Rising Stars: Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare

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Rising Stars: Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare

Amanda Miller Collins

Vice president and lead European counsel

SHIRE

As a UK-focused, Irish-headquartered entity with operational headquarters in the US, primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on Nasdaq, Shire’s legal team needs a lot of cross-border expertise. The former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer lawyer Amanda Miller Collins has been part of Shire’s legal division since 2003 and, where the pharmaceutical industry has witnessed frenzied deal-making in recent years, has been tasked with helping co-ordinate the company’s growth.

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Rising Stars: Retail

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Rising Stars: Retail

Anna Lawrence

Legal director, offer and supply chain

KINGFISHER

Anna Lawrence is legal director of Kingfisher’s offer and supply chain business unit. Formed in 2015, the business brings together the buying teams for a large portfolio of home improvement brands, including B&Q and Screwfix in the UK and Brico Dépôt and Castorama in France, with Lawrence now overseeing everything from managing relationships with suppliers to monitoring IP on thousands of product lines globally.

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Rising Stars: Technology, Media and Telecoms

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Rising Stars: Technology, Media and Telecoms

Alexandra McGurk

Vice president and counsel, litigation

WILLIAM MORRIS ENDEAVOR ENTERTAINMENT/IMG

Recently promoted to vice president and counsel, litigation, Alexandra McGurk is described by one TMT partner as ‘a very clever lawyer who manages a diverse range of problems in a commercial manner with a high degree of focus on positive outcomes’.

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The fast fast track – meet the clients of tomorrow

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The fast fast track – meet the clients of tomorrow

Fast-growth, tech-driven companies are reshaping the economy. But what’s it like to be their general counsel?

As the old joke goes, if you want to make a million from a start-up, start with three million. It is a market-dominated by founders’ visions rather than revenue-generating products. That typically means a lot of money is burned through before investors can expect returns. But, as recent high-value initial public offerings have shown, the rewards on offer can be enormous. Start-ups are also becoming hugely important to the wider economy. In the UK alone, they are worth nearly £200bn a year, according to a recent report by Virgin StartUp.

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Fintech and Alternative Finance

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Fintech and Alternative Finance

SEEDRS

Industry/sector: Venture capital

Founded: 2009

Founders: Jeff Lynn, Carlos Silva

Chief legal officer: Karen Kerrigan

Based: London

Seedrs began as an MBA project at Oxford’s Saïd Business School before launching in 2012. In May that year it raised £1.3m in funding and received authorisation to become the first regulated equity crowdfunding platform in the world. Like Crowdcube, its model is based on bringing crowd investors and entrepreneurs together to invest in start-ups. It has now funded over 350 companies and helped to invest over £130m through campaigns on its platform.

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Technology and Digital Business

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Technology and Digital Business

 

SKYSCANNER

Industry/sector: Travel

Founded: 2001

Founders: Gareth Williams, Barry Smith, Bonamy Grimes

General counsel: Carolyn Jameson

Founded in Edinburgh in 2001, Skyscanner has revenues of £120m and has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London in the UK with additional offices in locations including Singapore, Beijing, Miami, Barcelona, and Tokyo. The site is available in over 30 languages and on average is used by 60 million people per month.

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Pharma and Life Sciences

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Pharma and Life Sciences

DEEPMIND HEALTH

Industry/sector: Medical research/data

Founded: 2010 (DeepMind), 2016 (DeepMind Health)

Founders (DeepMind): Demis Hassabis (pictured), Shane Legg, Mustafa Suleyman

General counsel: Trevor Callaghan (DeepMind)

Based: London

In early 2016, Google-owned artificial intelligence (AI) specialist DeepMind announced it would create a healthcare division. DeepMind has chalked up some notable successes in advanced AI – including creating AlphaGo, the first programme to beat a human player at the game of Go – making the formation of DeepMind Health one of the most touted recent developments in the life sciences sector.

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Trailblazers

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The Companies of Tomorrow: Trailblazers

SECRET ESCAPES

Industry/sector: Travel

Founded: 2010

Founders: Tom Valentine, Alex Saint

Head of legal: Christine Cordon

Heralded as one of the UK’s runaway tech success stories, members-only British travel company Secret Escapes has made its mark in the travel industry selling heavily discounted luxury hotel stays and trips through its website and mobile app.

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