The legal team at South African private hospital operator Life Healthcare Group has been particularly busy recently, as the company has engaged in a number of complex deals over the past few years. Among others, the company has acquired Allenort, Sport Klinika, Gastromed and Careways Wellness, the latter deal was handled entirely by the in-house team. The team’s success, according to head of legal and insurance Mark Stafford, is down to ‘working very long, hard and productive hours’, but nominators pointed to their contribution to a number of matter.

The legal team has assisted in divesting group shares, was involved in completing two large construction projects at the company’s hospitals worth R500m and had input to the company’s debt-raising initiatives. The team’s versatility and depth of expertise is therefore plain to see, especially considering the team has been able to make notable improvements to their own working practices alongside their other achievements. Towards this end, they have produced ‘a significant database of standard form agreements that are industry specific and aligned with best practice’ that has led to ‘massive efficiencies within the department’.

The legal team at Life Healthcare maintains extremely strong ties with the senior management of the company. Stafford sits on the strategic management group located at the very highest level of the company’s hierarchy. On his department’s approach at Life Healthcare, Stafford comments that, overall: ‘the legal team facilitates the achievement of the strategic objectives of the company through the innovative structuring of agreements that allow the Group to maximise its goals’, and innovation is a key objective for the team throughout the challenges it faces. Given that the projects that the Life Healthcare team deals with can be diverse, this approach is prudent and the achievements of the team in recent years are a testament to its success.