| ITV | 40 | Media | Driving deep collaboration with external law firms | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 32 | A panel review cut 45 law firms to nine, allowing close collaboration on in-house training and support. The team negotiated a “first call” with its partner firms for free, secured the first-ever associate lawyer swap with Slaughter and May, and developed a system to share pro bono capacity with the company’s law firms, as well as getting the firms to provide “mini-MBAs” to staff |
|---|
| Novo Nordisk | 66 | Pharma | Benchmarking for innovation | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 29 | Benchmarked itself against the world’s most innovative companies, looking to Google and Apple rather than other in-house legal teams or law firms for inspiration. It examined cultural factors as well as systems and processes to find improvements. It also developed a captive outsourcing function in Bangalore, India |
|---|
| Gategroup | 14 | Airline services | Helping push the company towards success | 6 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 29 | Took on a key role in moving Gategroup from the cusp of bankruptcy to a successful and expanding publicly traded company. The legal team works to create commercial value, operating to seize opportunities rather than be overly risk adverse, and uses smaller law firms to better control external legal costs |
|---|
| Unilever | 170 | Consumer goods | Expansive anti-trust training and hyper-efficient trademark processing | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 28 | Implemented comprehensive anti-trust training across the organisation for more than 7,000 managers, using a technology-driven approach. The trademark group is also notable for having a cutting-edge practice, using Baker & McKenzie’s Manila operation for 24-hour outsourcing, and market-leading turnround times |
|---|
| Standard Chartered | 250 | Banking | Anticipating regulatory changes | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 | Anticipating the forthcoming regulatory changes for banks, the legal team has devised a unified vision for risk management across the business, and collaborates closely with the public affairs group to influence policymakers. The team has also project-managed the bank’s India listing, which is the first for an overseas company in India |
|---|
| Carillion | 25 | Infrastructure | Hands-on management of external firms | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 28 | Demands that panel law firms collaborate with each other to increase efficiencies and reduce costs, initially by 40 per cent. Has promoted legal process outsourcing across the network, with the in-house legal team conducting the relationship with the LPO provider |
|---|
| BAE Systems | 160 | Defence | Legal-led transformation of the business | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 28 | Led the introduction of lawyers into the management teams of each business to ensure risk management issues remained a priority. The team has also developed a system to enable global knowledge sharing and compliance training, further equipping the legal team to positively influence and transform the company’s strategy |
|---|
| COFRA Holding | 47 | Conglomerate | Integrating the legal function across four continents | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 27 | Introduced a risk-control process based on interactive dashboards, a matter management system for filings and intellectual property, a litigation reporting method and a comprehensive legal spending policy |
|---|
| Siemens | 900 | Conglomerate | Raising general counsels to management level | 7 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 26 | Creating a cultural shift in German board structures, the team has elevated general counsel to all levels of management. The legal team is reforming the conglomerate’s risk and business ethics approach, devising tools to improve risk management and training |
|---|
| Network Rail | 23 | Rail | Extensive panel review process | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 26 | Encouraging its external lawyers to be an extension of the in-house legal department, the team conducted an extensive panel review to reduce its panel to five firms. The policy arm of the team is also lobbying to reform the law on level crossings as this poses an operational risk to the business |
|---|
| HSBC | 800 | Banking | Risk database | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 26 | Formalising its approach to legal risk management, the team has developed a database to store and assess risks arising across the legal functions of each business unit. This feeds into the operational risk assessment and allows an efficient resource allocation to mitigate risk |
|---|
| Banco Monte dei Paschi di Siena | 125 | Banking | Merging subsidiaries into the parent company | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 26 | The driving force in merging subsidiary banks into the parent company, an approach that has been widely copied by other banks in Italy, as well as a series of capital-raising sale and lease-back transactions. The legal team has also cut costs by 20 per cent since 2009 by negotiating fee caps with all external law firms |
|---|
| Ladbrokes | 4 | Gaming | Exploiting legal functions commercially | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 25 | Having internalised 60 per cent of the company’s legal work in the past two years, the in-house team has reduced its panel from 85 firms to 10, saving 25 per cent on legal spending. It has also developed a bespoke contract management system with a procurement software provider, and is planning to sell it to other in-house teams and law firms |
|---|
| Eon UK | 17 | Energy | Transformative energy initiative | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 25 | With lawyers sitting centrally in each business unit, the team plays a crucial role in the company’s broader “changing energy” initiative. It has helped shape government policy on carbon emissions, executed three big alliancing deals to provide better service to customers, and is demanding energy-efficiency measures in its panel law firms |
|---|
| British Airways | 15 | Aviation | Key role in British Airways’ operational success | 6 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 25 | Created significant value for the business through successfully handling union strike actions, agreeing a merger with Iberia and signing a cross-border joint business agreement with American Airlines, which was an industry first |
|---|
| TI Automotive | 4 | Automotive | Global scheme of arrangement to save the company | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 24 | Oversaw a global restructuring of the business after the company became unable to service its debt. This involved negotiating and managing a scheme of arrangement with 30 lenders across the world |
|---|
| GE Capital mergers and acquisitions team | 7 | Financial Services | A series of complex asset swaps | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 24 | An asset swap with Spanish bank Santander, which involved the exchange of five consumer finance businesses for Interbanca in Italy. Required the legal team to negotiate the acquisition of an asset that Santander did not control |
|---|
| Ferrero | 40 | Food | Modernisation programme | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 23 | The in-house legal team developed from a series of semi-autonomous divisions into a single co-ordinated structure. This has enabled far greater control over cost, reduced replication and increased synergies, with the general counsel now sitting on the board of the holding company |
|---|
| Download this view as a PDF Output this view to Excel |
SPECIAL REPORTS 