I love my career. I haven’t loved it at all times. Over the years it was tough. But over time I became more confident, the anxiety passed and I got into the interesting aspects of what I was doing. I got to enjoy it very much.
Working smarter – eight ideas to upgrade your team
As in-house teams handle more complex work, GCs are coming under pressure to rethink their tactics. Here are eight ideas to upgrade your legal team
Let’s start with an assumption: we will reach peak in-house. Though the in-house profession has hugely expanded over the last 15 years – those in the private sector growing threefold since 2000 to over 16,000 solicitors in England and Wales by 2015 – in-house legal teams cannot keep growing forever.
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In-house energy switch: senior BG Group lawyer Thomas Smith moves to Centrica
With BG Group having been taken over by Shell for £35bn in February, BG’s deputy general counsel Thomas Smith has departed to become North America energy supply and services general counsel at Centrica.
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Euro Garages taps Orange for first general counsel
Forecourt operator Euro Garages has recruited Imraan Patel, the former head of legal at Orange, as its first group general counsel and company secretary.
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Lloyds’ in-house changes continue as senior FCA director takes litigation GC position
Lloyds Banking Group has made Tom Spender its new general counsel (GC) for its litigation, regulatory and competition group after his departure from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
In-house: Standard Life adds to legal roster after Ignis acquisition
Standard Life Investments (SLI) has added two firms to its real estate panel, with Maples Teesdale and Shepherd & Wedderburn joining CMS Cameron McKenna, Herbert Smith Freehills and Addleshaw Goddard.
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Lloyds former head of legal Pithouse takes on deputy GC role at Visa
The former head of legal at Lloyds Banking Group, Prini Pithouse, has taken the deputy general counsel (GC) role at Visa Europe, following a year serving as the payments business’ executive director of commercial law. Continue reading “Lloyds former head of legal Pithouse takes on deputy GC role at Visa”
Ringing the changes: Barclays appoints Mark Shelton as GC of corporate & international as divisions split
Barclays has appointed ex-Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Mark Shelton as general counsel (GC) of Barclays’ corporate & international business following a ring-fencing restructure which saw the bank split its legal team to create two new divisions – the other being Barclays UK. Continue reading “Ringing the changes: Barclays appoints Mark Shelton as GC of corporate & international as divisions split”
De Souza resurfaces as GC for Goldman Sachs-backed property firm
Former Land Securities Group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza has joined student accommodation firm Vero Group as interim general counsel and company secretary.
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‘Work to do’: Almost a quarter of GCs have reduced in-house headcount, study finds
More than half of GCs face budget cuts and almost a quarter have cut their in-house team internal headcount, a new survey has found.