Jerry Temko
Vice president, general counsel and compliance officer
Astellas Pharma Europe
With an in-house career at pharma companies spanning more than 20 years, Jerry Temko is one of the most experienced GCs in the sector.
Paul Newton – Bupa
Paul Newton
Group legal director and general counsel
Bupa
Since joining Bupa in 1987, Paul Newton has progressed up the ranks to become the group’s legal director and has seen the legal team grow to 70 lawyers in 11 locations, with an annual legal spend of £6.6m. Given the group turns over £8bn, serves 11 million clients and employs 52,000 staff, the size of the team is relatively modest and Newton has an extensive panel of strong firms that he uses for M&A, litigation, regulatory insurance, media, employment and IP/IT.
Catherine Dixon – NHS Litigation Authority
Catherine Dixon
Chief executive
NHS Litigation Authority
Catherine Dixon, who joined the NHSLA in April 2012, is working closely with its panel of legal firms to ensure that value for money is delivered to the NHS. She will shortly be leading a legal panel tender to engage legal services for the NHSLA and other NHS bodies, which is due to complete on 1 April this year. ‘Procuring legal services is always a sophisticated purchase. It has to be the right price but it’s key that it’s the right quality,’ she says.
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Felix Ehrat – Novartis
Felix Ehrat
Group general counsel
Novartis
In July last year Novartis unveiled an overhaul of its ‘Legal Preferred Program’, which involved reassessing its panel of law firms. Led by group general counsel Felix Ehrat – a former senior partner at one of Switzerland’s most prestigious firms – the panel comprises 25 firms divided into four groups – global firms, US country firms, US country specialist firms and US country specialist intellectual property firms.
Francesca Yeomans – Smith & Nephew
Francesca Yeomans
European legal counsel
Smith & Nephew
During her time with the medical devices company, Francesca Yeomans has established a successfully functioning department after starting out as the company’s sole lawyer outside the US. She reports to the US global legal team, which comprises 16 lawyers, six paralegals and nine IP attorneys.
Deborah Prince – British Heart Foundation
Deborah Prince
Head of legal affairs
British Heart Foundation
After 12 years’ experience of in-house roles at Tesco and Which?, Deborah Prince began work for the healthcare charity at the beginning of 2012 as its sole in-house lawyer. This is all a far cry from her early days as a neuroscientist at Imperial College where she spent seven years.
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Adam McArthur – AstraZeneca
Adam McArthur
Senior counsel, strategic partnering and business development
AstraZeneca
Adam McArthur has ten years’ experience at two of the world’s most prominent pharmaceuticals companies:Novartis and now AstraZeneca. He is part of a 22-strong legal team responsible for global business development activities in respiratory, inflammation and ophthalmology.
Tatjana May – Shire Pharmaceuticals
Tatjana May
General counsel, company secretary and executive vice president global legal affairs
Shire Pharmaceuticals
Tatjana May has been with Shire Pharmaceuticals, the UK’s third largest drugs group, since 2001, having spent the earlier part of her career in the prestigious surroundings of AstraZeneca, where she was assistant general counsel, and Slaughter and May. In 2008 she was also appointed chair of the corporate responsibility committee.
Bill Mordan – Reckitt Benckiser
Bill Mordan
Senior vice president and group general counsel
Reckitt Benckiser
Bill Mordan manages a team of 58 legal professionals in offices in 19 countries for the global company. In 2011 he received the Association of Corporate Counsel’s award for ‘Excellence in corporate practice’, with the ACC describing him as:‘an invaluable asset to Reckitt Benckiser, Bill has built a strong legal department, developing a departmental structure that not only ensures worldwide compliance, but does so at costs well below the industry norm.’
Simon Zinger – Aegis Group
Simon Zinger
General counsel
Aegis Group
Simon Zinger leads a global legal team of 25 internal lawyers at Aegis Group. This is part of the reason he enjoys his job: he relishes the ability to work and manage a team in an international setting, which is a challenge as the company has to follow the same set of values and objectives across a variety of different cultures.
Marcus Lee – Channel 5
Marcus Lee
Director of legal and commercial affairs
Channel 5
Marcus Lee says that the pull of working in the broadcast industry is ‘that it is always evolving – no two days are the same’. However, he adds that its constantly fluctuating nature means it is also an incredibly competitive industry, in terms of acquiring the best content, keeping up with a large variety of platforms and looking at innovative revenue streams while keeping traditional advertisers happy.
Claire Carless – Siemens
Claire Carless
UK General counsel and company secretary
Siemens
Claire Carless has only been at Siemens for a short time, joining the company in January 2012 and taking the role of GC for North West Europe as well as the UK role last summer. She has a sizeable legal team of 35 lawyers and a compliance team of six, spread across various parts of England. One of her first tasks was to review the legal panel.
Karena Vleck – Rugby Football Union
Karena Vleck
Head of legal
Rugby Football Union
‘The ultimate part of my job is arriving at the stadium on an international match day,’ says Karena Vleck, who joined the RFU eight years ago and loves running her team of four.
Andrew Garard – ITV
Andrew Garard
Group legal director
ITV
When Andrew Garard arrived at ITV, he immediately set about clearing out the television company’s long list of external legal advisers, sweeping away 36 of the 45 firms. He has spent considerable time choosing high-calibre individuals who are ‘fun and challenging’. The company uses external counsel for M&A, litigation, property, HR, IP and IT and Treasury issues.
James Conyers – BSkyB
James Conyers
General counsel
BSkyB
Unsurprisingly, regulatory affairs are crucial for James Conyers’ 17-strong team at BSkyB, including dealing with Ofcom. Competition disputes with other UK broadcasters have been a key feature of the last ten years as well.
Richard Devereux – Intel
Richard Devereux
Labour law counsel
Intel
Intel has 300 lawyers worldwide and 41 in Europe. In the labour law division that Richard Devereux runs, there are six staff.
Martin Bowen – Dyson
Martin Bowen
Head of legal
Dyson
In his 14 years at Dyson, Martin Bowen has seen his legal department grow significantly. He now runs a team of 40 staff and has recently hired five new lawyers, including two commercial lawyers in the UK and one in Singapore.
Patrick Stewart – Manchester United Football Club
Patrick Stewart
Director of legal and business affairs
Manchester United Football Club
Patrick Stewart has presided over some big changes since he took over as director of legal at Manchester United Football Club, as the club has continued to become a global phenomenon: in the last 12 months alone, MUFC has opened an office in Hong Kong and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Dan Fitz – BT
Dan Fitz
Group General Counsel
BT
Dan Fitz joined BT as group general counsel in 2010 and is described as ‘at the forefront of developments in the international markets for communications and media services’. He arrived at BT just after the company had gone through some tough times, including shedding 20% of its workforce in 2008 and 2009.
James Blendis – Everything Everywhere
James Blendis
General Counsel and Company Secretary
Everything Everywhere
James Blendis is used to high-profile work: he oversaw the game-changing merger between Orange and T-Mobile in 2010 and took part in the Leveson inquiry last year. ‘I was never a specialised telecoms guy – you have to learn on the job and technically you have to learn how the networks operate otherwise you’re not able to do your job properly,’ he says.