About

Team size: 23
Major law firms used: Bird & Bird, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Reed Smith, Slaughter and May

For Spencer Davis, GC of Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), last year saw the introduction of a global legal advice panel and the breaking of a 97-year-old duck as a result.

Davis decided the company could make considerable cost savings by overhauling its attitude to external advisers – DMGT had never operated a formal panel. He dedicated 2018 to correcting this, slimming down a flabby roster of 40-50 preferred firms to a list of just eight. The consolidation brought cost savings of around £750,000 – quite significant for a short time period.

But it also brought other advantages. Davis comments: ‘We’re now much more efficient and have more shared values with our external lawyers, who we consider to be an extension of the in-house team.’ Among those making the cut on the new panel was Slaughter and May, which advises on big-ticket M&A, and Bird & Bird, which provides its intellectual property expertise.

Key to the panel procurement process was a necessity for tech and innovation, something that the eight firms have duly obliged in providing. Davis says he takes full advantage of artificial intelligence document management tools and cites Squire Patton Boggs’ employment hub software, which offers quick legal solutions across all jurisdictions.

Despite what people may expect, DMGT’s business is only part editorial and comprises events, information and even real estate divisions. As a result, Davis insists that no two days are the same: ‘I could be advising on cross-border M&A, employment law or a new policy. There is no average day!’
In terms of job satisfaction, Davis concludes it is a case of bringing the best out of his team: ‘The greatest reward for me is helping the guys on my team achieve their career goals.’