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
The Legal 500 was delighted to be in Zurich on June 6th to celebrate the launch of the annual edition of the GC Powerlist Switzerland 2023, marking the very best in-house counsel in the country. The event was hosted at Park Hyatt Zurich, at the heart of the city centre, where guests could enjoy the sunlight during the outdoor reception.
It has been so good to be back in Zurich! Alongside key Legal 500 partners Axion and Baker McKenzie, we invited the top in-house counsel in the country to enjoy drinks and canapes — what a great chance to network with peers and talk about the future of the industry, best practices and challenges everyone is facing in the climate of global uncertainty.
Guests were welcomed by Sara Maggi, deputy editor for The Legal 500 GC Powerlist Series. Duresa Lika, client partner – continental Europe at Axiom, followed with some words of encouragement; Alexander Wyass, partner at Baker McKenzie, also congratulated the esteemed counsel for their achievements. Keynote speaker Kees Van Ophem shared some wisdom on the importance of being featured on the GC Powerlist Switzerland and future legal developments in the Swiss market.
The event was an enormous success. We look forward to being back in Zurich soon!
