Team size:   350  

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

The BT Group is going through a once-in-a-generation transformation. We are investing £15bn in our broadband network and upgrading our mobile network to the latest 5G technology. Our teams have carried out the following, among others: 

Our employment legal team navigated industrial strike action, enabling BT to reach a settlement with our unions and pay our staff fairly. Our networks and regulatory teams worked closely with Ofcom and the government to ensure compliance with sanctions imposed on Russia and Huawei.  

Our business division led on winning a £350m contract to provide Scotland’s largest public sector telecoms contract, expanded our partnership with Amazon Web Services, supported the British Army to create smart Wi-Fi army bases, and were awarded £3.5m in damages in relation to a trucks cartel investigation.  

Our IP team won a significant case at the High Court and Court of Appeal on BT’s patent licence with ASSIA, avoiding network disruption and further patent litigation. Our data team is leading BT’s digital transformation to enable responsible, data-driven innovation and growth, implementing an accountability framework to monitor BT’s data compliance and benchmark ourselves against the industry, including the ethical and responsible use of AI.  

Our diversity and engagement scores are higher than ever, and we continue to work hard to make sure to celebrate the fantastic diversity of our team.  

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?  

Advancements in AI and technology will mean that our teams will focus on more strategic and complex legal work, leaving document review and management to be enabled by technology. General counsel will be pivotal at managing legal, regulatory, and commercial risks in implementing new technology, developing the appropriate guardrails and mechanisms to make the best use of technology.  

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? 

We partnered with managed services providers, Factor and DWF, to undertake less complex work and manage claims received by BT to ensure our team can continue to work on the most complex and strategic tasks.  

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?  

I set up a dedicated legal transformation team to drive innovation within the function. One of their main roles is to track the market, share insights and seek to disrupt the way we carry out our work to ensure we make the most of developments when they arise.