Will Bloomer, Howden’s chief corporate and legal affairs officer, has passed away, with the insurer today paying tribute to its late legal head. Howden said in an announcement that Bloomer died suddenly and unexpectedly last week, and his survived by his wife Nikki and children. In a statement, Howden CEO David Howden said: “Bloomer’s impact […]
Catie Sheret, general counsel at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, admits that she was hesitant to take on a GC role. Having switched from Linklaters to Charles Russell at 2 years’ PQE to get more commercial work and exposure to clients, she became aware of a buzz around in-house IP roles. Her interest drew her […]
Rather than by design, Associated British Foods’ Claire Eldridge found herself in legal operations by default. Though she studied a law degree, Eldridge never had a view of practising herself. Instead, she went down a completely different career path, graduating into the army for four years in Joint Services Intelligence. It was there she ran […]
The general counsel at Crown Agents Bank has moved to Ki Insurance after just five months. Joanna Nayler made the move from the cross-border payments and FX services provider to become GC and compliance director at the insurance firm as of March 2024. Ki Insurance is a digital insurance company, driven by algorithmically powered underwriting. […]
A Big Four global leader in legal AI believes firms should build their own software to develop their competitive advantage. Speaking to The Lawyer, Saskia Vermeer de Jongh, global law AI leader at EY Law, said: “It’s important to start your journey with AI embedded in the lifecycle rather than using a standard product. Start […]
Five train operators, five heads of legal: how this all-female team manages the legal functions for the likes of LNER, Northern and Southeastern railways.
One of The Lawyer‘s Top 20 Cases for 2023 has reached a conclusion as two men accused of bribing Saudi officials to secure lucrative commercial contracts for the UK Government have been acquitted. The case concerned £9.7m of allegedly corrupt payments made between 2007 and 2012 to ensure military contracts were awarded to GPT Special Project […]
For Kelly Young, incumbent general counsel and company secretary at Marie Curie, the charity feels more like a corporation than any other entity. Marie Curie is the largest funder of palliative care in the country, and its business lines include 160 shops, 450 doctors, clinical services and licensing intellectual property from garden supplies to stationery. […]
KFC UK and Ireland have announced a new chief legal officer, replacing Sarah MacDonald who left the fast food business last week. Ella Smith, the former legal director at KFC UK and Ireland, has taken over MacDonald’s role, which includes providing counsel on KFC’s acquisition of EG Group’s 218 restaurants. Incumbent MacDonald has joined IVC […]
Payment platform Zilch has recruited its new general counsel from Revolut. Amy Sandys will assume her first general counsel role at Zilch, after working as head of legal, corporate, at the banking app company. The new general counsel will take over from Natalie Salunke, who left the business in January 2024. Salunke joined Zilch in […]
Private equity giant EQT is set to review its roster of external advisers this year in M&A, with changes expected in how the panel is structured. Swedish-headquartered EQT has a three-year long panel that comes to an end in mid-2024. The Lawyer has learnt that EQT is lining up to renegotiate its roster, with plans to reduce […]
Generative AI will have transformative implications for the legal sector. As the capability of the technology increases, questions inevitably arise including the impact on the lawyer-client experience, disruption to the law firm business model, and others. What will be the biggest change? Empowering more work to be done by individual lawyers? A shift in the […]