Philip Davis
General counsel and company secretary
Cable & Wireless Worldwide
Described by one telecoms expert as having done ‘a great job as GC at Cable & Wireless Worldwide in challenging times’, Philip Davis’ main task at CWW right now is to bring down group legal spend, which currently stands at around £1.2m a year.
He would prefer his 20-strong global team to handle the big-ticket commercial stuff in-house and he encourages stiff competition between his external advisers, putting out work to tender often so that firms bid against each other to bring down the price.
Davis has sought to put the legal team at the heart of the business and while the core of the legal team is based in the UK, the company has a lawyer in Bangalore, two in Singapore and one in Paris. The company, which was formed following the demerger of Cable & Wireless into CWW and Cable & Wireless Communications in 2010, only appointed its first external panel in 2011, where he applied a hands-on approach to picking the firms, supported by his able deputy Helen Copestick, who joined as a secondee from Norton Rose.
Law firms used: Baker & McKenzie, Herbert Smith Freehills, Olswang, Osborne Clarke, Pinsent Masons
2007-present: General counsel and company secretary, Cable & Wireless Worldwide
2005-07: General counsel and company secretary, WS Atkins
2001-05: Group general counsel, Bookham Technology
1996-2001: Senior legal counsel, ICI