Two Swiss powerhouses have collaborated to offer their in-house legal teams a two-way secondment programme. Private bank UBS and insurer Zurich Insurance have agreed to swap two secondees each for a three-month placement. Intakes happen in the spring and autumn of each year, meaning that four secondment swaps occur per year. The programme is spearheaded […]
European bank Société Générale has lost its general counsel after 17 years at the business. Sarah Linstead has announced that she has left the bank for financial services firm TP ICAP as general counsel for EMEA. Lindsay Sides, chief operating officer in the London legal department at Société Générale, has stepped up to fill the […]
Santander has cut its UK panel by five following the bank’s latest review of its roster. Originally a panel of 19, the roster of firms has been cut to 14. Firms that have made the cut include Slaughter and May and Allen & Overy, as well as Hogan Lovells and Addleshaw Goddard. A source told […]
Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling have announced the first promotions round for A&O Shearman, with 40 lawyers making the grade. Ahead of the merger going live next month, A&O has made up 32 partners, while Shearman has promoted eight. In the UK, A&O has promoted a total of nine partners across the firm’s […]
An ex-Bird & Bird partner will face the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal for allegations of “inappropriate conduct” including “sexualised messages”. The allegations concern Takeshige Sugimoto, who was a partner based in Belgium at the time of the matter. While in a position of seniority over two individuals, Sugimoto is alleged to have made inappropriate comments and […]
Kinstellar has agreed a deal to acquire four offices of German firm Noerr, strengthening in all the sites that the firm began with following its split from Linklaters in 2008. Noerr’s practices will be transferred to Kinstellar in Bratislava, Budapest, Bucharest and Prague. The details of the integration will be made clearer in the coming […]
Supermarket giant Tesco is on the hunt for a new group general counsel following Adrian Morris’s departure after 11 years in the role. Morris is set to move to consumer healthcare company Haleon, which demerged from GSK in 2022. Morris joined Tesco in 2012 from BP, where he held the role of associate general counsel. […]
For legal head Judi Gadsby, a lunchtime walk through the Goodwood Estate, with her golden retriever in tow, is one of the many perks of her day job. The 300-year-old estate is the seat of the Duke of Richmond and comprises nearly 11,000 hectares of land in Chichester, West Sussex. As head of legal at […]
“Everyone is a music lover at PPL,” says Camilla Waite, general counsel of the music licensing company. Waite keeps her interests broad: her pre-lawyer days were spent running middle distance for the junior GB team. She details the galvanising process of training for Team GB, likening the bonds created to that of a training contract. Now, […]
Four senior in-housers have quit football organisation FIFA over the last couple of months for new general counsel positions. The governance body is now recruiting for the four in-house legal positions, including a new head of commercial partnerships, a head of digital and technology, a senior counsel for esports and digital, and a senior counsel […]
A&O has established a new office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, over three years since ending its last co-operation deal in the nation. Joining A&O’s office are Hosam Ibn Ghaith and Haris Meyer Hanif, who will also be joined by Shearman & Sterling’s Riyadh-based team – led by Sultan Almasoud – once the firms’ […]
General counsels are well placed to be chief people officers, top lawyers say, becoming powerful and trusted advisers on the workforce, legal matters and risk.