Barratt Developments has reshuffled its internal legal team following the retirement of general counsel (GC) Tom Keevil, promoting his deputy Nick Mullen to succeed as head of legal.
Keevil stepped down from the FTSE 100 company’s top legal role after five years on 31 December, having served as both GC and company secretary.
The residential property company, which has a turnover of £3.15bn, has now given Mullen the role of head of legal while deputy company secretary Tina Bains has taken over as group company secretary. Mullen, who has worked at the company since 2012, will lead a 10-strong lawyer team.
Speaking to Legal Business in our 2014 Regional Insight Keevil said the primary issue for the legal team is ensuring compliance with its internal control framework.
‘This business is about managing risk and if we get it right in terms of our contracts to buy land; get it right in terms of our negotiations with local authorities in the terms on which we are buying; and we get the development and design right, then things play through,’ he said.
In other recent in-house developments, Scottish engineering business Weir Group appointed Burness Paull and CMS Cameron McKenna to its first ever European panel following a competitive tender process while Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Baker & McKenzie were gifted advisory roles on its global legal roster.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
