For many lawyers, much of the draw to move in-house is the opportunity to play a more direct role in the business. It is also the chance to develop their commercial acumen beyond the level that private practice allows. The skillset this is cultivating within the in-house team is undoubtedly making the general counsel (GC) a better adviser and has the happy side effect of preparing lawyers for senior business roles.
Barclays’ Amol Prabhu is a prominent recent example of a senior lawyer making the transition, but one that still happens all too rarely in the UK. Belonging to an exclusive but slowly growing band of business people who transitioned from in-house counsel to the C-suite, Prabhu has spent 15 years at Barclays, working in Dubai, Hong Kong, London and now Johannesburg. He was most recently the head of emerging markets legal for EMEA, before accepting the role of Barclays co-head for Africa and chief representative officer: South Africa.
Trading one eclectic job description for an even broader one, Prabhu assumed the role of chief representative officer and continent head for Africa in 2018. While there are legal elements to his current purview – for example, there is a regulatory component together with the same legal considerations with which all senior business people have to grapple – it is primarily a commercial position. Prabhu notes that the role has three core components: ‘The first relates to front-line origination. We have a developed investment banking business that has advised South African and African clients for more than a decade. The corporate finance products we offer are focused on international M&A, equity and debt capital markets, and leveraged finance. The goal is to continue to grow that business providing African clients with global solutions and global clients access to the African continent.
‘The second part is more of a chief operating officer role: establishing the office here in South Africa from scratch, which should be completed by the end of the year, and ensuring that office is fully operational and compliant.
‘The third part is management and oversight across all of our Barclays businesses on the continent. While our investment banking franchise is well known, we provide corporate banking offshore to clients, as well as an offshore private banking proposition. These businesses are hugely different in the products they offer, operating models and the clients they support: the spectrum is broad, from advising a sovereign at one end through the relevant corporate/financial institutions, all the way to individuals. That breadth brings a range of complex commercial, legal, compliance and reputational issues to manage.’
It is this last component that required Prabhu’s relocation to South Africa. It is Prabhu’s name on the regulators’ ledger, which means he is the first point of contact for all things Barclays in South Africa and, if anything goes wrong, it is Prabhu that the regulators go to first.
Scaling up
The role was born from necessity, following a period of change in Barclays’ African business. In 2016, Barclays sold a 62.3% stake in Absa (it still retains 14.9%), a local bank and Barclays’ defacto Africa entity for regulatory reasons. The sale required an examination of Barclays’ network in the region and an assessment of what was required to make the post-Absa era work, something Prabhu involved himself in from London as head of emerging markets legal.
‘While I didn’t work on the separation between the two banks, I focused on the go-forward model. My initial work considered: “What does it mean for Barclays in Africa with respect to investment banking?” but it rapidly transpired into asking similar questions of Corporate Banking and Private Banking.
‘You have to use your judgement and be prepared to take a decision you are accountable for.’
‘Senior management wanted a composite view of the African franchise across all businesses and how they interrelated, and so I found I was working with all the senior executives across the different businesses to determine what that would look like. In parallel, I was leading the regulatory dialogue in South Africa and also with UK [financial regulators] to say: “This is what we are thinking when it comes to Africa. Does that work?”’
He adds: ‘With South Africa, it became very clear we needed to establish a representative office with an on-the-ground team if we were going to continue to do business there.’
Prabhu’s whole career being focused on emerging markets, his coverage of Africa for over a decade and his knowledge of the numerous Barclays businesses made him a natural candidate to represent Barclays in South Africa. Prabhu was so involved in the process he ended up writing the profile for the job he would eventually himself take.
‘My name came up because the role was so expansive: it was the requirement of having management and oversight across all of the different businesses across multiple countries, dealing with whatever came through the door and also having that legal/regulatory expertise to interface with regulators.’
According to Prabhu, a legal career at Barclays had prepared him to take a substantially commercial role. ‘First is the ability to absorb and critically analyse large amounts of information, weigh it up and make a decision. Also, being comfortable with uncertainty – it’s not like you always have all the facts, but you have to use your judgement and be prepared to take a decision you are accountable for. Inherent to that is [having a] risk radar. Since the financial crisis, the value attributed to individuals – particularly in the C-suite – that have a good sense of risk, control and governance, as well as being good business leaders, has increased significantly.’
A different perspective
Going from adviser to the advised has been a learning experience that has given Prabhu another perspective on legal advice. ‘It has brought into sharp focus what quality legal advice looks like and what a quality offering from law firms is. There are simply three things: number one is knowledge. Do you know your client? Do you know how they work? The real quality differentiators are the law firms that have taken that extra step, so they can give advice with the context of the ultimate client in mind. There are around 20 international law firms in London that claim they are very Africa focused. Some of them need to realise that creating an internal Africa group and a nice glossy brochure doesn’t get you there and you get found out very quickly.
‘Number two is commercial. Yes, you’re looking for legal interpretation, but you’re also looking for guidance. In emerging markets, often the law is unclear, so you need lawyers who can handle that and provide coherent, pragmatic advice balancing not just the legal but also the regulatory, reputational and other issues. There’s not necessarily a right decision, but there’s a better decision you can make.
‘Number three is likeability. We spend hours and hours working on transactions, days and days on the road. Do you actually like the people you’re working with? People who enjoy working together work better together. When you hit tough situations in a transaction, there is more of an impetus to get a better resolution. It does have a meaningful impact not just on the experience of doing the deal but the quality of the outcome.’
Laying the path
Having seen a range of vantage points in business, Prabhu has some counsel for lawyers at the beginning of their careers. ‘First, take time to understand yourself. What kind of lawyer are you? You’ve got to understand yourself, what drives you – I don’t think young lawyers take enough time to think about this. And it changes during your career, so these are questions you have to ask yourself periodically. And be honest with yourself: what makes you happy?
‘Second is work hard – there are no shortcuts – but you’ve also got to work smart. You’ve got to think when you’re working: what am I learning from this? What new skills am I deriving? How is it getting me to move forward? That’s why the first point is important. You have to know yourself to know what goal you want to achieve and then you need to go on that journey to prepare yourself.
‘The third is mental and physical health. This job is tough. You have to work out what keeps you mentally strong and physically fit. Mentally, for me, it’s spending time with the family. When I get home my two-year-old son is there to greet me and all he wants to do is play. It allows me to switch off. Physically, it’s the gym – I find it a great stress buster. You have to think what works for you and make sure you do it. Irrespective of how busy your life gets, make sure you make the time.’
The last piece of advice is something Prabhu insists upon: securing quality mentors: ‘You cannot make this journey alone. There are many people who have been/are instrumental in my career: two in particular are Simon Croxford, current GC at UBS, who was my first supervisor at Linklaters and then at Barclays for nearly a decade, and one of my current bosses, Karen Frank, the CEO of Barclays Private Bank.’
Does Prabhu see career progression like his own becoming more common? Not necessarily. ‘Throughout my career, I’ve enjoyed the commercial side of the business. So for me making that progression wasn’t a hard decision. Again, it’s all about knowing and being honest with yourself.
‘Some individuals enjoy legal and don’t want a commercial role,’ he says. ‘But the question I would ask general counsel is, “How legal really is your role?” I know some GCs who have more non-lawyers reporting to them than lawyers. I wouldn’t get hung up on title – I would dig a bit deeper. Yes, there is a place for advising on legal legal issues, but you always have to advise with understanding of the wider context. When you get to that level as a general counsel, you have to view yourself as a senior leader, as opposed to just the general counsel.’
It’s a mantra that has served him pretty well so far. LB
Alex Speirs is editor in chief of GC
Greg Hall is managing editor of GC
Catherine Wycherley is features writer at GC