Reducing legal spend is an arduous task for many in-house counsel that face increasing pressure to manage cost efficiency. But, in a demonstration of the increasing cost pressures facing firms, such a feat has been substantially achieved by the UK arm of telecoms giant Telefonica which has reduced its external legal spend by 66% since 2012.
In-house: William Hill GC cashes out and moves to Travelport
One of the UK’s biggest bookmakers, William Hill, has promoted Michael Leadbeater to group director of legal services, replacing general counsel (GC) and head of business systems Thomas Murphy, who has left for Travelport.
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Succession planning: RBS appoints new group GC as Chris Campbell steps down
Deputy general counsel (GC) John Collins has replaced Chris Campbell as the group GC of the Royal Bank of Scotland as Campbell prepares to retire.
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Stepping down: Barclays corporate GC Shepherd to leave role
Barclays global general counsel (GC) of corporate and investment banking Judith Shepherd (pictured) is to step down in the first half of 2015.
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A job with a Vue: Cinema chain appoints new group general counsel
Multiplex cinema operator Vue Entertainment International has appointed Euan Sutton as group general counsel, replacing Anne Whalley who left in September 2014 after holding the position for over eleven years.
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Guest post: ‘Individuals matter’ – A conversation with Deutsche Bank’s Asia Pacific GC Joe Longo
Last month I had the pleasure of being on a panel in Europe with Joe Longo, the general counsel for Asia-Pacific of Deutsche Bank. Joe had some particularly thought-provoking and hard-headed observations about the changing dynamics between law firms and clients. I thought it would be worth drawing Joe out a bit more extensively than was possible on our panel, so we found time recently to chat across the 12-hour time zone difference (Joe in Hong Kong, me in New York).
‘In 2015, we will be talking about cyber security a lot more’: Cyber risk moving up the in-house agenda
General counsel (GC) are increasingly involved in handling cyber security issues at board level, reflecting a more comprehensive shift towards effective risk management, research from Legal Business and PwC has revealed.
Going in-house: Jardine Matheson hires Linklaters’ Parr as general counsel
It’s one in one out for London-listed conglomerate Jardine Matheson, owner of upmarket UK car dealership Jardine Motors, as the group replaces its retiring general counsel Giles White with his past Linklaters colleague and the firm’s former head of corporate, Jeremy Parr.
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Regional Insight 2015
Cyber risk moving up the in-house agenda
General counsel (GC) are increasingly involved in handling cyber security issues at board level, reflecting a more comprehensive shift towards effective risk management, research from Legal Business and PwC has revealed.
In a survey of corporate attitudes to cyber security risk this autumn, which garnered more than 800 responses from a broad mix of senior corporate managers, owners, legal and IT, nearly half (46%) of all GC respondents said they had delivered advice to the board on cyber and data security matters in the last year. Thirty five percent of GC respondents said this occurs on a quarterly basis.