With work including the proposed merger of Vodafone and Three’s UK businesses – a deal that would create the largest mobile operator in the UK; the successful defence of the £1bn Phones 4u litigation – the culmination of a decade’s worth of work for Vodafone’s legal team; and the launch of a major in-house transformation project, it’s fair to say that Vodafone’s lawyers have been keeping themselves busy.
Legal Business caught up with Vodafone UK’s head of legal, Karen Thorpe (pictured, sixth from left), to discuss an award-winning year.
Congratulations on winning Legal Business In-House Team of the Year! Has it been an exceptional year?
Well, we’ve been working on the proposed merger with Three which is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a legal team, we’ve also had the Phones 4u case which is a significant piece of litigation, we’ve supported contracts, propositions and new product development as well as Vodafone’s wider purpose initiatives (such as everyone.connected), and we’ve been really driving change across the team through innovation and efficiency initiatives. It has been a really big year in terms of work that we’ve been involved in. And if we receive approval for the merger, we’ll have another significant year coming up.
What’s the best thing about being an in-house lawyer?
Firstly, the team that we’ve got at Vodafone. It really is such a supportive environment with a great team culture. Besides that, the best thing is the challenging nature of the work and the fact that you are part of the business. You’re not just a lawyer advising on a transaction – you are at the heart of it from the start.
If there is such a thing as a typical day for you, what does it look like?
A typical day is basically I never get anything done on my to-do list! Joking aside, a large part of my time is working with my broader team and making sure that we’ve got the right resources and support for projects, and that we are managing and evaluating risk appropriately. Also really driving the team in terms of efficiency and transformation to ensure we can support the business as effectively as possible.
A decade’s work went into the Phones 4u litigation, did you enjoy working on the case?
Being part of such a case is fascinating for everyone involved, including the lawyers from both the UK and Group teams who have worked on this long-running matter. Yes, it’s challenging for the business, but it’s very interesting as a lawyer to see how these things work. Now that the decision has been appealed, we will be continuing to work on this one.
An 11-week trial involving over 40 witnesses must have taken some coordination. Talk me through the build-up to the trial.
I think it’s all the preparation in terms of making sure that we had the right people, that we had all their evidence and that the witnesses were as prepared and comfortable as possible. Even for senior executives, going into a courtroom is not a particularly pleasant experience.
At its busiest, how many in-house lawyers were working on the proposed merger with Three?
I would say between 15 and 20 in-house lawyers across different disciplines have been involved so far at various points and to various degrees. This is across both my UK team and lawyers within the Group team as well. Obviously, as well as doing that, we still have to do the day job and deliver on everything else that Vodafone wants to do. So, yes, it’s a challenge, but a good one.
What are the main challenges in a transaction like this?
I would say managing the volume of work and the number of stakeholders that need to be involved. From an in-house perspective, it’s just bringing that all together with excellent communication and teamwork.
Assuming the merger is approved in December, what would the in-house team look like for the newly combined company?
We haven’t got that far yet. But I’m excited about the possibility of a team that will be able to deliver on an even bigger basis than we do today. We will be evolving and working on new ideas and new strategies. That’s partly why I’ve stayed in technology and telecoms for so long – it always changes; there’s always something new.
