Siemens Gamesa’s Javier Cabezudo on merging two legal teams
The merger of two energy giants means a period of frenetic activity for legal boss Javier Cabezudo as he integrates two best-in-class legal teams into one
Square’s Sivan Whiteley on breaking the UK market and having the CEO of Twitter as a boss
Square Inc has not only Twitter founder Jack Dorsey at its head but also a former Bingham litigator who found her real home in the start-up world of fintech
The lawyer turned tech trailblazer leading Santander’s transformation strategy
Santander’s Gloria Sánchez Soriano is the legal tech trailblazer tasked with implementing a transformation strategy at one of Europe’s largest banks
Simplyhealth GC: why individual relationships beat panels
Jon Jansen-Alder likes boxing analogies. A veteran of more than 20 bouts, he still steps into the ring to slug it out with heavyweight rivals – but has he got a big fight on his hands as group general counsel of Simplyhealth?
Sodexo’s Ingo Koehler-Bartels on the challenges ahead in new Euro GC role
Food and facilities giant Sodexo is on the brink of a major regional reorganisation, and GC Ingo Koehler-Bartels is the lynchpin
OVH’s legal chief on outgunning the US internet giants
OVH’s legal chief is scathing of the US’s new data privacy laws, adding that his European internet provider company is a worthy challenger to the likes of Google.
Pinsents holds on to Eon work after sole provider review
Pinsent Masons will remain Eon’s sole UK legal provider until at least 2023 after the energy supplier renewed its five-year deal with the firm for a second time. This is the second prominent sole provider model that the firm has retained in 2018 following its March announcement that Balfour Beatty would be retaining its services […]
Shiseido GC leaves for US vape company
Shiseido Group’s general counsel Elaine Hutton has taken on a new role at San Francisco-headquartered e-cigarette company JUUL. Hutton is understood to be JUUL’s first European legal director in London and will act as the corporation’s associate general counsel. JUUL is a spin-off from Pax Labs, which started in 2017. It currently has more than half of […]
Lloyds Bank legal chief to balance new role with GC duties
Lloyds Banking Group general counsel Kate Cheetham has been handed responsibility for another side of the business, being put in charge of the company secretariat role alongside her existing legal position. Cheetham, who became group general counsel in May 2015, has taken on the company secretary role following the retirement of Malcolm Wood, who joined Lloyds […]
Paul Hastings Hong Kong chair moves in-house for global GC role
Paul Hastings’ Hong Kong partner and office chair Steve Winegar has moved in-house, taking up a new role as international general counsel at Chinese insurance giant Ping An. The move will see Winegar returning to an in-house position in the financial sector. He joined Paul Hastings as a corporate partner in 2010 from Goldman Sachs, […]
Simpson Thacher cements Blackstone ties with in-house move
Private equity giant Blackstone has brought in an associate from longstanding adviser Simpson Thacher to support its European GC.
HMRC finds a new legal head from Defra
HM Revenue and Customs has appointed a new general counsel, taking on the legal director of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Alan Evans will take on the top legal role at HMRC on 1 January 2019, advising on all aspects of tax law and leading its litigation team. He will also be […]
Post Office begins search for new legal panel
The Post Office has set out its stall for a new legal panel, adding that it plans to reduce its existing legal offering to seven firms. In a previous interview with The Lawyer, the Post Office’s legal director Ben Foat revealed that the company had an extensive roster of firms, including CMS Cameron McKenna and Womble Bond […]
Crown Commercial Service appoints over 40 firms to new panel
CCS has completed its new £320m wider public sector legal services panel, covering a broad range of legal services
Five firms dropped from £100m NHS roster
The NHS has finalised its 28-strong shared business services panel with firms including Addleshaws and Hogan Lovells winning places.
Oil and gas giant Petrochina completes inaugural panel
Chinese oil and gas company PetroChina International and its London-based subsidiary Petroineos Trading have completed their first ever legal panel, with over ten firms making the cut. The new global full services panel spans Europe, Russia/CIS, Africa and China, and will cover the following specific areas: commodity trading; regulatory and compliance; shipping and shipping dispute resolution; corporate: midstream […]
Ten firms win roles on Lucozade’s inaugural panel
Lucozade Ribena Suntory has completed its first formal panel review, with newcomer Eversheds Sutherland taking top spot as primary provider across the UK and Ireland. The latest review, which kicked off in April, is the first to be overseen by general counsel Mary Guest, who took up the in-house post in November when she joined […]
Coca-Cola takes scythe to panel with over 70 firms cut
Bottling giant Coca-Cola European Partners has drastically reduced the size of its legal roster, selecting nearly 30 advisers from a panel of over 100. The panel is the first to be carried out under the leadership of general counsel Clare Wardle, who joined from Kingfisher in 2016. She joined the company a year after it […]
Getting slicker: in-housers share what self-service technology means to them
On a clear, bright morning at the end of September, 11 GCs gathered at the South Place Hotel near Liverpool Street to share how they were overcoming issues surrounding legal self-service and assembly; the “nuts and bolts” of running a clean and slick legal operation. How does one leverage technology to deal with the business-as-usual […]
GC2B: From fintechs to banks, tech gives in-house teams the chance to reinvent themselves
At a dinner in the shadow of London’s Tower Bridge, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) hosted a group of legal heads to discuss the topic of reinventing themselves and their teams in a technology-driven world. Responses were varied and the attendees came from enormously diverse business models, though the prevailing mood was one of necessary and […]
GC2B: Managing external and internal legal teams in a global world
At The Lawyer‘s recent General Counsel Strategy Summit, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BLCP) hosted a round table on the topic ‘managing external and internal legal teams in a global world’, talking about the shaping of legal resources to business objectives, structures and diversity. BCLP partners Jonathan Morris & Rémy Blain led nine senior in-house lawyers […]
Lawyers shouldn’t play safe, they should take the lead
What does the term “progressive” mean to in-house lawyers? GCs explain how they build their in-house legal teams.
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Business ethics and the modern GC: How to navigate public scrutiny
Should in-house lawyers do the legal thing or the ethical thing? – there can be a subtle difference. Lawyers from UK companies tell how they balance business ethics, high public expectations and legal exactitude. Lisa Mayhew, BLP: You all work in very different businesses in multiple jurisdictions, so there are varying legislative, social and cultural issues. […]
Squire Patton Boggs’ “Apple-style” tool for employment advice
The firm is rising to the challenge of providing accurate employment law information about the world’s hardest-to-reach jurisdictions
How AI saved the day on the SFO’s Rolls-Royce probe
The Serious Fraud Office has expanded its use of AI software to speed up investigation time and bring down costs, but its use is not without its challenges
Tackling the problem of female talent retention – A&O-style
One of the biggest issues facing law firms is the retention of female talent. Allen & Overy is working on solving the problem.
Bayer’s formula for turning legal into a commercially driven function
Bayer’s law, patents and compliance function is home to some 800 professionals worldwide. Bringing it closer to the company’s commercial team is an ongoing project
Litigation too bespoke to pin down on price? HSF didn’t think so
HSF has adapted the fixed fees approach used for transactional work to the much less predictable world of disputes
Pinsents and Everton FC: advice from a law firm, with no lawyers required
While the provision of legal advice is central to any law firm, many are branching out into other areas. One recent project taken on by Pinsent Masons for football club Everton was notable because it had little to no involvement from lawyers. Instead, it was managed from start to finish by the firm’s dedicated legal […]
Employment: Quarterly case law updates
By Beth Jenkins and Paula Rome In this article, we take a look back through some key cases from the last three months and the lessons which we can learn from them. Discrimination In Ms A Gray V Mulberry Company (Design) Ltd the EAT held that an employer will not be discriminating on grounds of […]
Hard Brexit: Guide for employers to apply for work permit for UK employees in the Netherlands
By Wendy Terporten, Nico van Dijk, Edith Franssen It is uncertain yet whether the European Union and the United Kingdom will reach a Brexit agreement in time. Employers can anticipate the no-deal scenario (a hard Brexit) and ensure that business-critical nationals from the UK (UK employees) can remain or start working in the Netherlands after […]
Budgeting of fair compensation in the case of an employee who is also a statutory director
By Klaas Wiersma Since the introduction of the WWZ (Work and Security Act) in 2015, we have received a new severance payment: the fair compensation. The Supreme Court made several judgments in 2017 and 2018, which makes it much clearer in which cases a fair compensation must be granted and how the level of fair compensation […]
Commercial Court dismisses allegations of fraud in connection with forex demo accounts
By Robin Henry, Jean-Martin Louw In a highly critical Commercial Court judgment, Mr Justice Knowles has described two investment funds’ allegations of fraud against a forex trading firm as “an elaborate and expensive, unmeritorious attempt” to “throw off their responsibility onto the shoulders of the defendants”. Background The claimants’ business model was to offer investors equity in […]
Latest development in Employment Law – November 2018
By Stuart McBride Read our updated A-Z of Employment Law, which sums up the latest developments to November 2018. This quarter’s edition includes: Brexit, the impact Employment contracts post Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive v Anderson UK Corporate Governance Code Criminal record checks and barring CEO and ethnicity pay-gap reporting
Gender pay gap reporting – The hidden consequences
By Angharad Schell With fewer than six months until the next gender pay gap reporting deadline, employers need to start thinking about their reporting obligations. There has rarely been a time with more focus on gender inequality issues, in the wake of #metoo and high profile pay disputes. Last year, there was significant press focus […]
The real Living Wage vs National Living Wage
By Tania Goodman, Bethany Mevrick A rise in the real Living Wage was announced this week, with around 180,000 workers set to receive a pay boost as a result. The real Living Wage is a voluntary scheme that pays employees by reference to the real cost of living. It was designed by the Living Wage […]
Use of plastic in the food and drink industry
With the coming to prominence of environmental concerns around plastic – particularly single-use and difficult-to-recycle plastic – the food and drink sector is already being challenged to review its use of plastic. Further challenge is brought by a wave of regulation. Shortly after the European Commission proposed the introduction of a Single Use Plastic Directive, […]
Employment Essentials – October 2018
By Jane Fielding, Connie Cliff Gowling WLG’s employment, labour & equalities experts pick October’s top five employment law developments that may affect your business. 1. Budget 2018 Employment implications: the what and when 2. Whistleblowing: NEDs personally liable to whistleblower for post dismissal losses 3. Employer’s vicarious liability in the 21st century 4. Disability discrimination: job description not in itself […]
State of cyber security in Canada
By Brent J. Arnold A report released by the Canadian Senate on Oct. 29, 2018, provocatively titled: Cyber.assault: It should keep you up at night, raises alarm about the state of cyber security in Canada, and calls for the creation of a new federal ministry to fend off cyber attacks. The report, originally mandated for release […]
How AI will transform the financial services sector
By Christopher N. Alam In August, 2018, The World Economic Forum (“WEF”) published a report, The New Physics of Financial Services, that looks at how AI will transform the financial services sector. The report discusses how matters will change in terms of relationships between participants in the financial industry and addresses a number of issues around […]
Machine learning: A vital tool for surviving the data deluge
By Kevin Shergold, Vijay Rathour, Nick Rich The reality of modern investigative practice is a tsunami of data, and less time or budget to get to the truth than ever before. Traditional linear review, even augmented by full text search, is no longer adequate for the task. How machine learning works Fortunately, computer hardware has advanced to the […]
Stress management in the workplace
By Rachel Richardson Stress can be both the cause of, and a symptom of, problems in the workplace that can give rise to claims both in the Employment Tribunal and the Royal Court – and better stress management can help to prevent time-consuming, costly and reputationally damaging conflict. How big is the issue? Reports show that […]
Employer liable for employee assault in party
By Stuart McBride The Court of Appeal recently found an employer to be vicariously liable for the actions of one of their employees following a staff Christmas party. This appeal case will unfortunately bring little comfort to employers tasked with planning Christmas parties this festive season. Employers and their insurers should be alert to the […]
Judgment on online sales ban
By Miles Trower Last month the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) confirmed that an online sales ban in the context of selective distribution agreements constituted a restriction of competition by object. The CAT gave judgment in the appeal by Ping Europe Limited (Ping) against the decision of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA’s […]