Alison Gaskins’ remit on joining Barclays’ legal department was formidable. Group general counsel Bob Hoyt told her in no uncertain terms: ‘I want to be able to have a conversation with my CEO which clearly states what the legal department is doing for its internal customers, including what it costs and why it costs what …
Do you ever get the feeling you’re flying blind as a general counsel? Not in the context of your own business, which will generate reams of numbers and facts to indicate how the legal function is performing within that one company. But in the context of how GCs and legal teams are developing at a …
Collaboration has, admittedly, become something of a buzzword in the legal profession these days. But all signs suggest that it is far more than a passing fad. Throughout the legal world, as in most knowledge-based industries, two trends are crashing together. On the one hand, vast increases in knowledge are forcing professionals to specialise, whether …
The multi-faceted nature of risk makes it a complex subject to manage. Formal structures and a pro-active approach can support both the handling of effective risk management and mitigation, as well as a crisis. The general counsel has an important part to play at all stages. Having an effective relationship with the business, as well …
The market for electric vehicles (EVs) has not yet taken off, but this could be about to change. The ratification of the Paris Agreement means that many countries now need to reduce their emissions and in the UK we also need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, particularly in the transport sector, to meet …
Energy giant pushes through alt billing The march away from hourly billing continues as Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest consumers of legal services, confirmed that all its work must be priced under ‘appropriate’ fee arrangements (AFAs), following its 2016 panel review. AFAs, which include capped, fixed and contingency fees, had been in …
It is trite to say that large infrastructure projects are complex and their development requires activity at the point at which commerce, regulation and policy converge. But there are projects of such magnitude that they may require extraordinary measures in each arena to deliver. Recognition of this has led to a variety of measures, usually …
Continue reading “Not yet cleared for landing – many hurdles ahead for Heathrow expansion”
Paul Gilbert attempts to chart what is so rarely discussed: the core competences and obligations of a general counsel. At the risk of saying something that sounds unhelpfully like, ‘general counsel means general counsel’, I have spent a lot of time over many years considering how people in this role should define their purpose and …
What do president Donald Trump, chancellor Philip Hammond and premier Li Keqiang all have in common? The answer does not relate to hairstyles but infrastructure – all have highlighted enhanced national infrastructure as key to bolstering their economies against the threat of slowing global growth. And they are not alone – the Word Economic Forum …
Continue reading “The promised march of the builders – mind that rhetorical gap”
Stefan Stern assesses a new book on how institutional weaknesses let corporate risk wreak havoc. If you found the events of 2016 unsettling you may wish to look away now. For the foreseeable future. Brexit means Brexit, apparently, but no-one seems able to provide much more detail than that as yet. A new US president …
Continue reading “‘Crisis accumulates for years’ – a fascinating insight into the roots of risk”
Transport and infrastructure has long been viewed as one of the less glamorous legal practice areas, best suited to lawyers with the patience for ploughing through the minutiae of statutes. But with ever-increasing public and political scrutiny and a rush of private investors looking to park their money in safe assets, it has become one …
‘I would never have taken a role where I wasn’t sitting at the top table. I make sure I have influence in how a firm goes about things,’ notes veteran litigator Margaret Cole, PwC’s UK general counsel and chief risk officer.