Maurice Woolf
Group General counsel
Interoute
Having practised in-house for telecoms companies since 1995 Maurice Woolf has, according to one telecoms lawyer, ‘long been at the heart of the UK communications industry’.
He uses outside counsel for big-ticket M&A and in specific areas where his team lacks the expertise, such as employment law. He turns to Bird & Bird for commercial work, Baker & McKenzie for corporate support and some regulatory work and Mayer Brown for transactional work.
From his external firms Woolf expects high standards of work, responsiveness, value for money and an understanding of Interoute’s needs. Value for money is important: he particularly dislikes the use of high-quality expensive lawyers for straightforward work and would like firms to embrace LPO more to make high volume, low value work cheaper.
Law firms used: Baker & McKenzie, Bird & Bird, Mayer Brown
2003-present: Group general counsel, Interoute
2002-03: General counsel, Bulldog Communications
1995-2007: Deputy general counsel, GTS/Ebone