Mobile telecoms giant Vodafone is searching for a new head of litigation after former head Andrew Littlejohns was promoted to head of M&A transactions.
Littlejohns transferred across to the new role, which is business focused rather than legal and involves managing acquisitions and leading negotiations, over the summer.
The move is a rare one for Vodafone, which does not often pick lawyers to fill commercial roles.
“It is not a big culture shock, but it is a complete change of role,” Littlejohns said. “Am I enjoying it? Yes.”
Vodafone is now searching for a replacement.
“The interviews are about to start,” Littlejohns said. “Any litigator looking to move in-house will find this a great role”Littlejohns was at Lovells for five years until 2003, when he joined Vodafone as a litigator within the legal team.
Linklaters is Vodafone’s main corporate counsel. In March, Tokyo-based corporate partners Casper Lawson and Hidehiro Utsumi advised Vodafone on the sale of its Japanese mobile arm to internet service provider SoftBank for £9bn.
