Wales: Back to basics

As head of legal affairs for the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), Rhodri Lewis is acutely aware of the cultural importance of the organisation’s work. ‘Rugby is so intrinsically linked to communities throughout Wales that we are very much at the forefront of people’s minds. Rugby defines us as a nation at times,’ he says.

It is no wonder then that the WRU is not-for-profit, investing every penny back into advancing the sport. Central to the work it does is promoting Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, owned by a subsidiary of the WRU. ‘We maintain the Millennium Stadium’s reputation as being one of the pre-eminent sports and multi-event stadia in Europe, if not the world,’ says Lewis, going on to stress that the stadium’s location, right in the city centre of Cardiff, has ‘huge operational and brand value, not just for us as an organisation, but for Cardiff as a city, and also to Wales as a country’.

For the two-person legal team, in addition to managing contracts and relationships with commercial partners on matters such as media rights, sponsorship and ticket sales, and ensuring the safety of the Millennium Stadium for visitors, ‘there are some pretty important and interesting legal issues out there regarding player welfare’, says Lewis. An example is the concussion protocol recently produced and launched for Welsh rugby. When outsourcing is necessary, Lewis goes to firms both in and outside of Wales, but for him, ‘the overriding factor is to know that I am getting the best legal advice that I can’.

With 1,100 years of history behind it, The Royal Mint had previously been housed in the Tower of London and Tower Hill, before moving to its current home in Llantrisant, South Wales in 1967. The organisation was vested as a limited company in 2010, and is wholly owned by the Treasury. It has a circulating coin business which produces about five billion pieces a year. ‘We’re the largest exporting mint in the world,’ says Vin Wijeratne, its director of finance.

Since 2010, says Wijeratne, the Mint has taken on a far more commercial outlook, which has entailed ‘trying to maintain a sensible intellectual property portfolio – whether it’s new processes or new techniques; alternatively with trade marks and brands’. But the Mint doesn’t have an in-house legal team. Instead, it has ‘an in-house external legal adviser who is very much seen as part of the family and part of the team’ – Capital Law partner Christopher Inson.

He describes this as a fairly innovative agreement, arising ahead of the Olympics where the organisation felt it necessary to have ‘someone on-site to understand what we did and how our business ticked but remained professional and independent and part of a law firm’.

‘What we have now is someone that understands our annual plan, our long-term strategic plan, and gets involved in discussions very much up front about what we’re aspiring to do,’ says Wijeratne. ‘And I think this gives him a great opportunity to get the context of what’s happening, but also allows him at a very early stage to help influence the way we go about engagement.’

Outside of this unusual arrangement, the bulk of legal services are provided from firms based in Wales or the South West of England, occasionally going to national and international firms when the situation dictates. But there are often times where a local understanding can be invaluable, such as the Mint’s new visitor centre, which involves an element of Welsh Assembly funding.

‘Obviously a regionally-based firm will better understand the importance, sensitivities and protocols that need to be observed,’ says Wijeratne. For a good relationship to develop, he values honesty and straightforwardness. ‘I take as read the technical competency and professionalism,’ he says. ‘We’re very careful with whom we work, whether it’s new staff – there’s a comprehensive recruitment process – or whether it’s professional advisers. The chemistry’s got to be there.’

Airbus Defence and Space is Europe’s number one defence and space enterprise, the second-largest space business worldwide, and among the top ten global defence enterprises, according to Julia Rose, its head of corporate law, UK. The division of Airbus Group that focuses on space launches and satellites, military aircraft, missiles, and related systems and services, was formed in July 2014 when Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military merged.

The Welsh government has recognised the significance of the company’s Newport site, awarding it ‘anchor’ status – given to companies with a significant corporate presence in Wales. ‘We’re very proud of that and with that comes a responsibility for us to engage with other companies like us to ensure that we continue to invest in Wales,’ says Rose.

The division enjoys a mutually beneficial relationship with its Welsh locale. ‘What’s specifically good for us is the local engagement with the Welsh government. That opens up a lot of opportunities,’ asserts Rose. The benefit of a regional link is less easy to quantify when it comes to purchasing law firm services though, she says, because ‘lots of law firms brand themselves as full-service firms with national and international clients, so it actually makes it harder to make a distinction’.

However, she continues: ‘What I’ve found working long term with a particular regional firm here in Wales is that it knows our business really well, which adds value to us in terms of saving us time in having to brief it, and also in terms of the specialist commercial advice given by it, tailored particularly to our business. I’ve also found that in terms of value add, I get a more experienced lawyer working on the matter for the same price, as maybe a less experienced lawyer in one of the City or international firms.’ And, of course, for Rose, an understanding of dealing with the Welsh government can be an advantage.

Her two-person team is part of a larger company-wide legal group. Its UK lawyers handle general commercial, corporate, dispute management and company secretarial work in-house, and go outside for employment, large litigation, and M&A support, as well as ad hoc specialist advice. There is a central Airbus-wide panel of firms to choose from, but Rose is clear about what she requires: ‘What’s very important to me is obviously cost, knowledge of the business and performance. In terms of cost, we’re looking for external law firms to deliver value in the ways that their fees are structured, and what else they can offer for us. We want to work in partnership with them to deliver the highest possible value to the business.’

As general counsel and company secretary of Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, Nicola Williams has the challenge of straddling not one, but two legislative systems. However, she is unfazed by this, claiming: ‘as a lawyer, it makes life more interesting’.

Water is a devolved area and therefore the company increasingly sees a lot of regulation and legislation that comes from Cardiff rather than Westminster. This makes the recent Scottish referendum of particular significance for people in the country, and Williams points to a sense that ‘it may be a step to further devolved powers in Wales’. The report published earlier this year by the Commission on Devolution in Wales (the Silk Commission) proposes just that.

Despite its name, Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has feet in both England and Wales – the company is statutory water and sewerage operator for Wales, Hereford and parts of Deeside. The team, which comprises five lawyers and two legal executives, is regularly occupied with a range of issues, from debt recovery, to competition and property, as well as regulatory work and compliance issues stemming from the company’s unusual governance structure – it’s the only water company in the UK to have no shareholders.

Significant issues coming up include the implementation of the Water Act 2014, as well as ongoing compliance with recent EU environmental measures. Williams sums up: ‘There’s quite a lot of legislative change, in a nutshell.’

catherine.rodgers@gcmagazine.com, catherine.mcgregor@gcmagazine.com