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.
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.
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.
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’.
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 …
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.
Robin Saphra – Colt Group
Robin Saphra Group General Counsel, Colt Group Robin Saphra garnered plenty of attention last year after signing Baker & McKenzie as Colt Group’s principal adviser on a fixed annual contract worth £1m a year, cutting down his roster of external advisers from around 60 firms to just three. This has clearly reduced his legal spend, …
James Blendis – Everything Everywhere
James Blendis General Counsel and Company Secretary Everything Everywhere James Blendis is used to high-profile work: he oversaw the game-changing merger between Orange and T-Mobile in 2010 and took part in the Leveson inquiry last year. ‘I was never a specialised telecoms guy – you have to learn on the job and technically …
Dan Fitz – BT
Dan Fitz Group General Counsel BT Dan Fitz joined BT as group general counsel in 2010 and is described as ‘at the forefront of developments in the international markets for communications and media services’. He arrived at BT just after the company had gone through some tough times, including shedding 20% of its workforce …
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 …
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