About

John Wombwell’s skills are impressive: he recently led the restructuring of the company to focus on offshore exploration (including significant acquisitions from BP and Shell in the Gulf of Mexico) and then successfully shepherded the company through a contested merger. But Wombwell says that his job is at times even tougher: ‘while large corporate transactions are a challenge to plan, negotiate and manage, I believe that complex litigation offers bigger challenges. Not only are large teams involved, but the unknown of litigation weighs upon the process’. Managing teams is another strength of Wombwell’s, who has some 120 direct reports. 18 of these are legal, and Wombwell’s pride is evident when he says ‘recruiting, motivating, and retaining a high-quality and experienced legal team is one of my biggest successes’. He runs a tight ship, having thought very strategically about how best to structure the group. He explains: ‘The legal department is divided both functionally and geographically for area of responsibility, but still reports vertically’. He says retaining centralized reporting roles ensures ‘consistency, quality and accountability’.