None so zealous – how and why GCs fell in love with mentoring

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In-house counsel are increasingly united on the benefits of mentoring programmes. Is there substance behind the corporate fad?

‘I believe very strongly in leading by example,’ says Nokia global head of litigation Richard Vary. Although his legal team has a formal mentoring system in place, he believes it is the informal connections built in mentoring that play the most important role in developing in-house counsel. ‘You bring the people along, they see what you do, they see how you work rather than [you] telling people how to do their jobs. They’re professionals, they know what they’re doing. They’re intelligent – you give them the space to figure it out for themselves but also give them an example of the model of behaviours that you want.’

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Client profile: Richard Vary, Nokia

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The comms and IT multinational’s litigation head on the takeover of Alcatel-Lucent and its tax battle with India

When asked what keeps him in-house, Nokia’s Richard Vary is quick to tout travel and the adrenaline as two top selling points of the job. His role as head of litigation has placed him in some interesting scenarios over his ten years working for the multinational communications and IT company. ‘It was my birthday last year when I arrived at work and then discovered we had a hearing in India the next day,’ Vary told Legal Business. ‘So my 43rd birthday consisted of buying a shirt and a pair of pants, and jumping on the next British Airways flight to Delhi, sitting there in 40° heat in this packed, humid courtroom in a woollen suit, trying to follow the details in a tax case in the most run-down, awful building. There were chickens and goats outside the door of this courtroom, and some guy asleep on the floor in the back row, just fast asleep, lying on the concrete floor in the middle of a trial. It was very odd.’

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Straight to the source – the pros and occasional cons of direct access

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In-house teams instructing the Bar has gone mainstream over the last ten years. LB assesses how far direct access can go.

Twenty years ago the idea of any person instructing the Bar other than a private practice solicitor was frowned upon. Although as qualified solicitors in-house counsel always had the right to instruct barristers, convention dictated private practice lawyers acted as gatekeepers of the Bar for companies seeking advice on litigation. But, as the rules have changed and in-house lawyers have expanded their remits, corporate legal teams have come to appreciate the benefits of direct interaction with barristers.

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Client profile: Tom Melbye Eide, Royal Dutch Shell

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The energy group’s upstream legal chief discusses general counsel’s role as a risk partner and that £47bn deal

As BG Group general counsel (GC), and now executive vice president and GC for Royal Dutch Shell’s upstream business, Tom Melbye Eide has an enviable addition to his CV, considering his lead role in BG’s £47bn acquisition by Shell, the world’s second-biggest energy deal on record, which completed last month. Continue reading “Client profile: Tom Melbye Eide, Royal Dutch Shell”

Goodbye nine to five – rising hours put in-house flexi-working credentials to the test

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In-house has long made much of offering a better work-life balance than private practice. But as expectations and responsibilities rise for GCs, can in-house keep delivering on flexible working?

In June 2014 the government extended flexible working rights to more than 20 million employees across the UK in a policy shift that recognised the traditional nine-to-five routine no longer dominates British workplaces. But if such attitudes are relatively new to much of the economy, lawyers in in-house roles – traditionally a more progressive environment than private practice – have long put a premium on agile working.

Flexible working, defined as any pattern other than going into an office for five full days a week, can encompass part-time hours, job shares, nine-day fortnights or working from home. According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as of August 2015, eight million people work part-time in the UK out of just over 31 million in the UK workforce, while four million are estimated to primarily work from home. The biggest driver for flexible working requests remain parental responsibilities, but such arrangements have become more accepted for a wider range of reasons, including carer responsibilities, chronic illness, charity work or even the desire to pursue outside interests.

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Asia insight: Anti-corruption – Hunting dragons

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Following our report last year on anti-corruption investigations in Asia, we teamed up with Simmons & Simmons to host a round table discussion and dinner for in-house lawyers to debate the subject in Hong Kong.

In common with in-house lawyers everywhere, our guests have found anti-corruption, bribery and investigations to be an increasing and more compelling part of their workload, notwithstanding the fact that the burden is often shared by compliance and risk departments.

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Client profile: John Tribolati, JPMorgan Chase

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The investment bank’s EMEA GC on tackling the growth of global regulation and avoiding potholes along the way.

There’s a school of thought that says ‘never go back’ to a former lover or job. But having spent eight years at JPMorgan Chase & Co in the 1990s, a phone call from the investment bank’s ‘very persuasive’ general counsel (GC) Stacey Friedman in 2015 made John Tribolati’s decision to return to his old shop very easy. ‘It was an opportunity to have my own gig,’ he says.

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Glass houses – everything wrong with in-house counsel

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General counsel have been vocal in recent years about persistent problems in law firms but what about in-house teams? Legal Business talks to clients and counsel about where GCs go wrong.

It’s not hard these days to find outlets and forums for general counsel (GCs) to highlight the excesses and poor behaviour that still persist among law firms. High rates, padded bills, unresponsive service and an inability to put themselves in the position of clients are all cited repeatedly in events, surveys and coverage of the views of in-house counsel.

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Client profile: Paul van Reesch, Coca-Cola Enterprises

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The soft drink giant’s top European lawyer talks about value and facing pressure from the sugar lobby.

As a young man six months into his European travels, Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) legal chief Paul van Reesch realised he literally had a cent to his name.

Fortunately he was offered a job as a temporary lawyer at CCE and never needed the funds to move back home to Australia. Now he’s worked for the soft drink giant’s UK manufacturing and distribution business for more than a decade.

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