United Kingdom Rising Stars 2014
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
The Legal 500 has been analysing the capabilities of law firms across the world for 28 years. In a new series, The Legal 500 is turning its attention to the in-house function, shining a spotlight on the role of corporate counsel, and in particular those individuals who are driving both legal business and the profession forwards.
The aim of the UK: Rising Stars is to highlight those standout performers coming into their own at major companies, typically but not exclusively during their 30s – the GCs of tomorrow if you like….read more
Given the relatively flat nature of the career structure below group GC level and the increasing breadth of the UK in-house profession, identifying and then narrowing down the field to 100 was obviously going to prove more challenging than highlighting a group of GCs who had already climbed to the top of their ladder.
Our research, which was led by Legal Business news editor Caroline Hill and reporters Francesca Fanshawe and Sarah Downey, went through several stages, beginning with the online collection of hundreds of individual nominations before we moved to directly canvassing senior figures in the profession. Inevitably, pulling together such a list is not an exact science once you go beyond the easy-to identify standout chief legal officers at major companies, but the breadth of nominations and weeks of research among our established contact base means we feel we’ve made a very credible start on which to build in future. To widen the scope of the project, we have also built on the core UK Powerlist itself to solicit commentary on the changing demands made of up-and-coming in-house counsel and to provide analysis of how the career outlook and opportunities of working with major corporates are evolving. To keep continuity with last year’s report and the 100 senior UK GCs we highlighted in 2013, this group was again canvassed for their input on the best mid-level talent on offer and how they as GCs are looking to develop more of this breed.
David Burgess
Publishing Director
Legal 500 returned to Bucharest to celebrate the launch of the GC Powerlist: Romania 2025, held in partnership with Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații. The event brought together leading in-house counsel from across the country for an evening recognising their work, leadership, and clear impact within their organisations.
The event opened with remarks from Stefan Damian, Deputy Managing Partner at Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații, who spoke about the ongoing development of the in-house legal role and its growing importance within companies.
This was followed by a keynote address from Gabriela Popescu, Corporate, External and Legal Affairs Lead for Central Europe and Interim General Manager at Microsoft, who spoke about the evolving role of the general counsel and the key factors that underpin a successful transition from a GC position to that of a general manager.
A reception followed, giving this year’s honourees the chance to connect with peers and exchange experiences.
We extend our thanks to Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații for supporting the recognition of Romania’s outstanding general counsel community, and congratulate all recognised general counsel on their achievements.
