Panel reviews are a cut-throat business these days, even for firms like SNR Denton and Slaughter and May. The duo was recently evicted from the Land Securities legal panel after a year-long review by group general counsel and company secretary Adrian de Souza. It seems not even the big hitters are immune to facing the chop.
The Last Word
After a year of significant legal market consolidation in 2012, do you think we will see more mergers involving UK law firms this year? If so, what kind of deals are most likely, and why?
Edward Davis – AXA UK
Edward Davis
Group general counsel
AXA UK
Edward Davis has made his mark at AXA UK. He established the French insurer’s first global legal panel as part of its ‘Ambition 2012’ strategy launched back in 2004. This panel comprises 12 firms fighting over the £3m AXA spends on law firms every year.
Davis has grown his legal in-house team to 40 lawyers and manages the group legal department, group secretariat and the UK compliance team.
Geoffrey Timms – Legal & General Group
Geoffrey Timms
Group general counsel
Legal & General Group
Geoffrey Timms considers himself an unconventional manager of a highly qualified team. He hates bureaucracy and regimentation and above all, babysitting. He likes proactive individuals who strengthen relationships, work independently and exceed targets. This also applies to the external firms he uses. ‘I like working with lawyers who understand how we work and approach issues, who go the extra mile bearing in mind all risk factors,’ he says.
Humphrey Tomlinson – Direct Line Insurance Group, RBS Insurance
Humphrey Tomlinson
General Counsel and company secretary
Direct Line Insurance Group, RBS Insurance
With 20 years’ experience advising on legal risk management, corporate governance and commercial issues, and noted for his ‘calm good sense and his tremendous judgement’, Humphrey Tomlinson knows his stuff. He heads a legal team of 40 and a company secretariat team of about six at Direct Line.
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Kirsty Cooper – Aviva
Kirsty Cooper
Group general counsel and company secretary
Aviva
Kirsty Cooper manages a total of 270 individuals, half of whom are based overseas. This includes all the lawyers and chartered secretaries across the group. In 2011, the company spent a whopping £60m on its legal spend, excluding any UK-based general insurance claims. Of this, half was spent on external law firms.
Jane MacLeod – Phoenix Group
Jane MacLeod
Group general counsel
Phoenix Group
Jane MacLeod likes firms equipped with strong regulatory experience and knowledge of the current challenges facing the insurance sector. Last year, the group’s legal spend totalled approximately £6m, split equally between internal and external advisers.
Kenneth Underhill – ACE European Group
Kenneth Underhill
Senior vice president and general counsel
ACE European Group
Kenneth Underhill admits that he is no easy taskmaster. He describes himself as ‘tough but fair – and of course ever busy’. As such, he expects both his in-house and external legal teams to have a thorough understanding of the insurance industry. As one insurance partner says: ‘He expects outside counsel to reflect ACE’s own innovative and commercial approach.’
Kelvan Swinnerton – Canada Life
Kelvan Swinnerton
Head of legal
Canada Life
Kelvan Swinnerton is known for solving problems quickly. Having been a partner at insurance firm Kennedys for the best part of a decade, one private practitioner says of him: ‘Kel has a very sharp legal mind, which he couples with a drive to resolve problems proactively and practically – he always has an eye open for the most sensible solution. He also manages to maintain a lively sense of humour.’
Sean McGovern – Lloyd’s of London
Sean McGovern
Director of North America and general counsel
Lloyd’s of London
Sean McGovern was initially brought in to do finance work at Lloyd’s at the age of 26. Since then, he has been responsible for all the regulatory and government issues for Lloyd’s, and three years ago he took on the task of promoting and protecting Lloyd’s business interests in the US and Canada.
Rhic Webb – XL Group
Rhic Webb
General counsel for Europe, Asia and Latin America
XL Group
Rhic Webb is described by his external lawyers as ‘a very strong lawyer who has a very good eye for detail’. He says that increasingly his time is spent in corporate matters, as well as ‘the nuts and bolts of insurance and reinsurance issues’.
Margaret Coltman – Prudential
Margaret Coltman
Group general counsel and company secretary
Prudential
Margaret Coltman was only appointed to her role as group general counsel and company secretary in July 2009 but has a very impressive background, including more than 22 years as an insurance partner at Norton Rose.
Rupert Bondy – BP
Rupert Bondy
Group general counsel
BP
Few general counsel are as well-known outside their industry as Rupert Bondy at BP – he is a clear example of a legal director that operates in a secretarial rather than a GC role.
Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Bondy oversaw the company’s risk management strategy, effectively steering its emergency response from the beginning of the crisis through to the eventual financial settlement.
Andrew Carr – Sellafield
Andrew Carr
Head of legal services
Sellafield
Andrew Carr is modest about the pressures of being one of the most high-profile general counsel in the country, but few industries have experienced the dramatic swings and roundabouts of the nuclear sector. It is important for Carr that external counsel understand the unique demands of the industry.
Graham Martin – Tullow Oil
Graham Martin
General counsel and company secretary
Tullow Oil
‘If you cut Graham Martin he would bleed Tullow Oil,’ says one leading energy lawyer. Martin is clearly committed to a company that he has been associated with since his private practice days at Vinson & Elkins in the eighties, which has exploration and production assets in 23 countries, including Africa, Europe, South Asia and South America.
Peter Rees QC – Royal Dutch Shell
Peter Rees QC
Legal director
Royal Dutch Shell
In 2010 Shell’s legal director Beat Hess retired, leaving big shoes to fill, so the oil major took the unusual step of hiring arbitration specialist Peter Rees QC.
Janet Langford Kelly – ConocoPhillips
Janet Langford Kelly
Senior vice president, Legal, general counsel and corporate secretary
ConocoPhillips
Janet Langford Kelly is revered as one of the leading in-house international lawyers on complex energy matters with 25 years’ experience in the industry. ‘I don’t know if there is any straight “path” to becoming a GC, it is often as much luck as preparation,’ she says.
Grant Dawson – Centrica
Grant Dawson
General counsel and company secretary
Centrica
Since Centrica’s demerger from British Gas in 1997, Grant Dawson has ‘made the role his own’, according to one energy partner. This includes leading the way with his advice on deals covering the full spread of power supply and generation, including Centrica’s joint venture with EDF Energy in 2009 and the acquisition of Venture Production.
Graham Vinter – BG Group
Graham Vinter
General counsel
BG Group
Described as ‘such a big name that his views will always get taken seriously both inside and outside the company’ and having spent the best part of two decades as a partner at a Magic Circle firm, Graham Vinter has high expectations of his external legal panel firms. With an external legal spend of $30m-40m worldwide each year at BG Group he is particularly keen that firms have a deep understanding of the oil and gas industry and the cost pressures clients are under.
Robert Reeves – Anadarko Petroleum
Robert Reeves
General counsel
Anadarko Petroleum
Robert Reeves, the general counsel at oil and gas exploration company Anadarko Petroleum is highlighted as ‘carrying a lot of weight in the industry’. With more than 30 years of legal and management experience under his belt, Reeves has responsibility for the company’s legal, government relations, public affairs, information technology and administration functions.