Greggs
Jonathan Jowett’s most recent victory against the government-imposed ‘pasty-tax’, which raised Greggs’ share price by 9%, turned into a public remonstration generating over 500,000 petition signatures and protests in Whitehall.
Tesco
Adrian Morris’ team is vast – 250 staff, including 200 lawyers – but a company the size of Tesco needs a strong roster of external law firms to support that in-house team.
Merlin Entertainments Group
In running Merlin Entertainments Group’s legal team single-handedly, Colin Armstrong supports the entire group on all legal matters while his company secretarial function provides strategic and operational advice. Merlin is now the second-largest visitor attraction operator after Disney. The company manages 60 sites across Europe and the US, including family favourites such as Alton Towers, Sea Life, Legoland, Madame Tussauds, The Dungeons, Heide Park in Germany and the London Eye.
Continue reading “Colin Armstrong – Merlin Entertainments Group”
Capital Shopping Centres
Hugh Ford has a small in-house team at Capital Shopping Centres – just one other lawyer and a secondee. But this means he loves the variety of his job, the ‘never quite knowing what issue is going to come across your desk next’.
Jones Lang LaSalle
Nicolas Taylor has been general counsel at Jones Lang LaSalle for eight years and manages a team of 20 lawyers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and praises the ‘fantastic team culture’ at the real estate services company.
SEGRO
Elizabeth Blease has been general counsel of industrial property owner and developer SEGRO since 2008.
Grosvenor
Ulrike Schwarz-Runer joined Grosvenor as general counsel in 2010 and is currently overseeing some major changes within her legal department, particularly mooting the possibility of having a formal law firm panel.
Qatari Diar
Projects and construction partner Andrew Walsh joined Qatari Diar as acting general counsel from Speechly Bircham, where he was a partner. He was on secondment to Qatari Diar when he was offered the in-house role permanently in March 2011.
Lloyds Banking Group
One of the City’s most high-profile general counsel, Lesley Wan has led the real estate legal team at Lloyds Banking Group for six years.
The Crown Estate
The Crown Estate is a UK property business, governed by an Act of Parliament, that funnels all of its profits into HM Treasury, totalling around £2bn over the past ten years. Vivienne King has been in the top legal job at The Crown Estate since 2007.
