Sheldon Mills – Office of Fair Trading

Sheldon Mills

Director of mergers

 

Office of Fair Trading

 

Sheldon Mills’ responsibilities include the day-to-day delivery of the Office of Fair Trading’s merger caseload, management of the mergers group and representing the OFT externally. Mills heads a team of 35, including eight competition/litigation lawyers. The OFT does not have a legal panel as it doesn’t instruct law firms, but it does deal with a range of firms that require M&A transaction clearance.

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Sanjay Prashar – London Borough of Sutton

Sanjay Prashar

Executive head of legal and democratic services

London Borough of Sutton

 

Sutton’s legal panel is part of a wider consortium led by the London Borough of Bromley and set up in 2010. Around 26 firms provide counsel for various outer London boroughs, the Corporation of London and five district councils in Kent.

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Sean McGovern – Lloyd’s of London

Sean McGovern

Director of North America and general counsel

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.

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Kelvan Swinnerton – Canada Life

Kelvan Swinnerton

Head of legal

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.’

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Kenneth Underhill – ACE European Group

Kenneth Underhill

Senior vice president and general counsel

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.’

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Kirsty Cooper – Aviva

Kirsty Cooper

Group general counsel and company secretary

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.

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Humphrey Tomlinson – Direct Line Insurance Group, RBS Insurance

Humphrey Tomlinson

General Counsel and company secretary

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.

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