The in-house survey: Buy-side stories

Posted on |

In
our second annual in-house survey, corporate legal teams are continuing to grow amid strong demand for their counsel. How high can general counsel build their empires?

And the growth story continues. Legal Business’s second annual in-house survey confirms again that, despite the prolonged economic headwinds afflicting the UK and Western economies, in a risky and turbulent commercial environment, corporate legal teams continue to expand.

Take one finding from our research: more than two thirds of in-house lawyers report that their teams have expanded over the last five years, with 43% seeing increases of over 10%. The remainder said their team has stayed static.

Continue reading “The in-house survey: Buy-side stories”

The in-house survey: Through their paces

Posted on |

Increasingly assertive clients are making advisers jump through more hoops to secure lucrative work. Legal Business assesses if law firms are rising to the challenge.

While the prolonged struggle for understanding between in-house counsel and their external providers has seen general counsel (GCs) lose many small battles with law firms over the years, the signs are there that clients are increasingly winning the war. After pressing for years to get value for money through sensible service delivery and flexible pricing, in-house teams are reporting greater goodwill towards their external legal providers this year, perhaps because the threat of reduced panel slots has become a reality.

Continue reading “The in-house survey: Through their paces”

The in-house survey: Time and money

Posted on |

This year, we asked in-house counsel to name the best law firms across three core yardsticks. Amid pressure on budgets, we chart the advisers whose time is worth clients’ money

Asking law firms to rate their peers objectively is like nailing jelly to a wall — they are often either evasive or delusional. Researchers at The Legal 500 seek peer feedback as part of the process when ranking firms, but nothing beats considered feedback from the clients themselves, which is why we took the opportunity to ask a large in-house audience to single out individual firms for the quality of their service as part of our survey this year.

Continue reading “The in-house survey: Time and money”

The in-house survey: The Last Word

Posted on |

Canvassed for our annual in-house survey, general counsel at some of the UK’s leading companies give their perspective on risk, fees and the future of law

Keep it in the family

‘As part of our evolution over the past five years, we are also doing more internally, particularly focusing on transactions that do not proceed or do not come to fruition. When you look at the statistics, because we get involved at a very early stage only one in ten deals goes all the way. Of those nine out of ten that do not proceed, we try and identify them as early as possible and ensure that we are handling those matters internally as far as possible.’

Khasruz Zaman, head of M&A legal, Barclays

Continue reading “The in-house survey: The Last Word”

Profile: Michael Shaw, Barclays

Posted on |

The banking giant’s deputy GC discusses management challenges

Barclays deputy general counsel (GC) Michael Shaw has proved himself to be highly adaptable since joining the bank in 2009 from legacy Herbert Smith.

It was in 2010 that the outside world witnessed the knock-on effect of Barclays Capital head Jonathan Hughes stepping down, after which Judith Shepherd moved into the role, leaving vacant her position as GC of retail and business banking (RBB). For seven months Shaw stood in as interim RBB GC before Mark Chapman was appointed in October 2010.

Continue reading “Profile: Michael Shaw, Barclays”

Lloyds sees knock-on effect of GC for group legal hire

Posted on |

In-house promotions and moves often have a domino effect across the wider legal function and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is no exception. The major British financial institution has recently announced that former corporate M&A head Hugh Pugsley will take over as general counsel (GC) for group legal from Kate Cheetham, who was promoted to deputy GC this January.

Pugsley, a former associate at Allen & Overy, has moved up the ranks of the 60-strong team and will now be responsible for advising the banking giant on financial reporting, M&A, corporate development, HR, and property-related issues.

Continue reading “Lloyds sees knock-on effect of GC for group legal hire”

Status update: Gibson Dunn partner hired as Facebook deputy GC

Posted on |

Social media giant Facebook has appointed Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s co-head of IT and data privacy Ashlie Beringer as deputy general counsel (GC), just weeks after Twitter announced Vijaya Gadde will take over as GC of the online social networking group.

Beringer takes over from Colin Stretch, who this summer succeeded Ted Ullyot as vice president and GC, following Ullyot’s announcement in May that he would be stepping down. Continue reading “Status update: Gibson Dunn partner hired as Facebook deputy GC”

Moving in-house: Broker AKJ brings in former LSE-lawyer as first general counsel

Posted on |

The trend of companies increasingly enhancing their teams to include sophisticated and growing in-house legal departments shows little sign of abating as independent brokerage and financial software group AKJ becomes the latest to boost its legal capabilities, hiring its first general counsel and in-house lawyer, the former legal chief for the London Stock Exchange Tom Mackay.

Announced yesterday (19 Sept), Mackay has acted as an external legal consultant for AKJ for over 12 years however, with the establishment and growth of fund AKJ Accelerator last year, the group has created a senior position for the veteran.

Continue reading “Moving in-house: Broker AKJ brings in former LSE-lawyer as first general counsel”

In-house: Lloyds Banking Group sees knock-on effect at senior level as it fills GC for group legal role

Posted on |

In-house promotions and moves often have a domino effect across the entire legal function and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) is no exception. The major British financial institution has most recently announced that former corporate M&A head Hugh Pugsley will take over as general counsel for group legal from Kate Cheetham, who was promoted to deputy general counsel in January this year.

Pugsley, a former associate at Magic Circle firm Allen & Overy, has moved up the ranks of the 60-strong team and will now be responsible for advising the global banking giant on financial reporting, M&A, corporate development, HR, and property-related issues. Continue reading “In-house: Lloyds Banking Group sees knock-on effect at senior level as it fills GC for group legal role”

Comment: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived

Posted on |

In the decade prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, an excess of work masked the corrosive effect to law firms from competition with increasingly sophisticated and growing in-house legal departments (C&I teams). Post-Lehman, the economic downturn has exposed significant structural challenges to overstaffed law firms, which have been ruthlessly exploited by C&I to decisively shift the balance of power in favour of clients. Nevertheless, the triumph of in-house, measured by its rapid growth and ability to wrest increasingly complex work from law firms while simultaneously squeezing them on rates, may prove to be short-lived.  Continue reading “Comment: Why the in-house triumph over law firms may prove short-lived”