About

During the last nine years, Jim Harper has had a number of varying responsibilities within the Irish and EMEA legal team of the international insurance group Zurich. He acted as an Ireland interim general counsel for approximately 18 months, headed up the European Legal Board (a network of senior lawyers throughout the EMEA region) for two years and led the legal team involved in successfully transferring Zurich’s European non-life insurance business to an Irish based carrier. The latter project proved to be an excellent learning opportunity for Harper to understand the EU insurance and regulatory environment. ‘Effecting the creation of the head office in Dublin and then watching it grow and develop provides a tangible output that I look back on with pride’, he says. Harper also currently serves as company secretary for Zurich’s pan European insurer which has its head office in Dublin and 13 branches across the EU, holding this position since April 2014. Working as company secretary to the board of Zurich’s primary European carrier has given Harper a seat at the boardroom table, thus giving him the opportunity to contribute, provide advice and present on a variety of topics. ‘It has also given me a unique insight into the key commercial drivers and risks and helped me develop a top down view of the company’s operations,’ he adds. Throughout his time at Zurich, Harper sought to develop frameworks, approaches and documents to enhance the workings of the legal team and create efficiencies for the future when similar issues or repeat procedures are required. He says, ‘this ensures a consistent approach can be achieved in a more efficient manner, and thus enables more efficient use of resource. Trying to upskill and develop team members also improves the knowledge of the team more broadly, ensures people perform to the best of their ability and minimises key-person dependency’. To deal with a period of unprecedented regulatory change in the European insurance industry in recent years which involved the introduction of the Solvency II legislative framework, Harper and his team have tried to work closely with the business to firstly ensure requirements are understood in good time and have designed appropriate frameworks to deliver on regulatory compliance or processes. In addition, the establishment of a legal and regulatory developments forum has provided a basis for tracking items by the legal team that are relevant to the business. It has also helped ensure the provision of forward looking advice and pragmatic solutions to new challenges. Prior to joining Zurich, Harper worked in private practice in London, spending eight and-a-half years with law firm Lovells (now Hogan Lovells).