Group general counsel: Philip Bramwell. Team headcount: 130 lawyers. A FTSE 100 company, which is the third-largest defence group in the world and has more than 100,000 employees globally, needs a strong and varied in-house team. Fortunately, the legal department at BAE Systems has grown substantially since Philip Bramwell’s arrival in 2006 – legal has …
General counsel: Carol Hui. Team headcount: 16 lawyers. Considered as much a business adviser as a legal one, Heathrow Airport Holdings GC Carol Hui is praised for her team’s ‘clear strategic focus’ and for navigating the company through complex transactional and regulatory issues, while reducing reliance on external legal support. Since being taken private in …
General counsel and chief corporate officer: Chris Vaughan. Team headcount: 51 lawyers. It would be fair to say the legal team at international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty has had a tumultuous year with three profit warnings, a chief executive exit and merger talks with rival construction group Carillion. In addition, the team dealt with the …
General counsel: Edward Smith. Team headcount: 33 lawyers. There are few GCs like Edward Smith, who push their team members outside the remit of the traditional in-house counsel role. But the former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer encourages his team to think about gaining experience across the Telefónica UK business and less about behaving as lawyers. …
General counsel: Andrew Garard. Team headcount: 87 lawyers, including 65 in the UK. Over the past five years, ITV’s profitability has increased 300%, but costs in its tightly-managed legal and business affairs team have fallen 30%. The legal team has made a concerted effort to bring work other than M&A and litigation in-house, and has …
General counsel: Simon Dowson-Collins. Team headcount: 12 in legal and contracts, including four lawyers. The UK legal arm at publishing house HarperCollins is considered the ‘lifeblood of the organisation’, according to its chief Simon Dowson-Collins. In dealing with over 600 contracts a year for the acquisition of rights to publish books, the 12-strong team negotiates …
General counsel: James Conyers. Team headcount: 120 lawyers. A ccording to BSkyB’s GC James Conyers, the hallmark of a great in-house team is its ability to ‘successfully identify the key needs of the business it is serving and the most efficient way to meet those needs, ensuring they will continue to be met sustainably in …
Group general counsel: Alexandre Menais. Team headcount: 160 lawyers. In 2014 the total value of deals handled by Atos’ 160-strong, burgeoning legal team reached €3bn, including acquiring part of Xerox for €1.1bn, as the French IT services company also spun off Worldline in a €2bn initial public offering (IPO). Led by GC Alexandre Menais, the …
Group general counsel and company secretary: Rosemary Martin. Team headcount: 350 lawyers. Vodafone’s legal team is the equivalent of a sizeable law firm in its own right – housing 350 lawyers in 26 countries worldwide and across legal, compliance and corporate secretariat, with a central team based in the UK. Led by GC and company …
Group general counsel and company secretary: Dan Fitz. Team headcount: 400 lawyers including paralegals. BT’s standout legal team, led by group general counsel (GC) Dan Fitz, along with a senior management team that includes chief operating officer and director of compliance and ethics, Gareth Tipton, and GC for UK commercial legal services, Chris Fowler, has …
