The Crown Estate has awarded the legal mandate for its energy, minerals and infrastructure portfolio to LB 100 firms Hogan Lovells and Bond Dickinson. Continue reading “Hogan Lovells ousts NRF to join Bond Dickinson on Crown Estate energy portfolio”
Once the chief enforcer for the City, the PwC UK general counsel discusses breaking balls and finding a silver lining to the financial crisis
‘I would never have taken a role where I wasn’t sitting at the top table. I make sure I have influence in how a firm goes about things,’ notes veteran litigator Margaret Cole, PwC’s UK general counsel (GC) and chief risk officer. Continue reading “Client profile: Margaret Cole, PwC UK”
Collaboration has become the new innovation – the quality clients are supposed to want and progressive law firms strive to deliver. Does the reality match the hype?
‘Why are so many restaurants now featuring windows that let you peek into their kitchens, or seating you as close as possible to the chefs? Because customers have decided they want to be “in the kitchen”. They want to see how the sausage is made.’
Heidi Gardner, Harvard Law School
Continue reading “The new black – the spin and substance behind collaboration”
Simmons & Simmons, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), Bond Dickinson and Reed Smith are among 24 firms to win a place on Lloyds Banking Group’s (LBG) specialist sub panel, which sits below the bank’s main core roster of eight firms. Continue reading “Simmons, BLP and Reed Smith win places on Lloyds’ specialist roster as bank gears up for commercial panel review”
Mishcon de Reya has seen a partner exit from its ranks, as it has emerged that employment lawyer Helen Croft has joined communications agency, Mission Media, as its chief operating officer and general counsel (GC). Continue reading “Mishcon employment partner heads in-house in rare exit from City firm”
With new legislation putting human rights on the business agenda, we teamed up with Herbert Smith Freehills to gather lawyers and experts from a range of industries to debate the key issues
In our recent Insight report on business and human rights (see Soft law, hard sanctions – Human rights laws and the next risk front facing business) – published in September in association with Herbert Smith Freehills – we noted how the arrival of the Modern Slavery Act (MSA) in the UK in 2015 has crystallised the groundswell of awareness of the human rights concerns in business. We heard from in-house human rights experts how the debate over the last 15 years had moved beyond a vague concept to which lip service had been paid to become a bona fide business consideration, combining legal liability with potentially devastating reputational risk.
Continue reading “The business and human rights debate: The new judges”
Deutsche Bank has increased its litigation provisions from €5.5bn to €5.9bn for the third quarter of this year, while the German lender recorded an unexpected profit, beating analyst expectations. Continue reading “Deutsche Bank litigation costs jump as bank reports small profit”
‘Do not come to a problem from dogma or rigid ideology.’
Tony West, PepsiCo
As part of our Insight report on GC leadership, we asked senior in-house counsel how to lead from the front
‘You’ve got to be conscious that you cast a powerful shadow in the team so you need to be consistent in behaviour, beliefs and core message. You need to paint a clear vision and strategy and ideally create it with the team to get buy in. A good leader stretches the team while trusting it to do its own thing.’
Suzanne Wise, group general counsel and company secretary, Network Rail
Covington & Burling has landed a heavyweight in-house veteran to boost its London project finance offering with the arrival of BG Group’s former general counsel, Graham Vinter, to chair and supervise the expansion of the practice.
With corporate counsel consistently burdened by onerous cost constraints levied by their executive, the pressure to deliver efficiencies in-house may prove greater than ever. Newly-released data shows FTSE 100 companies have set aside £31.3bn in the last year for legal provisions, a rise of 22% from £26.5bn the year before.
Continue reading “Preparing for the worst: legal costs spike as FTSE 100 sets aside £31bn”
