In-house: RPC and DWF among four new firms on Dixons Carphone’s expanded roster

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In-house: RPC and DWF among four new firms on Dixons Carphone’s expanded roster

Retailer Dixons Carphone has added four firms to a revised legal roster, with DWF, RPC, Bristows and Carson McDowell winning spots.

The panel will run for four years following the expiration of its previous arrangement in March, which was the result of a 2016 review. The new additions join ten firms Dixons Carphone has kept panel relationships with, including Addleshaw Goddard, Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft, DLA Piper, Doyle Clayton, Fieldfisher, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Pinsent Masons, Shoosmiths, and Worthingtons. Continue reading “In-house: RPC and DWF among four new firms on Dixons Carphone’s expanded roster”

In-house: Novartis to withhold 15% of fees if new panel firms miss D&I requirements

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In-house: Novartis to withhold 15% of fees if new panel firms miss D&I requirements

As in-house legal departments continue to push their law firms to be more diverse, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has pledged to withhold 15% of fees if diversity and inclusion (D&I) levels are not met by its 22 panel firms.

The measure introduced as part of the company’s panel review, announced yesterday (12 February), has seen a host of advisers, including Magic Circle firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters, pledge that no fewer than 30% of associate time and 20% of partner time on a legal matter will be provided by ‘females, racially/ethnically diverse professionals, or members of the LGBTQ+ community, with an expectation that such commitments will move to parity over the next several years.’ Continue reading “In-house: Novartis to withhold 15% of fees if new panel firms miss D&I requirements”

The in-house lawyer debate – Fit for purpose

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The in-house lawyer debate – Fit for purpose

Mark McAteer, Legal Business: How has the role of the general counsel [GC] changed over the last five years and how will it be different in five years’ time?

Alessandro Galtieri, Colt Technology Services: It is now absolutely not enough to be just a specialist or a good manager of a team of lawyers. You need to be part of strategic conversation if you are sitting at the board level. Otherwise, you are not really adding value. Continue reading “The in-house lawyer debate – Fit for purpose”

Scrum time – Can agile project management deliver for GCs?

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Scrum time – Can agile project management deliver for GCs?

Business is full of buzzwords, and among the buzziest of the last few years is ‘agile’.

The traditional project management approach is ‘waterfall’. But, in contrast to the dynamism of the term, the waterfall process can be rigid. After a long period of requirement gathering and planning, the project is developed in a linear way, journeying through multiple phases and silos. A final product is delivered after an often lengthy process, perhaps measured in months or years, but with little opportunity for adaptation once the project has begun. Continue reading “Scrum time – Can agile project management deliver for GCs?”

Chicken run – GCs notes from the middle of a crisis

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Chicken run – GCs notes from the middle of a crisis

In an exclusive extract from her new book You Didn’t Mention The Piranhas, Sarah Nelson Smith writes candidly about how it feels to be in the middle of a PR crisis:

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In the second week of the crisis, the snow came. It had toyed with us for several days, threatening a festive dusting, but then changed tack and engulfed the country in a thick white blanket, mocking the efforts to get trucks loaded and onto the roads by rendering many of them impassable. I needed to get to Rugby, but living at the bottom of a hill on a country lane with a rear-wheel-drive car, I had no hope. Continue reading “Chicken run – GCs notes from the middle of a crisis”

In-house: DWF leads as Eversheds loses sole adviser role on Severn Trent’s expanded panel

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In-house: DWF leads as Eversheds loses sole adviser role on Severn Trent’s expanded panel

Eversheds Sutherland has lost its sole-adviser mandate to Severn Trent after the FTSE 100 water company appointed five firms to its new panel, with listed firm DWF the big winner.

Severn Trent, which had run a sole-adviser mandate with Eversheds for more than a decade, has appointed DWF as its retained provider of legal services to its operational businesses, including areas such as construction, commercial, employment, regulatory, disputes and litigation, intellectual property, and planning and real estate. Continue reading “In-house: DWF leads as Eversheds loses sole adviser role on Severn Trent’s expanded panel”

In-house: TransferWise cashes in on competitor’s legal head as mammoth US GC pay packets revealed

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In-house: TransferWise cashes in on competitor’s legal head as mammoth US GC pay packets revealed

In a month of significant hires and departures, online money payment company TransferWise has snapped up rival Monzo Bank’s chief legal officer Dean Nash (pictured) as its new general counsel (GC) following the departure of Jenifer Swallow in July.

Nash, who featured in the GC Powerlist 2019, has left the company after nearly four years of rapid growth to become the UK’s most recognisable mobile-only bank. Continue reading “In-house: TransferWise cashes in on competitor’s legal head as mammoth US GC pay packets revealed”

Three firms cut as National Grid unveils panel following ‘pay to play’ review and BAE loses longstanding legal chief

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Three firms cut as National Grid unveils panel following ‘pay to play’ review and BAE loses longstanding legal chief

Anna Cole-Bailey rounds up the latest in-house panel reviews and moves

In a busy month of in-house activity, National Grid revealed the line up of its new legal panel, Lombard International embarked on creating its first-ever legal roster, and blue chips BAE Systems and Lloyds Banking Group lost senior legal heads. Continue reading “Three firms cut as National Grid unveils panel following ‘pay to play’ review and BAE loses longstanding legal chief”

The In-House Survey: Blurred lines – the GC as business leader

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The In-House Survey: Blurred lines – the GC as business leader

Climate change and sustainability dominated news headlines in 2019. Extinction Rebellion protests, Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg leading climate strikes around the world, while the President of the US has labelled it all a ‘hoax’. Investors are, in turn, increasingly putting pressure on the world’s largest companies to respond. It has become an enormous area of risk management for every business sector.

And responsibility for managing and assessing that risk has increasingly fallen upon the general counsel (GC). Andrea Harris, group chief counsel at the world’s largest marketing and public relations company, WPP, in recent years took on the head of group sustainability role, as has Heathrow Airport GC Carol Hui. Lawyers at Specsavers sit on that company’s sustainability group to help shape policy, while the GC at FTSE 100 energy giant Centrica, Justine Campbell, identifies the area as one of the biggest challenges she faces. Continue reading “The In-House Survey: Blurred lines – the GC as business leader”