AXA UK
Edward Davis has made his mark at AXA UK. He established the French insurer’s first global legal panel as part of its ‘Ambition 2012’ strategy launched back in 2004. This panel comprises 12 firms fighting over the £3m AXA spends on law firms every year.
Davis has grown his legal in-house team to 40 lawyers and manages the group legal department, group secretariat and the UK compliance team.
Legal & General Group
Geoffrey Timms considers himself an unconventional manager of a highly qualified team. He hates bureaucracy and regimentation and above all, babysitting. He likes proactive individuals who strengthen relationships, work independently and exceed targets. This also applies to the external firms he uses. ‘I like working with lawyers who understand how we work and approach issues, who go the extra mile bearing in mind all risk factors,’ he says.
Direct Line Insurance Group, RBS Insurance
With 20 years’ experience advising on legal risk management, corporate governance and commercial issues, and noted for his ‘calm good sense and his tremendous judgement’, Humphrey Tomlinson knows his stuff. He heads a legal team of 40 and a company secretariat team of about six at Direct Line.
Continue reading “Humphrey Tomlinson – Direct Line Insurance Group, RBS Insurance”
Aviva
Kirsty Cooper manages a total of 270 individuals, half of whom are based overseas. This includes all the lawyers and chartered secretaries across the group. In 2011, the company spent a whopping £60m on its legal spend, excluding any UK-based general insurance claims. Of this, half was spent on external law firms.
Phoenix Group
Jane MacLeod likes firms equipped with strong regulatory experience and knowledge of the current challenges facing the insurance sector. Last year, the group’s legal spend totalled approximately £6m, split equally between internal and external advisers.
ACE European Group
Kenneth Underhill admits that he is no easy taskmaster. He describes himself as ‘tough but fair – and of course ever busy’. As such, he expects both his in-house and external legal teams to have a thorough understanding of the insurance industry. As one insurance partner says: ‘He expects outside counsel to reflect ACE’s own innovative and commercial approach.’
Canada Life
Kelvan Swinnerton is known for solving problems quickly. Having been a partner at insurance firm Kennedys for the best part of a decade, one private practitioner says of him: ‘Kel has a very sharp legal mind, which he couples with a drive to resolve problems proactively and practically – he always has an eye open for the most sensible solution. He also manages to maintain a lively sense of humour.’
Lloyd’s of London
Sean McGovern was initially brought in to do finance work at Lloyd’s at the age of 26. Since then, he has been responsible for all the regulatory and government issues for Lloyd’s, and three years ago he took on the task of promoting and protecting Lloyd’s business interests in the US and Canada.
XL Group
Rhic Webb is described by his external lawyers as ‘a very strong lawyer who has a very good eye for detail’. He says that increasingly his time is spent in corporate matters, as well as ‘the nuts and bolts of insurance and reinsurance issues’.
Prudential
Margaret Coltman was only appointed to her role as group general counsel and company secretary in July 2009 but has a very impressive background, including more than 22 years as an insurance partner at Norton Rose.
BP
Few general counsel are as well-known outside their industry as Rupert Bondy at BP – he is a clear example of a legal director that operates in a secretarial rather than a GC role.
Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Bondy oversaw the company’s risk management strategy, effectively steering its emergency response from the beginning of the crisis through to the eventual financial settlement.
Gazprom Energy Marketing & Trading
Identified as a ‘smart lawyer with a broad international perspective’ and a ‘rising star of the industry’, Jacqueline Hill has been the GC for the UK subsidiary of the Russian gas giant Gazprom since 2006 after moving from EDF Trading.
Continue reading “Jacqueline Hill – Gazprom Energy Marketing & Trading”
Roche Products
Funke Abimbola made the leap from private practice to in-house at the beginning of last year and hasn’t looked back since. She says that she is the ‘only non-medic’ in her family and has consequently found her home at the pharmaceutical giant.
Astellas Pharma Europe
With an in-house career at pharma companies spanning more than 20 years, Jerry Temko is one of the most experienced GCs in the sector.
Bupa
Since joining Bupa in 1987, Paul Newton has progressed up the ranks to become the group’s legal director and has seen the legal team grow to 70 lawyers in 11 locations, with an annual legal spend of £6.6m. Given the group turns over £8bn, serves 11 million clients and employs 52,000 staff, the size of the team is relatively modest and Newton has an extensive panel of strong firms that he uses for M&A, litigation, regulatory insurance, media, employment and IP/IT.
NHS Litigation Authority
Catherine Dixon, who joined the NHSLA in April 2012, is working closely with its panel of legal firms to ensure that value for money is delivered to the NHS. She will shortly be leading a legal panel tender to engage legal services for the NHSLA and other NHS bodies, which is due to complete on 1 April this year. ‘Procuring legal services is always a sophisticated purchase. It has to be the right price but it’s key that it’s the right quality,’ she says.
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Smith & Nephew
During her time with the medical devices company, Francesca Yeomans has established a successfully functioning department after starting out as the company’s sole lawyer outside the US. She reports to the US global legal team, which comprises 16 lawyers, six paralegals and nine IP attorneys.
British Heart Foundation
After 12 years’ experience of in-house roles at Tesco and Which?, Deborah Prince began work for the healthcare charity at the beginning of 2012 as its sole in-house lawyer. This is all a far cry from her early days as a neuroscientist at Imperial College where she spent seven years.
Continue reading “Deborah Prince – British Heart Foundation”
AstraZeneca
Adam McArthur has ten years’ experience at two of the world’s most prominent pharmaceuticals companies:Novartis and now AstraZeneca. He is part of a 22-strong legal team responsible for global business development activities in respiratory, inflammation and ophthalmology.
Tatjana May has been with Shire Pharmaceuticals, the UK’s third largest drugs group, since 2001, having spent the earlier part of her career in the prestigious surroundings of AstraZeneca, where she was assistant general counsel, and Slaughter and May. In 2008 she was also appointed chair of the corporate responsibility committee.
