Scottish & Newcastle’s (S&N) company secretary and general counsel Peter Kennerley, Emap general counsel Nick Folland, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Vanessa Knapp and Herbert Smith partner James Palmer are a formidable team. During 2006 the quartet spearheaded a rare and high-profile campaign to stop the Companies Act from imposing unnecessary burdens on corporate UK. The Companies Act, which was enacted in November 2006, heralded the biggest shake-up of companies legislation since the 1985 Companies Act. The two private practice lawyers joined forces with the General Counsel 100 Group (GC100) in its successful lobbying efforts.

S&N’s Kennerley joined the GC100 in early 2006 and immediately set to work. With input from Knapp and Palmer, the GC100 slammed the provisions relating to directors’ duties and shareholder remedies. Palmer was equally critical of the clauses relating to directors’ duties and shareholder remedies. In a perfectly timed move, he wrote to the Financial Times in May (when the bill was being debated in the House of Lords) expressing serious concerns that the bill threatened to make English law incompatible with running campaigns.

In addition to playing a crucial role in trying to moderate the Government’s stance, the quartet also helped to educate the City, which will take some time getting to grips with the changes the legislation has introduced.And although the Companies Act has already been enacted, the GC100’s work is far from over. The group is now busy working on the transitional arrangements and the endless number of statutory instruments that are expected to be published.