Legal Business

Aviva

Posted on |
In-house Aviva
legal-business-default
  • Group general counsel and company secretary: Kirsty Cooper.
  • General counsel: Monica Risam.
  • Team headcount: 150 lawyers in the UK.

Team heads Monica Risam (pictured) and Kirsty Cooper, who serve as GC and group GC respectively, have worked to implement multiple new initiatives, which have helped to establish Aviva as having one of the most forward-thinking legal teams in the sector.

This includes its first panel process (resulting in £2m of cost savings); creating a legal leadership development programme alongside a ‘soft skills’ personal impact programme; last year establishing an unusual forum for insurance legal teams to discuss pressing sector issues and best-practice initiatives; and creating a permanent group secondment seat.

Cooper manages a total of 332 staff, 225 of which are in the UK, including all the lawyers and chartered secretaries across the group. Major pieces of work in recent months include its acquisition of Friends Life for £5.2bn; a deal that saw Aviva pledge to deliver £225m of annual cost savings within three years of the acquisition, and constituting one of the biggest deals the UK insurance sector has seen in years.

Allen & Overy partner Sarah Henchoz comments: ‘It’s a really dynamic team focused on delivering innovative solutions to the business and not throwing up legal blockers. They really see themselves in partnership with the business to deliver the end result to customers.’

Within Cooper’s team, head of legal at Aviva Broker UK, Howard Grand, is also highlighted for his efforts in leading Aviva’s response to the Competition and Markets Authority investigation into private motor insurance and Aviva’s road-to-reform proposals for wider market reform.

Legal Business

Panel review – Aviva reveals new look line up

Posted on |
Adviser reviews Aviva
legal-business-default

Global law has largely won the day for Aviva as it today (30 August) announced that Latham & Watkins, Ashurst, DLA Piper, Linklaters, Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard have won a place on its panel for international and UK work.

Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy (A&O), appointed in April as the company’s most senior legal advisers to the Aviva board, were automatically included in the eight-firm line up. However, Clifford Chance, which lost its place as a board adviser to A&O in April and was invited to tender during this latest stage, has not been selected for the new-look panel.A&O and Slaughters will take their place alongside Latham, Ashurst, DLA and Linklaters for international work, while Pinsent Masons and Addleshaws will assist Aviva with lower-cost national work.

This core group of advisers represents a coup for global law, after Aviva asked 35 firms to pitch from jurisdictions including the UK, Ireland, Italy, Spain, France and Poland.

However, the FTSE 100 insurer, which obtained a discount of between 15-40% on its advisers’ headline rates during the tender process, has also made a number of appointments for discrete specialisms and three additional jurisdictions.

Reinsurance work – which saw a specialist panel put together in 2012 with the work awarded to CMS Cameron McKenna and Clyde & Co – has been brought under the new umbrella panel but only Clyde & Co has been instructed going forward.

Meanwhile, Matheson and Arthur Cox have won roles to advise in Ireland, Garrigues in Spain and Bonelli Erede Pappalardo in Italy. Appointed to advise Aviva Investors on specialist funds work are Nabarro, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Field Fisher Waterhouse and Proskauer Rose. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has been appointed to advise the group on dispute resolution matters; Mills & Reeve on employment; Willkie Farr & Gallagher on US matters and Appleby for offshore work.

One of the reasons for keeping panel numbers small is to obtain the maximum volume discount and Aviva’s in-house lawyers will have to follow a set protocol if they wish to instruct firms outside of the panel and justify their reasons for doing so.

All of the firms invited to pitch had an existing relationship with Aviva and, according to group general counsel Monica Risam (pictured), who led the rigorous panel review, chemistry and the relationship with Aviva was an important factor in the process, which saw firms graded on a number of other key criteria, including market leadership and positioning, evidence of their capability to fulfil the proposed services, relevant experience with Aviva, suitability of proposed lawyers, relationship management proposition and discount levels.

Risam, who reviewed each individual panel pitch alongside Aviva’s procurement team, said: ‘Delivering cost savings was a huge priority but our priority is quality and for every piece of work multiple firms will be asked to provide a quote so we can spread the work around.’

The panel appointment is for two years.

caroline.hill@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

PROFILE: Kirsty Cooper and Monica Risam – Aviva

Posted on |
In-house Aviva
legal-business-default

Legal Business meets Aviva’s senior lawyers as they discuss the effects of a major restructuring.

For those lawyers comfortable with the status quo within Aviva’s legal team, it has been a turbulent 18 months.

The FTSE 100 insurance giant has been plagued since the start of the financial crisis by poor financial performance, disparate businesses across the globe, and lower capital reserves than its competitors. Shareholders had lost confidence in former chief executive Andrew Moss, which is why Aviva is now run by the man credited with turning round the fortunes of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group.

Legal Business

Kirsty Cooper – Aviva

Posted on |
In-house Aviva
legal-business-default

Kirsty Cooper

Group general counsel and company secretary

Aviva

 

Kirsty Cooper manages a total of 270 individuals, half of whom are based overseas. This includes all the lawyers and chartered secretaries across the group. In 2011, the company spent a whopping £60m on its legal spend, excluding any UK-based general insurance claims. Of this, half was spent on external law firms.