Priti Shetty always dreamed of working for the UN. “I had such an idealistic view of changing the world. But, I was scuppered by my family which was made up of bankers and lawyers, and I ended up becoming a lawyer. I realised reading law was not as interesting as practising it! But, then when I […]
Decades of disposals and investments culminated in insurance giant RSA being bought by a Canadian outfit and exiting the consumer motor market. The Lawyer meets the in-housers at the heart of its transformation.
Ocado has lost its head of legal ops to Addleshaw Goddard’s consulting arm. Amy Brookbanks joins Addleshaws this month as a legal operations consultant after nearly 14 years at Ocado. She joined the retailer as a commercial solicitor in 2009, before moving up ranks in tandem with the company’s own growth globally. The firm’s consulting […]
General counsel from the likes of Cashplus, Sprints and Vodafone have come together to address what they consider to be a “historic omission” within the Financial Reporting Council’s consultation on the UK Corporate Governance Code. Corporate governance is at the top of business priorities in a world that has become increasingly complex and seen a […]
Fraud prevention specialist Cifas has hired a new general counsel from listed fraud prevention giant GBG. Natasha Maddock will join Cifas as its new general counsel in September 2023, having previously worked as group head of legal for GBG. Cifas is a fraud prevention service, operating as the UK’s largest cross-sector fraud sharing database. Maddock […]
Revolut has partnered up with Linklaters, one of its panel firms, to offer a new mentoring scheme with Aspiring Solicitors. Revolut partner and group GC Tom Hambrett, and senior legal counsels Sarah Baldwin and Marley Ali, are driving the initiative alongside panel firm Linklaters to give young people considering a career in law a chance […]
Thames Water has appointed a new general counsel amid investor cuts, multimillion-pound pollution fines and the resignation of CEO Sarah Bentley. Andrew Fraiser joins the water utilities company from a four-year stint at Ashurst. He held the position of head of energy and infrastructure Americas, as well as global head of project finance. Prior to […]
A lack of basic telephone and interpersonal skills among junior lawyers has led legal education providers to question how they can plug the gap. Gripes about junior lawyers mentioned to The Lawyer by partners across the legal industry include being too scared to pick up the phone to call a client, and not knowing how to […]
Flexible legal talent firm Lawyers On Demand (LOD) has been targeted for an acquisition by a US competitor. Consilio, which also offers flexible legal talent services as well as legal tech solutions, has announced that it intends to buy LOD to extend its legal services business across the globe. UK legal tech consultancy business Syke, […]
“I am pretty sure most lawyers have sat around a board table where a client has asked them to draw what they think an ideal lawyer is as part of a pitch.” Law firms often complain that pitch processes can be lengthy, uncomfortable and a waste of time if you don’t end up getting picked. […]
Despite the company being 52 years old, prior to 2016 Dura-Line had never had a dedicated lawyer. Four years after being bought by chemical manufacturing giant Orbia, it appointed Lucie Grant to its general counsel role. Now a role that is split between the UK and the US, Grant oversees a team of eight. Orbia […]
Simmons Solutions experienced record growth of 16 per cent last year, taking it to £25m from the £22m recorded the year before. Nearly a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, this makes it Simmons & Simmons’ fastest growing international practice group, having been integrated as a practice group at the firm at the […]