The 2014 GC Powerlist focused on the rising stars of the in-house community. Three years on, we look back at the career moves of our line-up
Featured in this year’s GC Powerlist, UniCredit’s global head of capital markets for legal, Alex Ainley, offers some advice to junior lawyers embarking on a career in-house: ‘When the opportunity to work on something arises, however menial it appears, take advantage of that opportunity. Always say yes.’
Ainley echoes the sentiment shared by our previously-cited in-house counsel to watch. In 2014, the GC Powerlist for the first time focused on the rising stars of the in-house world, naming 101 lawyers, primarily in their 30s and early 40s.
Returning to the original line-up three years on – an intervening period in which risk, enforcement and regulation has continued to dominate the corporate agenda and fuelled an expanding in-house profession – there have been plenty of opportunities to develop their careers.
Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the insurance industry, which has generated a healthy run of M&A activity in recent years, not to mention substantial regulatory challenges amid a changing European insurance regulatory regime.
A sample of industry lawyers who ascended to general counsel (GC) level since featuring in the 2014 report includes Charlotte Heiss, who was appointed RSA’s group chief legal officer and company secretary and appointed to the group executive in 2016 after incumbent Derek Walsh stepped down. The Linklaters-trained Heiss now reports to chief executive Stephen Hester and has re-launched the insurance giant’s delayed legal panel review, set to be completed in July.
Former RSA lawyer Alexandra Moon has also moved into senior management, having joined Novae in February 2015 as its first group GC. Formerly at Allen & Overy and Travers Smith before moving in-house, Moon served as GC for the emerging markets division at RSA, leading a team of over 60 legal and compliance staff across 21 countries in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
At Aviva meanwhile, Slaughter and May-trained Neil Harrison has since been promoted from heading legal for the insurance giant’s M&A capital markets division to group GC for Asia. Harrison was previously cited for his work on strategic deals, including Aviva’s £1.7bn sale of its US business to Athene in October 2013. Group GC and company secretary Kirsty Cooper says: ‘Neil has been a great success story for us. He’s brilliant. He was promoted nearly two years after you had him on that list. We promoted him because we saw him as someone who was a star of the future.’
Financial services also offers huge scope to build a varied career, and arguably faces the biggest challenges of any UK industry post-Brexit. Amid years of intense regulatory pressure, the banking sector has given opportunity for a host of lawyers cited in our 2014 report to rise further. Barclays’ group centre legal GC, Simon Croxford today ranks as one of its most senior lawyers after succeeding deputy GC Michael Shaw, now legal chief at The Royal Bank of Scotland. Croxford started his career at Linklaters, followed by a short stint at UBS before joining Barclays in 2005. On arrival, he became responsible for managing the legal team across Barclays’ investment banking arm in Europe and the Middle East.
Google’s UK and Ireland legal chief Emma Jelley departed in late 2016 for a role as GC at tech start-up Onfido.
In the funds industry, previously featured rising stars include former Herbert Smith lawyer Lauren Livingston, who was promoted at the end of 2014 to take over as managing director of legal at CVC Capital Partners, from Richard Perris, who moved to take on a role at CVC Credit Partners.
Livingston – cited by one admirer for her ‘total commitment, drive and intelligence’ – joined CVC in 2007 and was instrumental in the group’s six-month €10.9bn fundraising which, despite a challenging period for the private equity market, at its close in June 2013 became the second-largest fundraising since the financial crisis.
Another rising star to take on a new challenge is David Johnson, who was responsible for supporting the structured credit desk at Citigroup’s London office until 2015, when he relocated to Abu Dhabi for a role as associate GC in the treasury and global markets business at First Gulf Bank.
If financial services firms in the post-Lehman era have bred sprawling legal teams with many opportunities to advance, the leaner legal operations in the real estate industry are a different matter. Real estate counsel on one hand often get substantial experience early in their careers, but have fewer opportunities to advance internally.
Several months after his appearance in the GC Powerlist‘s real estate chapter, former British Army officer Alex Peeke joined Land Securities, the UK’s largest listed property company, as its head of legal from The Crown Estate. Replacing Clive Ashcroft, who retired after 32 years at the company, the Slaughters-trained Peeke took over the day-to-day conduct of the legal function and operations and reports to GC and company secretary Tim Ashby.
One of the few rising stars to return to private practice was real estate finance lawyer Quentin Gwyer, who last summer departed his role as executive counsel at GE Capital Real Estate for Latham & Watkins.
The sports industry is also known for having small in-house legal teams. Despite this, tough regulation and increasingly lucrative commercial deals have enabled in-house lawyers to establish strong profiles in recent years. The Rugby Football Union’s Angus Bujalski, a former Slaughters lawyer, was promoted to lead its legal team following the departure of deputy head Polly Handford to sports law firm Couchmans in 2014. Bujalski reports directly to the organisation’s legal and governance director Karena Vleck, and is responsible for the legal and regulatory function across the professional and grass-roots game.
The most eye-catching role went to Verity Chase, who last year became GC at FTSE 100 retailer M&S.
Retail and consumer products is considered an increasingly attractive sector for in-house counsel, with contract work, regulation and compliance, competition law, and litigation all major features of industry lawyers’ agendas.
Arguably the most eye-catching role to go to one of the lawyers highlighted in the 2014 report went to Verity Chase, who last year assumed the role of GC at FTSE 100 retailer Marks and Spencer (M&S). Chase, who was noted in the 2014 report for an instrumental role in the retailer’s international plans, took over from M&S’s longstanding legal chief Robert Ivens to oversee a team of 30.
Another in-house counsel working in retail to change her role was Amy Holt, who last year left a senior role at John Lewis to co-found law and accountancy firm Holt Baker in June 2016. Having advised on brand-related work during her five-year stint at John Lewis, including its sponsorship of the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games, Holt currently acts as a consultant to boards and business owners on commercial partnerships and risk management.
The technology, media and telecoms sector has seen frenetic levels of activity over the last three years. Boosted by major consolidation in the telecoms sector across Europe, including Three and O2, and BT and EE, it is expected to remain an attractive industry for ambitious in-house counsel.
Google’s longstanding UK and Ireland legal chief Emma Jelley departed the search engine giant in late 2016 for a role as GC at tech start-up Onfido. Specialising in deal negotiation, contract drafting, litigation strategy, and IP portfolio management, Jelley is Onfido’s first legal chief. The London-based start-up was established in 2015 and provides software which automates background checks, allowing employers and companies to vet potential job candidates.
Others securing promotions include BT’s Russell Johnstone, who in 2015 succeeded Nigel Paterson as the telecom giant’s GC for consumer legal, governance, compliance and regulatory following Paterson’s appointment as GC at Dixons Carphone. Johnstone previously served as chief counsel for TV and led the legal team which supports BT Sport, BT TV, and YouView from BT.
Traditionally a more progressive environment than private practice, career progression in-house nevertheless is often ambiguous, with companies offering little structure to lawyers seeking an alternative to the partnership route. As such, networking and profile-raising within the industry are even more crucial than at law firms by the time in-house counsel reach their mid-30s.
As Fox Rodney Search managing director Siobhán Lewington concludes: ‘It’s incredibly important to continuously develop your skills. You can do this by gaining experience in new areas and ensuring you are involved in new company projects and strategic initiatives. This will allow you to refresh your role, while also energising you and keeping your CV fresh and dynamic.
‘Equally, ensure you spend time on personal and professional development – both inside your company and within the wider legal and business community. Lastly, be strategic and choose your moves wisely. Think about what skills or experience you need to grow to the next level and ensure that your next role offers you the opportunity to develop at least one of these.’