Team size: Ten

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

Over the past twelve months I have led the legal strategy on a number of high-profile and business-critical initiatives across LiveScore Group’s media, technology and betting operations. These included our principal partnership with Sunderland AFC (who had an incredible season back in the Premier League!), our inaugural front-of-shirt sponsorship of Hashtag United’s men’s and women’s teams, the launch of our Virgin Bet brand into South Africa following a complex regulatory and product programme, and a groundbreaking strategic partnership with X and xAI focussed on audience engagement and product innovation worldwide. We also in-housed our global programmatic advertising capability and supported the business through significant gambling regulatory developments in both the UK and Ireland, which have required large-scale product and administrative change programmes.

Alongside these growth initiatives, I continued to lead on several complex contentious and corporate matters As general counsel (GC) and a member of the executive leadership team, my role extends well beyond legal execution; I am responsible for helping the business navigate regulatory change, manage risk, drive commercial outcomes and support long-term strategic growth across a highly regulated international business – and most importantly, ensuring our wonderful workforce is engaged and committed in doing so.

Please provide a brief description of any internal transformation/development projects within your legal team over the last twelve months.

Over the past twelve months, the LiveScore Group legal team has undergone a significant AI-led transformation. Following a comprehensive RFP and trial process, we selected and implemented new tooling across the team for contract and commercial drafting, subsequently customising the software with our in-house playbooks, model clauses and delegated authority frameworks to reflect the needs of our business. We have also embraced an “AI-first” approach within the team, developing agents for regulatory horizon scanning, maintaining risk registers and stakeholder self-service, while collaboratively building knowledge banks and prompt libraries to drive consistency and efficiency across our advice.

Beyond legal workflows, we have introduced enhanced AI functionality within our procurement platform, significantly reducing contract review times and improving risk assessment processes. These initiatives have enabled the team to operate more strategically and at greater scale, while remaining true to our Legal Team’s core values of being “diligent, pragmatic and supportive”.

What are the most important attributes of the modern GC and what advice would you give to those aspiring to be an in-house lawyer?

The modern GC needs to be equal parts businessperson and lawyer. Technical legal skills are a given – particularly by the time you have reached GC level; what differentiates the best in-house lawyers is their ability to understand the commercial drivers of the business and help deliver its strategic objectives. That means taking time to learn skills that they do not teach at law school or in private practice: how to read accounts, understand a P&L, analyse data and insights, assess risk commercially, and communicate effectively with stakeholders who are not lawyers.

My advice to aspiring in-house lawyers is to focus relentlessly on becoming a trusted business partner. Be a great listener, learn how to communicate clearly and openly so that you build strong relationships across the organisation… nobody takes advice from a lawyer they do not trust! Most importantly, leave academic legal posturing and theoretical arguments at the door. Businesses rarely need lengthy black-letter legal answers; they need practical, commercially sensible, pragmatic solutions. The lawyers who thrive in-house are those who can navigate complexity, explain risk in plain English and help the business move forward with confidence. I’ve also found that an “everything can be solved” attitude is the key to a successful in-house career!

With increasing regulatory complexity across jurisdictions, how do you embed compliance across the business?

Regulatory compliance cannot be owned by the legal team alone, particularly in highly regulated international businesses such as ours. In my experience, the most effective compliance cultures are built when there is genuine buy-in from the very top of the organisation and accountability shared across all functions and all levels. The role of legal is not simply to interpret regulation, but to help the business understand what is coming, why it matters and how it can be addressed in a practical and commercially sensible way.

I place a strong emphasis on horizon scanning and early engagement with potential regulatory change. The earlier stakeholders can understand what is coming (and why), the more likely they are to embrace it. I have always favoured a “carrot over stick” approach: translating complex legal and regulatory requirements into clear, accessible guidance and bringing people on the journey and asking for collaboration, rather than imposing compliance upon them. Good communication, strong relationships and shared ownership are, in my view, the foundations of embedding compliance across any business.

Beyond your legal role, is there a cause or initiative you are especially passionate about?

Beyond my legal role, I am passionate about the power of sport to change lives and create opportunities. This is one of the main reasons I serve as an Independent Non-Executive Director of GB Boxing, where I contribute to the governance and long-term success of one of Team GB’s most successful World Class and Olympic programmes.

What motivates me most is helping to create pathways that enable participation at every level, from grassroots engagement through to elite performance. Sport has a unique ability to build confidence, resilience, discipline and community, and I am committed to supporting initiatives that make those benefits accessible to as many people as possible.

Through my work at LiveScore Group, combined with my contributions at GB Boxing / Team GB (in particularly in my role as Chair of the organisation’s DEI Steering Group) I have the privilege of helping to shape environments where athletes can thrive and inspire future generations to get involved in sport.