United Kingdom 2019
Retail and Consumer Products | Nestlé
Mark Maurice-Jones
Retail and Consumer Products | Nestlé
General counsel | Nestlé UK and Ireland
General counsel UK and Ireland | Nestlé
Team size: 14 What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last year? Firstly, a joint venture called PODBACK recently announced by...
General counsel and compliance officer, UK and Ireland | Nestlé
Mark Maurice-Jones, general counsel and compliance officer UK and Ireland at Nestlé, began his position in May 2015 after serving in a number of roles since 1999 at Kimberly-Clark including...
General counsel and head of legal services | Nestlé
Credited for driving an ethical and inclusive culture at Nestlé, Mark Maurice-Jones has been responsible for aligning the legal function with the business and shaping the business agenda. Initially Maurice-Jones...
Team size: 7
Major law firms used: CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Eversheds Sutherland, Linklaters
Most are aware of the stringent regulation that modern banking GCs must contend with, but Nestlé’s legal chief Mark Maurice-Jones has hardly been spared.
There are the macro-factors of course – even the famed Swiss KitKat creators cannot escape the clutches of Brexit, preparations for which have absorbed much of Maurice-Jones’ time. GDPR regulation is also of high importance in the food industry, but the introduction of a sugar tax in the UK has brought industry-specific constraints.
Maurice-Jones has drawn praise for his philosophies on external counsel. For him, the balance between effective collaboration and driving value is an important one: ‘We want to get good value for the services we receive, but I also view external counsel as an extension of my legal team, so I look for work to be fairly priced.’
This approach operates very much on a case-by-base basis: ‘If I’m doing high-level M&A, I’m not going to be penny-wise and pound-foolish. On the other hand, if I’m doing a small advisory piece, I’ll be looking for firms to be a bit more flexible.’
In terms of management style, he believes in being open and providing as much communication to his team as possible: ‘I like the team to feel empowered and not having me control their every move. I believe a lot in openness and transparency, and people feeling like they can challenge things.’
It is all in line with his mantra: ‘Stay humble and be open to other ideas.’
