chance, Kirkland & Ellis, Ropes & Gray, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett A leading City partner at a US law firm describes Apax...
Banks and professional services | UBS
Team size: 200 (700 globally) Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Herbert Smith Freehills, Mayer Brown Simon Croxford...
Chemicals, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals | Johnson Matthey
Team size: 160 Major law firms used: Baker McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills Simon Farrant at Johnson Matthey is described as an ‘under the radar’ GC. ‘He’s forward thinking and championed...
Retail and Consumer Products | Diageo
Team size: 252 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Bristows, Slaughter and May Diageo’s Siobhán Moriarty has long been well regarded by the in-house community. Already GC of the multinational...
Banks and professional services | Bank of England
Team size: 150 Major law firms used: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, White & Case Patrick Sarch, corporate partner at White & Case, describes Bank of England GC Sonya Branch as his...
TMT | Daily Mail and General Trust
Team size: 23 Major law firms used: Bird & Bird, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Reed Smith, Slaughter and May For Spencer Davis, GC of Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), last...
TMT | Guardian Media Group
Team size: 4 Major law firms used: Ashfords, Baker McKenzie, Bristows, DAC Beachcroft, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Greenberg Traurig, MinterEllison Three years ago, The Guardian was running a significant operating loss,...
Retail and Consumer Products | Specsavers
Team size: 55 Major law firms used: BLM, Blake Morgan, Eversheds Sutherland, Hill Dickinson, Womble Bond Dickinson Srechko Jernej Kontelj, commonly known as Stretch, is not your typical in-house legal...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Network Rail
Team size: 26 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland Network Rail GC Stuart Kelly has faced constant change since taking the top legal job two years...
Real Estate, Transport and Infrastructure | Land Securities Group
Team size: 5 Major law firms used: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, DLA Piper, Eversheds Sutherland Land Securities Group (Landsec) GC Tim Ashby has gone from...
Retail and Consumer Products | Marks and Spencer
Team size: 30 Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, DWF, Gowling WLG, Lewis Silkin, Osborne Clarke, Slaughter and May Verity Chase is the highly regarded...
TMT | Sky
Team size: 90 in the UK Major law firms used: Herbert Smith Freehills It will be the end of an era when James Conyers steps down as Sky’s GC this...
The research process for the GC Powerlist has grown substantially since the first report was published in 2013, and now encompasses online nominations as well as substantial interviews with senior general counsel (GCs) and private practitioners.
The first stage for the 2019 report began in early December with the launch of an online survey to canvass recommendations for outstanding GCs.. …read more
The online survey posed the following questions:
Separately, a team of journalists in November began researching the report via interviews with senior lawyers in-house and private practice to canvass nominations. The core team comprised corporate counsel editor Hamish McNicol and senior reporter Tom Baker, who have regularly covered in-house and deal with GCs for Legal Business and The In-House Lawyer, as well as research writer and reporter Anna Cole-Bailey. City editor Nathalie Tidman, senior reporter Marco Cillario and reporter Thomas Alan also contributed with extensive private practice interviews.
The research period continued into mid-February, with the final names reviewed by Legal Business’s editors, from which we aimed to draw up a list of 102 outstanding individuals.
With the core research, we were looking to individuals that have a strong track record in developing talent, implementing inventive and thoughtful new projects and systems, and those with a demonstrable record of working on successful initiatives.
Weight was given to individuals that received multiple recommendations or those that could demonstrate commercial qualities beyond legal skills. Even more weight was given to the seniority and credibility of those nominating or vouching for individuals. We in addition often looked for credible third-party citations.
Vision, purpose, focus. In my experience as a managing partner, these are essential ingredients for high performance organisations; essential ingredients for high performance teams; and essential ingredients for high performance individuals.
The GC Powerlist 2019 backs that up. And with some impact.
From cover to cover, the Powerlist is a ‘who’s who’ of senior in-house lawyers who have demonstrated the vision, purpose and focus to run legal teams that add true commercial value to their businesses. And that value is increasingly recognised at the highest level. Many of the GCs listed have already taken that coveted step to occupy a seat at the boardroom table; the rest are well on their way.
Of course, clarity of vision, purpose, and focus – while critical – can only take you so far. It’s the values you espouse and the behaviours that you demonstrate day to day which determine the
extent to which you succeed – or fail – in achieving your ambitions. And in helping your organisations achieve theirs.
Many of the most successful GCs we come across at RPC – a good number of whom I’m pleased to see in this year’s Powerlist – are cut from a common cloth. They share a single-minded service mindset, acutely focused on cutting through the background noise to deliver solutions, simply and effectively.
Client focus, for them, is second nature. It’s the starting point. They put the interests of their internal clients – and the business as a whole – front and centre in every decision they make. And they are disciplined in their approach to delivering on the commitments they make, big and small.
The true leaders are supremely collaborative. They work together inside and outside their teams – inside and outside their organisations – to bring out the best in each other for the good of the business, and the good of the people they work with.
And finally – as I wrote about at length here last year – they understand the value of diversity, in its broadest sense. By that I mean diversity of thought, diversity of experience and diversity of leadership. Importantly, they don’t just understand it, they deliver on it.
There are, of course, many differences between running a law firm and running an in-house legal team. But it strikes me that – as with these values – there are many similarities, too. Like a managing partner, GCs must focus on consistently providing the business with the best technical and commercial advice; they must deliver on their commitments to clients, all the time, every time; and, to achieve this, they must bring out the best in the people around them.
Those are the disciplines, the values, and the behaviours I obsess about at RPC. Looking through the Powerlist – and reading about the achievements of those included – tells me we in private practice can continue to learn a lot from looking at the way our in-house counterparts operate.
At RPC, we’ve been involved with the GC Powerlist since its inception over seven years ago, and we’ve certainly learned plenty along the way. It was then – and it remains now – the definitive line-up of the leading and most forward-thinking in-house lawyers in the market.
Congratulations to all those featured.
James Miller
Managing partner Tel: 020 3060 6517
james.miller@rpc.co.uk
