Taylor Wimpey legal team gets post-merger overhaul

The UK’s largest housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is embarking on a major restructuring of its legal team following the July merger of George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow.

Former George Wimpey general counsel and new company secretary James Jordan is set to take up the role of general counsel, while former Taylor Woodrow general counsel Jeremy Sampson and Nicola Hasty, the legal director of UK housing at George Wimpey, are leaving the merged company.

Peter Carr has been recruited from Wilson Bowden, where he was group legal counsel, to become the legal director of UK housing from 1 January. He will be in charge of plot sales and land acquisition work.

Sampson is expected to leave property law for corporate and commercial work, while Hasty is understood to be moving to Spain to spend time away from the legal profession.

Reviews of in-house and external counsel will be one of the first issues Carr and Jordan have to address. Taylor Woodrow traditionally sought advice from Eversheds and CMS Cameron McKenna on property and litigation issues, while George Wimpey tended to rely more on in-house expertise.

Taylor Wimpey will also have a construction team of two lawyers covering contentious and non-contentious issues.