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
It has been a delight for Legal 500 to present the inaugural edition of the GC Powerlist: Belgium 2025 in Brussels, celebrating the outstanding in-house professionals shaping this jurisdiction’s corporate legal landscape.
This year’s reception welcomed the stemmed senior in-house counsel community in Belgium, recognising their contributions to adaptability, innovation, and integrity in the in-house legal sphere in the country. Their hard and committed work is positioning Belgium as one of the most dynamic and resilient jurisdictions in the region.
Carmen Godoy, editor of the Legal 500 team, opened the evening on behalf of Isabel Caine, lead editor of this very first edition of the GC Powerlist: Belgium 2025. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces from previous Benelux Powerlist editions and a pleasure to welcome those featuring in the GC Powerlist for the first time.
In her remarks, Godoy highlighted the powerful blend of adaptability, strategic insight and principled leadership that the in-house legal counsel of Belgium demonstrated throughout the research process. From playing a more proactive role in shaping business models to doing so while maintaining ethical standards, fostering trust, and supporting inclusive organisational cultures, the GCs, CLOs, heads of legal and other senior in-house counsel in the room had many achievements to celebrate.
Following Godoy, Christophe Laurent, managing partner of Loyens & Loeff Belgium, our hosts of the evening, addressed the audience with some remarks highlighting the invaluable contributions that in-house legal leadership brings to their organisations.
On behalf of the entire Legal 500 team, we extend our warmest congratulations to everyone included in the inaugural edition of the GC Powerlist: Belgium.
We would also like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Loyens & Loeff for joining us in recognising the exceptional talent driving progress across Belgium’s legal profession.
