Frontrunners emerge for Barclays general counsel role
Senior Barclays in-house lawyers Michael Shaw and Judith Shepherd have emerged as the frontrunners for the bank’s general counsel job, which is vacant following last week’s announcement that longstanding legal chief Mark Harding is standing down.
Michael Shaw
Shaw, a former Herbert Smith partner and currently deputy general counsel, is being tipped for the role alongside ex-Stephenson Harwood and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Shepherd, currently global general counsel for corporate and investment banking.
Harding is set to step down as group general counsel when the bank finds a replacement, after joining from Clifford Chance 10 years ago (4 February 2013).
Other names expected to be on the long-list are Barclays Capital general counsel and former Ashurst partner Erica Handling, as well as current and former Clifford Chance banking partners such as present practice head Mark Campbell, senior partner Malcolm Sweeting and former chief Stuart Popham QC, who is now vice-chairman of EMEA banking at Citigroup.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer finance partner Simon Hall, the firm’s relationship partner for Barclays, has ruled himself out.
Recently appointed CEO Antony Jenkins is widely expected to choose an in-house promotion over riskier external hire due to the pressure the bank has been under in the wake of the Libor scandal.
In addition, Shaw’s background is in retail banking, the same department Jenkins previously headed, with the lawyer temporarily serving as general counsel of the group’s retail arm.
A City partner commented: “Barclays would go for as vanilla or non-controversial a candidate as possible.”
A Barclays spokesperson said the recruitment process would take a considerable amount of time, with the completion date dependent on which candidates are available and when.
All the potential candidates either declined to comment or were unavailable for a response.
For more on this story read this week’s news analysis.
Readers' comments (7)
Rosa | 11-Feb-2013 12:18 pm
Unenviable position that Barclays find itself in. Would an external appointment in fact be safer because it mitigates the risk of finding out in x years time that whilst in their previous role the new GC was involved in whatever the then latest scandal is?
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Anonymous | 11-Feb-2013 12:52 pm
Barclays need a lawyer who will be able to manage the tsunami of litigation that is heading towards them. Swaps scandal, 2008 funding scandal, Libor criminal charges, false reporting, ETC ETC. It's a bank Jim, but not as we know it!
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Poirot | 11-Feb-2013 1:15 pm
Anonymous 12.52, they have scores of litigators to deal with all that, the Group GC is more of a strategic role. Heh, just realised, are you an ambitious litigator working at Barclays?!
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Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 9:28 am
What about Rachel Crook? She was brilliant as Barclaycard GC (retail) and made your hot 100 in the past!
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Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 1:33 pm
I'm surprised that Mark Edwards, Global GC of Retail, hasn't been thrown in the mix here. It's clear that former BarCap is in the process of being demoted within the Barclays hierarchy, and the retail bank will quickly (if it hasn't already) become the jewel in the crown. Mark E has oodles of experience of Barclays having been there 16 years, plus he has worked across numerous businesses so has a comprehensive understanding of the organisation.
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Anonymous | 15-Feb-2013 2:22 am
The second so called 'frontrunner' mentioned in this article lacks the gravitas, experience or background required for this role. Serious issues require serious attention and the hand of a serious contender.
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Penfold | 15-Feb-2013 1:57 pm
Anonymous | 13-Feb-2013 1:33 pm: Possibly. But isn't Mark Chapman more senior than him? What about him?
I actually think that they should just either go with their original plan and balls it out by appointing Judith Shepherd or appoint someone external to show "in with the new" and all that.
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