Jerry Temko
Vice president, general counsel and compliance officer
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.
Paul Newton – Bupa
Paul Newton
Group legal director and general counsel
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.
Catherine Dixon – NHS Litigation Authority
Catherine Dixon
Chief executive
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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Felix Ehrat – Novartis
Felix Ehrat
Group general counsel
Novartis
In July last year Novartis unveiled an overhaul of its ‘Legal Preferred Program’, which involved reassessing its panel of law firms. Led by group general counsel Felix Ehrat – a former senior partner at one of Switzerland’s most prestigious firms – the panel comprises 25 firms divided into four groups – global firms, US country firms, US country specialist firms and US country specialist intellectual property firms.
Francesca Yeomans – Smith & Nephew
Francesca Yeomans
European legal counsel
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.
Deborah Prince – British Heart Foundation
Deborah Prince
Head of legal affairs
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.
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Adam McArthur – AstraZeneca
Adam McArthur
Senior counsel, strategic partnering and business development
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 – Shire Pharmaceuticals
Tatjana May
General counsel, company secretary and executive vice president global legal affairs
Shire Pharmaceuticals
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.
Bill Mordan – Reckitt Benckiser
Bill Mordan
Senior vice president and group general counsel
Reckitt Benckiser
Bill Mordan manages a team of 58 legal professionals in offices in 19 countries for the global company. In 2011 he received the Association of Corporate Counsel’s award for ‘Excellence in corporate practice’, with the ACC describing him as:‘an invaluable asset to Reckitt Benckiser, Bill has built a strong legal department, developing a departmental structure that not only ensures worldwide compliance, but does so at costs well below the industry norm.’
Andrew Garard – ITV
Andrew Garard
Group legal director
ITV
When Andrew Garard arrived at ITV, he immediately set about clearing out the television company’s long list of external legal advisers, sweeping away 36 of the 45 firms. He has spent considerable time choosing high-calibre individuals who are ‘fun and challenging’. The company uses external counsel for M&A, litigation, property, HR, IP and IT and Treasury issues.
James Conyers – BSkyB
James Conyers
General counsel
BSkyB
Unsurprisingly, regulatory affairs are crucial for James Conyers’ 17-strong team at BSkyB, including dealing with Ofcom. Competition disputes with other UK broadcasters have been a key feature of the last ten years as well.
Richard Devereux – Intel
Richard Devereux
Labour law counsel
Intel
Intel has 300 lawyers worldwide and 41 in Europe. In the labour law division that Richard Devereux runs, there are six staff.
Martin Bowen – Dyson
Martin Bowen
Head of legal
Dyson
In his 14 years at Dyson, Martin Bowen has seen his legal department grow significantly. He now runs a team of 40 staff and has recently hired five new lawyers, including two commercial lawyers in the UK and one in Singapore.
Patrick Stewart – Manchester United Football Club
Patrick Stewart
Director of legal and business affairs
Manchester United Football Club
Patrick Stewart has presided over some big changes since he took over as director of legal at Manchester United Football Club, as the club has continued to become a global phenomenon: in the last 12 months alone, MUFC has opened an office in Hong Kong and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Robert Blok – Virgin
Robert Blok
Group legal director
Virgin
Robert Blok looks after the legal aspects of Virgin investments across a whole range of industry sectors and oversees the relationship between Virgin’s diverse businesses and the external law firms to make sure they use the best practice in every country.
Ed Smith – Telefónica UK
Ed Smith
General Counsel
Telefónica UK
Ed Smith certainly paid his dues before becoming GC at Telefónica UK in 2010: he has been with the company for 11 years. During that time, he has seen his company demerge from BT, rebrand into O2 and finally be acquired by Telefónica in 2005. So when he says, ‘I started absolutely at the ground floor’, he is not being too modest.
Maurice Woolf – Interoute
Maurice Woolf
Group General counsel
Interoute
Having practised in-house for telecoms companies since 1995 Maurice Woolf has, according to one telecoms lawyer, ‘long been at the heart of the UK communications industry’.
Stephen Lerner – Hutchison 3G UK
Stephen Lerner
General counsel and director of regulatory affairs
Hutchison 3G UK
Steven Lerner sees his role as an innovator. ‘3 is not afraid of challenging the status quo or taking risks so we expect our external firms to think in a more creative and challenging way,’ he says.
Paul van Straaten – Chief legal officer
Paul van Straaten
Chief legal officer
Lebara Group
Paul van Straaten loves to be in the middle of the action. Whether it’s high-profile disputes before the European Court of Justice, major M&A transactions or projects in developing countries, Lebara Group is never just ‘ticking over’, he says.
Rosemary Martin – Vodafone
Rosemary Martin
Group general counsel and company secretary
Vodafone
One of the most high profile and respected GCs around today, Rosemary Martin joined Vodafone after more than a decade at news agency Reuters.