About

The Zurich Ireland in-house legal team is stable, long-established and operates as a shared service function advising all Irish businesses of the global insurance giant. The team of 13 permanent staff, led by general counsel for Ireland Nicola O’Connell, is well-known for providing substantial contributions to facilitating strategic business goals for Zurich in Ireland. By implementing efficient and simple solutions for complex legal problems, the team are able to effectively adapt to new requirements imposed by legislation and can pragmatically ensure the business can quickly embed new processes and procedures that facilitate compliance with new laws. ‘The most important change has been the desire to continually develop the already talented internal legal team’, says Jim Harper, legal counsel and company secretary. This is achieved through a variety of in-house and external learning, dually-focused on enhancing both technical and management skills. By developing the in-house team at Zurich, they maintain their position as trusted legal advisers to the business and ensure they are well placed to adapt to the increasingly complex legal and regulatory environment of the insurance sector. The biggest recent challenge has been from the ‘unprecedented reform’ affecting the European insurance industry and the implementation of the Solvency II legislative framework. Speaking to their quality and adaptability, Harper believes that the lawyers at Zurich have successfully managed the company through a period of ‘exceptional change’ and continue to assist and advise the business as the industry grapples with the ‘complexities’ of this new regime.