Point break – The extreme measures of Barclays’ adviser review

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Point break – The extreme measures of Barclays’ adviser review

Legal spend is the second-largest ‘cost centre’ for £21bn global banking giant Barclays. This tantalising statement is in the bank’s 2018 Request for Quotation document, sent to law firms ahead of its final panel review this year and seen by Legal Business. The document provides detail on what Barclays describes as this ‘sizeable’ legal spend.

In the 18 months to January this year, for instance, around 35% of its legal budget was spent internally in running an in-house legal department that dwarfs many major law firms at more than 750 staff. The rest was spent externally, about half in the Americas and just over a third in the UK. Continue reading “Point break – The extreme measures of Barclays’ adviser review”

The team in I: The GC Powerlist Summer Reception

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The team in I: The GC Powerlist Summer Reception

Nailing the issue of what makes a high-performing in-house function, with the emphasis on operational sophistication, has become the Holy Grail for general counsel (GCs). Following the launch earlier this year of the 2018 GC Powerlist – which highlighted 50 leading in-house teams – we teamed up with headline sponsor Eversheds Sutherland to assemble an audience of more than 70 in-house counsel at The Ned. This featured an informal discussion between our panel of senior lawyers and operations staff working at some of the biggest multinationals. The debate covered the introduction of legal operations specialists, the advance of technology and widening the skills of in-house functions, all geared towards creating more effective and nimble teams.

*** Continue reading “The team in I: The GC Powerlist Summer Reception”

Asia GC perspective – Tencent on the dollar

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Asia GC perspective – Tencent on the dollar

When Brent Irvin joined Tencent as group general counsel (GC) nearly nine years ago, the Chinese upstart was already a tech wunderkind, boasting revenue close to RMB20bn. But few foresaw the trajectory it would take from there: with dramatic growth in 2017, the company is now valued at more than $477bn.

‘We have always been about combining social and content, but in the beginning we were more games-focused,’ notes Irvin. Continue reading “Asia GC perspective – Tencent on the dollar”

Special territory: Fintech in Hong Kong

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Special territory: Fintech in Hong Kong

‘You have to, to serve these markets, re-imagine how money can be managed and moved, because there’s going to be more change in the next five years in financial services than happened in the past 30.’

Dan Schulman, chief executive, PayPal

Global investment in fintech companies hit an all-time high of US$27.4bn in 2017, an increase of 18% year on year, with the market showing no sign of slowing. Led by China, the fintech revolution has spread across the rest of Asia, while simultaneously gaining traction in the UK, US and Europe. Continue reading “Special territory: Fintech in Hong Kong”

EasyJet GC completes ITV round-trip for head of legal job

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EasyJet GC completes ITV round-trip for head of legal job

ITV has appointed easyJet group general counsel (GC) Kyla Mullins as its new head of legal, filling a role vacated by the experienced Andrew Garard in July.

Mullins returns to ITV having previously been its group legal director between 2000 and 2007. She also had spells as GC at EMI Music and energy company Mitie before joining budget airliner easyJet in 2015. Continue reading “EasyJet GC completes ITV round-trip for head of legal job”

Client profile: Julie Smyth, BAE Systems Air

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Client profile: Julie Smyth, BAE Systems Air

‘My husband has virtually no understanding of what I do,’ admits BAE Systems Air chief counsel Julie Smyth. ‘He thinks I sit in meetings all day.’

Secrecy and security at the £18bn defence multinational is paramount. Its mammoth Warton airfield base, which dominates the village of the same name a short drive from Preston, is classified as a ‘List X’ site, meaning it can hold UK Government information considered ‘secret’ and above. Continue reading “Client profile: Julie Smyth, BAE Systems Air”

Enterprise GC 2018: Tumbling into crisis

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Enterprise GC 2018: Tumbling into crisis

Corporate crises are on the upswing. A faster-paced R&D cycle, improved but riskier technology, 24-hour news… the list of triggers goes on. But our understanding of such events has not always evolved at the same pace. We speak of a crisis as a single incident but, in reality, a chain reaction will likely ensue – and no sooner than one element appears under control, another pops up.

A tumble into crisis

Let us imagine a company that is consumer-facing and has a large, warehouse-based workforce. Imagine it makes toys, sells them online and is called ‘Tumble Toys’. Speed and efficiency in dispatching little Billy or Betty’s heart’s desire is one of its market differentiators – its marketing campaign features a gorilla called Tumble, who makes his way through various perils to ‘tumble’ into the child’s house in various amusing ways. As with many companies, Tumble Toys has outsourced warehouse staffing to a third party. Continue reading “Enterprise GC 2018: Tumbling into crisis”

In-house: RBS to tackle peaks and troughs with flexible legal providers

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In-house: RBS to tackle peaks and troughs with flexible legal providers

The need for a more ‘nimble and agile’ environment is driving the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) foray into the flexible lawyers market, reducing a dependence on the need for secondees from external firms.

RBS general counsel (GC) Michael Shaw (pictured) confirmed the bank has gone out to a number of flexible resourcing providers with an eye to setting up its first-ever panel in the area later this year. Continue reading “In-house: RBS to tackle peaks and troughs with flexible legal providers”

In-house: big names move shop as BT’s Fitz goes into medical research and tech giants see exits

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In-house: big names move shop as BT’s Fitz goes into medical research and tech giants see exits

Three of the global in-house community’s leading lights have announced moves in recent weeks, with former BT general counsel (GC) Dan Fitz’s moving to The Francis Crick Institute and resignations at both Google and Facebook.

Fitz, who in December last year announced he would be stepping down after seven years, will take up his new role as GC and company secretary at the biomedical research centre in November. Continue reading “In-house: big names move shop as BT’s Fitz goes into medical research and tech giants see exits”