About

Team size: 140

Major legal advisers: Addleshaw Goddard, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

SSE has been through immense strategic change recently, announcing its intention to realign its focus on renewable energy and electricity distribution networks while divesting its retail business.

GC Liz Tanner is now leading SSE towards its vision of becoming the leading energy provider in a low-carbon world: ‘We are at the heart of a transformational change that means we have realigned to very much focus on our core business,’ she comments. ‘We now have dedicated and more focused executive committees for each of our seven business units.’

The manifestation of this shift saw in September last year OVO Energy unveil plans to acquire SSE’s retail arm, with the £500m acquisition completed in January 2020. OVO is now integrating that business and its 8,000 staff and 3.5 million customers.

In turn, SSE has put sustainability at the centre of its business strategy, with four fundamental goals for 2030. These include cutting carbon intensity by 50%; building more renewable energy output; helping accommodate ten million electric vehicles; and supporting a fair tax and real living wage. Part of the transformational change in the last 18 months has also included a focus on technology across the business and providing better access to data, information and reporting.

Tanner has simultaneously realigned the business’ compliance and regulatory teams so that they are more focused on the needs of each of the business units. She also encourages agile working as well as diversity among SSE’s preferred law firms: ‘There’s a real passion to try and make sure that we as GCs, who have significant outsourcing projects, think about how we are engaging and instructing external law firms.’

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer partner Julian Pritchard notes: ‘Liz is a class act. She really understands the business, is pragmatic and great at running relationships with advisers.’

SSE is also undertaking a panel review following the divestment of the retail business, as Tanner comments: ‘A core part of our review will be around understanding culture within the legal panel. We will be trying to understand from senior partners what their longer-term plans are while encouraging the right kind of inclusive working environment.’