As the man responsible for a 400-strong legal function and a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) executive management committee, Miller McLean is one of the most influential general counsels in the UK.

But he had an outstanding year, even by his standards. Over the summer, McLean led the negotiations for RBS’s exclusive strategic partnership with Bank of China a 10 per cent stake in the bank for $3.1bn (£1.7bn). The alliance threw up a host of legal issues surrounding partnerships on credit cards, wealth management, corporate banking and personal insurance.

Internally, McLean led a shake-up of the legal function, helped by his canny recruitment of former Dundas & Wilson managing partner Chris Campbell. Legal teams from the US, Europe and Asia are now integrated into the central legal and secretarial function.

And last, but by no means least, McLean led a wholesale review of the RBS Group pension fund, developing an entirely new operational framework for the new pensions regime in the process.