Back to the drawing board

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Back to the drawing board

You wouldn’t mistake a lawyer for a designer. One is usually armed with a pen and a rulebook, the other with a Mac and a black turtleneck. Right? Wrong.

Design concepts have been around in business for decades. Global design consultancy IDEO, famous for creating the iconic first Apple mouse, is often credited as being the first to reposition design from a ‘beautiful wrapper’ around a previously developed concept, to a system for creating ideas that can be applied not just to processes, but systems and even organisations. Continue reading “Back to the drawing board”

Education, education, education – the struggle to find quality GC training

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Education, education, education – the struggle to find quality GC training

Speaking at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum recently, renowned industry futurologist Richard Susskind accused the UK’s law schools of being stuck in the 1970s, preparing graduates to undertake work that will become increasingly uncommon while failing to train aspiring solicitors in the new technologies that will replace much of the work lawyers now do.

He has a point. Dutch start-up Clocktimizer recently compiled a list of legal tech courses available in English – of the 37 courses currently being offered, just four are taught in the UK (one of which, the Legal Geek Hackathon, is delivered extramurally). Continue reading “Education, education, education – the struggle to find quality GC training”

Client profile: Rushad Abadan, Standard Life Aberdeen

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Client profile: Rushad Abadan, Standard Life Aberdeen

The general counsel of the Scots-based investment giant reflects on the lessons of the financial crisis and what it takes to run a FTSE 100 legal team

Rushad Abadan always knew what he wanted to do with his life. ‘I always fancied the idea of being a lawyer, even at school. I was one of those people who was very clear about their career path early on. Happily for me it worked out.’ Continue reading “Client profile: Rushad Abadan, Standard Life Aberdeen”

In-house: TSB brings in GE legal head to replace retiring Crichton

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In-house: TSB brings in GE legal head to replace retiring Crichton

TSB Bank has hired a new general counsel (GC) from GE Renewable Energy to replace retiring GC Susan Crichton, who guided it through both an initial public offer (IPO) and subsequent takeover.

The Edinburgh-based bank has appointed Lorna Curry, GC at the Hydro arm of multinational conglomerate GE, to replace Crichton (pictured), who is set to retire early next year. Continue reading “In-house: TSB brings in GE legal head to replace retiring Crichton”

In-house: Aviva appoints new UK insurance head as RBS ends search for legal operations chief

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In-house: Aviva appoints new UK insurance head as RBS ends search for legal operations chief

FTSE 100 insurer Aviva has appointed former Bupa UK legal director Alison Gammon as its UK Insurance general counsel (GC) following the departures of Aviva UK Life GC and company secretary Monica Risam and Tim Vickers, who led Aviva’s General Insurance legal team.

Aviva recently brought its UK Life Assurance and UK General Insurance businesses together as UK Insurance, with Gammon now heading the combined legal team. Prior to joining Bupa in 2013 and becoming its UK legal director in 2015, Gammon worked at Legal & General as international legal director for nine years and was a senior associate in Allen & Overy’s financial institutions team. Continue reading “In-house: Aviva appoints new UK insurance head as RBS ends search for legal operations chief”

Deutsche Bank names former Links veteran as new global law chief

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Deutsche Bank names former Links veteran as new global law chief

Deutsche Bank has appointed a new legal head, handing its chief compliance officer and head of global governance Florian Drinhausen one of the most powerful general counsel roles in the cross-border legal market.

The internal appointment comes after it was announced that co-general counsel (GC) Christof von Dryander and Simon Dodds are to leave the bank respectively at the end of 2017 and 31 March 2018. Continue reading “Deutsche Bank names former Links veteran as new global law chief”

Big shoes to fill as Aviva UK Life GC Risam departs after six years

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Big shoes to fill as Aviva UK Life GC Risam departs after six years

Widely cited for her role in making Aviva’s highly-regarded legal team a pacesetter for the in-house profession, heavyweight UK Life general counsel (GC) and company secretary Monica Risam has left the FTSE 100 insurer after six years.

Risam  (pictured), who held positions including GC for Aviva Europe and GC for Aviva Group, has served as GC for Aviva UK Life since 2015 where she was responsible for all aspects of legal risk management and transactional activity across the business and leading a legal and company secretarial team of over 60 across UK and Ireland. Continue reading “Big shoes to fill as Aviva UK Life GC Risam departs after six years”

The new front

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The new front

As expected – or feared – implementing the incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a mammoth task for some companies. ‘It is all-encompassing,’ says Karen Kerrigan, chief legal officer at equity crowdfunding firm Seedrs. ‘The advantage of being a small business is that you can involve all the other departments. Frankly, I would be terrified of GDPR if I was at a large business, because you have to take a much more decisive risk-based approach in terms of what you are physically able to look at. We were able to sit down with our development team, our marketing team and our investments team, and go through every single one of their activities and the service providers they were using.’

To say GDPR will have wide implications for in-house teams is an understatement. It is unlikely that there will be any client or any part of a client’s business that will remain unaffected by the EU regulation, which has a deadline for implementation of 25 May 2018. Continue reading “The new front”

The new space race

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The new space race

‘For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace.’
John F Kennedy

When President John F Kennedy stood before Rice University on 12 September 1962 and boldly declared that not only would the US be the first country to land on the moon, but they would do it before the end of the decade, he captured the imagination of a generation. Continue reading “The new space race”

GC 2.0 – The GC Powerlist Summer Reception

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GC 2.0 – The GC Powerlist Summer Reception

Do you know your cash-burn phase from your TLDNR? Welcome to the buccaneering, hierarchy-lite world of the fast-growth, tech-driven ‘disruptors’, the kind of business that a growing number of lawyers aspire to work in or advise.

Following the launch earlier this year of the 2017 GC Powerlist, which focused on early-stage companies and rising stars at major plcs, we teamed up with DLA Piper to assemble an audience of more than 70 in-house counsel at London’s private members’ club Home House for an informal discussion from the lawyers working at the digital coal-face. The debate covered the launch of the much-touted Disruptive GC group, the challenges of working with impatient entrepreneurs and how lawyers can slot into the culture of a constantly-evolving company. Continue reading “GC 2.0 – The GC Powerlist Summer Reception”