Robin Saphra
Group General Counsel,
Colt Group
Robin Saphra garnered plenty of attention last year after signing Baker & McKenzie as Colt Group’s principal adviser on a fixed annual contract worth £1m a year, cutting down his roster of external advisers from around 60 firms to just three. This has clearly reduced his legal spend, which currently stands at around €12m per year.
Saphra is an innovator, and a quarter of his 50+ legal team is now based in India. ‘The work doesn’t need to be done by someone highly paid, sitting in a European office,’ he says.
Law firms used: Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, Greenberg Traurig Maher
2005-present:Group general counsel, Colt Group
2004-05:Legal and regulatory consultant, Emirates International Telecommunications
2003-04:Commercial and legal consultant, DotDosh
2002-03: General counsel and company secretary, BTG
1999-2001: Executive director, strategic development, T-Mobile International
1997-99: Legal and regulatory director, One2One
