After nearly ten years of service at Network Rail including helping to restructure the body’s legal team and transfer to the public sector, corporate legal chief Natalie Jobling is standing down.
During her tenure at Network Rail, Jobling helped restructure the legal team and aided the rail organisation’s transition from an independent company to public sector ownership. Network Rail confirmed Jobling had stood down and said no replacement has been found yet. It is not yet clear what she will be doing next.
Jobling reported to general counsel (GC) Suzanne Wise, and was appointed GC corporate in April 2013, after serving as head of legal services commercial since March 2006. Before this, she was European legal counsel at GE Consumer Finance from June 2004. She also has worked on transactions, and has experience in regulated industries, competition law and compliance, and state aid.
Network Rail has an annual turnover of £6.3bn and around 34,000 employees, and uses a legal panel of five core firms for legal advice including Bond Dickinson, Dentons and Addleshaw Goddard alongside Eversheds, while Maclay Murray & Spens are used for Scottish law matters.
The organisation also uses three other firms for work in specialist areas including Clifford Chance for treasury/capital markets matters; Kennedys for health & safety and regulatory enforcement; and Winckworth Sherwood for public law. The panel was cut by more than half in 2013, when Network Rail reduced the amount of firms on its roster to five from 12.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
