Katie Marshall
Company Secretary, Virgin Money
When Virgin Money bought Northern Rock in 2012, Marshall transferred to the company secretarial team because, in the words of one insider, ‘it needed a boost’.
Taking over from then director of legal and company secretary Jasan Fitzpatrick, Marshall at first took the deputy role, but having established a ‘fantastic’ day-to-day relationship with chief executive officer Jayne-Anne Gadhia, she was recently promoted to company secretary.
A rare insight into Marshall’s recent appraisal shows that Gadhia said: ‘I am a great admirer of Katie. She is able to present both appropriately and professionally at board level – and deal effectively with our rather less formal ways of working when necessary. She doesn’t flap but works hard and seems to deal with stress well (at least as far as I see her). She is polished and professional with our chairman and other board members. Fundamentally I think she “gets us” and I feel confident in her and trust her implicitly.
‘I think she can go a very long way and we should support her all we can in doing so. As you know, I’m not one quick to praise, so for me this is a really excellent write-up on someone who is doing an exceptional job.’
Marshall is praised for her technical excellence with an ability to drive forward work with accuracy and precision, anticipating pitfalls in complying with the increasingly complex governance maze and keeping the board up to date with all external developments and requirements.
One insider comments: ‘I can’t really put it any better. She is clearly a rising star for 2014 and a GC of the future.’
Rebecca Priestley
Head of HR Legal, Lloyds Banking Group
Priestley manages a legal team of ten lawyers at Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), providing legal and strategic advice on material employment, employee benefits and pension issues across the group’s global network, covering 100,000 employees.
One market commentator says: ‘She has a strong vision of where she wants the team to be and provides outstanding strategic and pragmatic leadership, ensuring her team can deliver business-ready solutions in a commercial way, without losing sight of the people-led culture within LBG. She is extremely bright but doesn’t use her intellect to browbeat those around her, rather to support and guide them.’
Priestley started out as a barrister at 2 Gray’s Inn Square but in 2000 became a senior employment associate at Simmons & Simmons before moving in-house to Standard Chartered Bank to set up an in-house legal risk function in 2006.
Since then, Priestley has led LBG’s defence of complex employment disputes and challenging HR issues, such as the proposed changes to its defined-benefit pension scheme.
A strong champion of gender equality, Priestley is also supporting deputy general counsel, Kate Cheetham, in leading a new forum for prominent law firms to find ways of improving access to law as well as the diversity of the legal profession.
Deputy General Counsel, KPMG
Barnicoat joined KPMG’s Office of General Counsel in 2004, was made an equity partner in 2011 and is now deputy GC, in charge of the firm’s corporate and commercial transactions. He sits on KPMG’s high-level strategic investment committee and has played a leading role in a series of mergers across Europe that has seen it become the largest professional services firm in Europe and the Middle East with around €5bn in annual revenues.
Recent UK and multijurisdictional acquisitions led by Barnicoat include advisory company EquaTerra; the 2013 acquisition of advisory firm Makinson Cowell; and Xantus.
Barnicoat is a versatile lawyer who, after qualifying as a litigator with Taylor Wessing, moved across into fraud and asset tracing at Holman Fenwick Willan before becoming a non-contentious lawyer for Trowers & Hamlins in Abu Dhabi, where he worked on the Emirates’ first-ever PFI deal to build a power and water desalination plant.
Other achievements include setting up KPMG’s global service centre in India, which now employs more than 4,000 people servicing 40 countries, and advising on KPMG’s investment into data and analytics investment fund KCapital.
Patrick Ambrose
Solicitor, Bank Of Ireland
A member of the in-house committee at the Dublin Solicitors Bar Association, Ambrose has become a spokesperson on best practice among in-house lawyers, having written a publication looking at the challenges in-house counsel face and how to develop a deeper understanding of best practice in the role of an in-house lawyer. In particular, he is an outspoken advocate of all internal legal advisers operating to the same high ethical and professional standards as private practice lawyers.
Ambrose has shown himself to be resourceful and commercially minded by identifying and challenging existing time-consuming and low productivity processes to ensure that the most efficient use is made of the bank’s internal and external legal resources.
Fiona Mckee
Head of Strategic Solutions and Private Office, Coutts
Admitted as a solicitor in 2004, McKee worked for RBS before moving internally to its high-value private banking services subsidiary Coutts in 2012, where she now reports to general counsel James Clarry.
A regulatory lawyer by background, CMS Cameron McKenna-trained McKee, who before she joined RBS in 2011 was a legal counsel at ABN Amro, undertook high-profile regulatory work at RBS and is described as ‘technically very good but also a real people person who builds relationships well but is pretty straight talking’.
Group Head of Legal, Sg Hambros Bank
Banking associate Evans moved in-house in December 2010 from Norton Rose after going on secondment to SG Hambros. The Dewey & LeBoeuf-trained lawyer, who was also an associate with Trowers & Hamlins between 2001 and 2007, has built a strong team around him and has rapidly adapted to the different demands of the in-house role and the complexities of the private banking sector in the post-financial crisis era.
‘Daniel is astute, easy to deal with, interacts with the business extremely well and never loses sight of the big picture,’ says one nomination. ‘He is on top of the plethora of regulatory changes and developments that affect the wealth management and private banking sector. Daniel is also multi-lingual and this really helps in working for an international bank.’
Bryan Mccarthy
Chief Legal Officer, Irish Bank Resolution Corporation
Described as ‘very experienced and practical, with a truly in-depth knowledge of banking law and a good appreciation of the need for clear and prompt instructions’, McCarthy has also proved himself robust in steering IBRC through a very difficult period of change and uncertainty.
One of McCarthy’s resounding achievements has been his management of internal matters at the bank following the special liquidation of IBRC in February 2013.
Vice-president, M&A Legal, Barclays Bank
Chung started out as a corporate lawyer with Linklaters and gained her first taste of in-house life while on secondment to Vodafone in March 2008, where she received glowing reviews. On Chung’s LinkedIn profile, Vodafone’s corporate and external affairs director Helen Lamprell says: ‘She managed difficult situations really well and was very adept at balancing different personalities. A great loss to our team.’
Chung’s in-house career began in earnest when she joined British Sky Broadcasting Group as a corporate legal adviser in January 2010, spending just a year there before taking a promotion at Barclays in January 2011.
Described by one Magic Circle partner as having a ‘strong work ethic and a can-do attitude’, Chung has played a pivotal role in the recent reorganisation of Barclays’ African interests.
One well-known tax partner at a top-ten law firm says in support of her nomination: ‘Win is very bright, responsive, commercial and good at giving and receiving advice and instructions. She is a star.’
Daniel Harris
Senior Legal Counsel, Global Banking and Markets, HSBC
Former Clifford Chance senior associate Harris joined HSBC in August 2012 following a period on secondment with the bank, where he gained considerable transactional, contentious and advisory experience. As such, his transition from private practice to in-house has been extremely smooth.
In support of his entry into the Rising Stars, one employment partner at a leading firm says: ‘Daniel is technically astute and displays considerable emotional intelligence, enabling him to identify and solve thorny employment issues.’
Senior Legal Counsel, RBS Legal, Corporate/M&A, The Royal Bank Of Scotland
Gibson has been involved in all aspects of RBS’ group legal issues following the credit crisis, demonstrating an ability to constantly juggle conflicting projects and timetables.
As a result of the government’s 2008 bailout of the high street bank, RBS was obliged under European regulation to undertake measures, including disposing of its interest in Direct Line by the end of 2014, with a requirement that more than 50% of its shares were sold by the end of 2013.
Working alongside general counsel Rushad Abadan, Gibson was given the day-to-day responsibility for ensuring that Direct Line was successfully carved out and prepared for its IPO in 2012, in a deal that valued it at around £3bn.
For this and his handling of other large, business-critical projects, he is described as ‘extremely hard-working, always in demand for his delivery and a great combination of managing legal concepts into a practical business solution’.