Flight to quality as big-spending JPMorgan signs entire Magic Circle to EMEA panel

CMS, Eversheds and NRF also picked as Ashurst, Simmons and HSF miss out

Several London-headquartered law firms, including the entire Magic Circle, have won places on JPMorgan Chase’s panel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) following a review.

Continue reading “Flight to quality as big-spending JPMorgan signs entire Magic Circle to EMEA panel”

RSA group GC Walsh to depart as rising star Heiss appointed legal chief

Insurance giant RSA’s longstanding group general counsel and company secretary Derek Walsh (pictured) is to leave the company at the end of February after nearly six years, with Charlotte Heiss to succeed him in the new role of chief legal officer and company secretary.

Continue reading “RSA group GC Walsh to depart as rising star Heiss appointed legal chief”

The end of the tunnel – litigation and regulatory challenges in financial services

Legal Business teamed up with Simmons & Simmons to discover how financial institutions are coping with the twin threats of regulation and litigation, and assess whether the end is in sight.

If there was ever any doubt about what might be in store for the Volkswagen Group following its recent emissions scandal, a glance at the banking industry over the last five years offers a sobering clue.

Continue reading “The end of the tunnel – litigation and regulatory challenges in financial services”

Blue chip clients: cutting-edge tech will reshape law in five years as more jobs taken by intelligent machines

In-house lawyers have been notoriously slow to embrace the tech-backed delivery of legal services, but Legal Business research drawing on responses from more than 600 global clients shows many believe technology will transform the way they work.

Continue reading “Blue chip clients: cutting-edge tech will reshape law in five years as more jobs taken by intelligent machines”

The i-Team: The client perspective on AI

Pioneering GCs are taking control of legal spend, armed with the latest tech. Can the rest of the in-house community keep pace?

If conventional law firms have been slow to embrace technology – and they have – their counterparts in-house have been barely moving. But in the last five years signs have emerged of ‘early adopters’ in the bluechip general counsel (GC) community who are willing to do more than apply new tools at the margins. The GCs are turning to technology to reshape the way they work.

Continue reading “The i-Team: The client perspective on AI”

The cyber security roundtable: Victims and visions

As cyber security issues continue to dominate the headlines amid a fractious European backdrop, we assembled a group of senior GCs to ask how to handle the inevitable attacks.

Even the cynics that see cyber security as the latest in a long line of corporate fads generating its own compliance circus and attending cottage industry have to concede that such threats – and the increasingly entwined issue of privacy – are becoming a more pressing matter.

Continue reading “The cyber security roundtable: Victims and visions”

The Last Word: The clients’ view

Interviewed for our annual in-house report, general counsel at leading companies give us their views on diversity, ethics and joining the c-suite

 

LOOKING GOOD

‘When I was a young lawyer, I remember working with an outside counsel and I said to him: “What’s your job versus my job?” He said: “My job is to make you look good.” My thoughts at the time were that there has to be more to it than that, but for firms that have focused on that mission, there’s been an upside for me and them. Those with no clue, who are just looking to build their book of business, have not fared well with me.’

Wanji Walcott, senior vice president, managing counsel, American Express

 

Continue reading “The Last Word: The clients’ view”

Scottish GCs – The pressure is on

As part of our Regional Insight series, we met with senior in-house lawyers and partners from Brodies in Edinburgh to discuss the key issues facing GCs working in Scotland.

The most heavily-used phrase among in-house counsel and private practice lawyers alike is ‘trusted adviser’, so it is therefore unsurprising that this became the first major topic of discussion on an agenda looking at the key pressure points facing in-house counsel. Stuart Clarke, head of legal at Scottish Enterprise, says it is fundamental to be seen as being at the heart of your organisation’s thoughts on how it is going to deliver its business plan.

Continue reading “Scottish GCs – The pressure is on”

News in brief – October 2015

FIRST-TIME GC FOR BRITISH LAND

Property developer British Land has hired HSBC deputy company secretary and former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Elaine Williams as its first general counsel. Williams, who was a partner at Freshfields between 2000 and 2011 before joining HSBC in 2011, will become British Land’s first ever general counsel when she starts in November.

Continue reading “News in brief – October 2015”