About

Team size: 600
Major law firms used: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Clifford Chance, Dentons, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells, Linklaters, Slaughter and May

Geopolitical risk – as well as the threat of trade wars – poses serious challenges to an organisation like Standard Chartered, which operates in 70 jurisdictions across the world from its head office in London. The company’s group GC David Fein oversees a legal team that is edging towards 600 staff.

Towards the end of 2018, he helped the company secure a banking licence for its newly formed Frankfurt subsidiary to help the business grow its EEA client base once the UK leaves the EU in March. Meanwhile, according to Fein, Standard Chartered requires its lawyers to be increasingly ‘tech savvy’. The business is gearing up to roll out online retail banking apps in four African markets in Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and Kenya in the first quarter of this year.

‘We’re always looking for ways to train staff about technology,’ comments Fein. ‘You have to be agile and flexible to respond to some of the challenges in this job.’

The company does not operate a formal panel but does use a global roster for transactions and disputes. The bank has brought more work in-house and has reduced the size of its panel, a move Fein says has been positive for the business. ‘The client is happier when we’ve invested in our legal function and it’s an important move for retaining our top talent and letting them know that they don’t have to be in a law firm to do well,’ says Fein. A ‘pretty developed’ people plan at the company has seen it set up a learning academy for staff to improve their legal banking knowledge, stakeholder engagement and even improve their writing skills.

Fein has spent half of his career in the private sector and half in senior positions in the US government. He was associate counsel to Bill Clinton at the White House before working as a partner at US law firm Wiggin and Dana for 13 years. He later returned to the government as an attorney for the District of Connecticut before joining Standard Chartered as GC, a position he has held for over five years now.

‘My role at the White House was less about giving advice and more about carrying out an executive function. In my current role, it’s about giving advice on a continuing basis and being engaged in the boardroom.’