Tesco appoints China legal director after year-long hiatus

Joy Ge starts her new role in Tesco China’s Shanghai headquarters this month. She joins from Belgian industry group Bekaert, where she served as Asia regional counsel in the company’s Asia regional headquarters in Shanghai. Ge has over 12 years of in-house experience in China and had previously worked for Alcan and Heineken as counsel.

Tesco China’s previous permanent legal director was Sunny Yi, who left the company after a three-year tenure to join the Shanghai office of Dacheng, one of China’s largest law firms, as a partner in January 2012.

Following Yi’s departure, Tesco turned to longstanding external advisor Berwin Leighton Paisner for interim staffing resources. The City firm’s former chair Peter Robinson took up a temporary secondment posting as acting legal director of Tesco in China last May (18 May 2012). Recently, the firm has obtained a licence to open an office in Beijing (20 February 2013) and Robinson will relocate there to lead the base following the appointment of Ge.

The supermarket giant’s legal function is headed by Berkshire-based group general counsel Adrian Morris, formerly BP associate general counsel (9 November 2012). Tesco did not not respond in time for comment.