Team size: approximately 150 lawyers in the UK

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

Systems is one of the largest defence, aerospace and security companies in the world. As well as the legal function in the UK, there are also substantial legal teams operating within Australia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and within the BAE Systems, Inc managed businesses in the US, Sweden and the UK. Within the UK businesses, we have lawyers embedded across each of the BAE Systems Air, Maritime & Land, and Digital Intelligence sectors, working closely with a range of specialist lawyers in the Head Office team, supporting M&A, compliance and regulation, ESG, real estate and environmental, intellectual property, dispute resolution, employment, pensions, and corporate and securities law matters.

We also have substantive teams supporting trade controls matters across the business, and a significant company secretariat function.

During 2024 and 2025, some of our key projects have included the support of key bids and contracts for major UK and international programmes, across all of our sectors, from a legal, trade controls and regulatory perspective, as well as major technology development programmes.

Examples of this support include: the establishment of a landmark joint venture agreement between BAE Systems and its industrial partners in Italy and Japan to establish a new company, Edgewing, which is critical to the success of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) to deliver a nextgeneration combat aircraft; the establishment and development of the FalconWorks® business within the Air Sector to invest in promising new and innovative technologies for the future, including the development of uncrewed systems; and supporting the Digital Intelligence business’ growth into new markets and capabilities, including the Azalea satellite cluster.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

The legal function’s ethos is to work in a highly collaborative way, with co-counselling active across the function. In support of this, we ensure our legal strategy aligns with the broader business strategy by deploying our lawyers within the sectors so that they can work hand-in-hand with business colleagues, while also advising on programmes throughout their lifecycle. Our sector lawyers are supported by our specialist lawyers and together, our most senior lawyers regularly review the legal risks which the company faces.

How can a general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?

In BAE Systems, we have a very strong compliance culture, with specialist legal teams supporting both ESG, and compliance and regulatory, matters across the business, working in close collaboration with the lawyers in each of the Sectors. In relation to ESG, as this remains an area of constant evolution, we have deployed a senior lawyer within our ESG team, who works cross functionally to raise awareness of ESG related legal and regulatory developments, and their expected impact on the company, as well as overseeing the governance and assurance activities for our ESG disclosures and non-financial reporting.