Littlewoods head of legal switches to Dixons Group

Dixons Group, the electrical goods retailer, has hired the group legal director and company secretary of Littlewoods as its first ever head of legal.
Neil Ogilvie becomes the first head of legal to be appointed by the FTSE 100 company, which also owns Currys, The Link, PC World and a number of retail businesses in Europe.
It is unclear how Ogilvie's appointment will affect Dixons' relationship with its external lawyers. The retailer
does not have a formal panel and handles the lion's share of the group's legal work in-house. Nevertheless, it does pass some work on to Linklaters, which advised on the demerger and flotation of internet service provider Freeserve, along with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, DLA and SJ Berwin.
Ogilvie will be in charge of a 19-strong team comprising six lawyers, one trading standards manager and 12 paralegals. It is understood that Ogilvie's team will deal with most areas of law, including litigation, which recently merged with the general legal function. However, his team will not be responsible for property law issues.
Ogilvie said: "I'm delighted to be joining Dixons, a company which I've admired for its innovative approach to retailing. I look forward to being part of its exciting development plans."
Ogilvie declined to comment on why he left Littlewoods and it is still not clear who, if anybody, will replace him.
Last November, the Moores family's 80-year ownership of Littlewoods ended after the company was sold to reclusive billionaires the Barclay brothers for £750m.