| Government services | The Belgian Post | 14 | Track record of constant innovation | 8 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 34 | Taking a review in the crisis, the legal team developed a strategy for the business to respond to changing market conditions. Acting more like management consultants, the team is a core business partner to Belgian Post |
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| Mining | Rio Tinto, UK | 100 | Outsourcing legal work to India | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 32 | Radical programme of outsourcing low value work to Indian provider CPA Global has resulted in immediate savings of over $1m (€680m) and upskilling of the internal legal team |
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| Banking | Gatehouse Bank | 2 | Leading the development of Islamic finance | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 29 | The legal department has been responsible for specific innovations such as a generic sukuk platform but also drives new lines of business such as in-house sharia scholars |
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| Telecoms | Colt Telecom | 45 | Transforming the legal team | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 29 | Colt legal is now embedded in the business and able to demonstrate measurable value such as €12m last year on the regulatory side |
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| Telecoms | BT | 475 | Suite of measures to ensure the team remains cutting edge | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 29 | A team that pushes boundaries from using low cost jurisdictions and on-line auctions to streamline processes to top level advice on deals worth £1.5bn (€1.6bn) last year |
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| Consumer | Nestlé | 250 | Suite of responses to the recession to ensure business success | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 28 | Pro-active management of costs alongside competency centres and using intellectual property for competitive advantage keeps the team ahead on the innovation curve |
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| Energy | Eni | 264 | Organisational and cultural change of the legal department | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 28 | In a large-scale transformation, Eni’s legal function is now more specialised and external client facing. Its greater alignment with the business ensures better risk management |
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| Utilities | National Grid | 85 | Vision project: the 21st-century legal department | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 | A constantly evolving legal team that has responded to the recession and new company objectives with speed, efficiency and imagination |
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| Pharmaceuticals | Novartis | 230 | Active approach to learning the lessons of the crisis | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 26 | General counsel Thomas Werlen has modified the contracts of Novartis employees to include a “clawback” provision for bonuses and long-term targets to ensure ethical behaviours |
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| Automotive | Mercedes Benz | 150 | The three-pointed star secondment programme | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 25 | A 360-degree approach to secondees that has generated £2.3m of bottom line value |
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| Banking | Bankinter | 65 | Going back to basics: steering the bank through the credit crisis and beyond | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 25 | Under general counsel Iñigo Guerra, the bank set up a panel of independent lawyers to deal with claims arising from the credit crisis to ensure legal and ethical resolution. Mr Guerra is now partly responsible for driving change to commercial processes intended to reduce risk and be more attuned to a changed financial services marketplace |
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