Legal Business

Direct Line

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  • General counsel and company secretary: Humphrey Tomlinson.
  • Team headcount: 18 lawyers.

GC and company secretary Humphrey Tomlinson leads the team of 18 lawyers at Direct Line Group and according to one RPC partner, the experienced in-house leader is ‘a first-rate lawyer, a great mind and a very nice person. He appreciates good advice too’.

It has been a tough few years for the team at the insurance giant, who came through an initial public offering (IPO) in 2012 launched by shareholder The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). After the float, there was a period of consolidation and restructuring to be done, with Tomlinson taking responsibility for rebuilding the secretarial team in particular.

The legal team in July 2014 advised on Direct Line’s investment in motor analytics and telematics tech company, The Floow. In the same year it gained an alternative business structure licence for the company’s legal subsidiary DLG Legal Services and conducted a €550m sell-off of the group’s international business.

The team prefers to cater for the insurer’s needs internally, but turned to Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy for its IPO. The company, which owns brands including Churchill, Privilege, Green Flag, NIG and DL for Business, also uses Berwin Leighton Paisner, Norton Rose Fulbright and Pinsent Masons on a regular basis.