Head of team: Lisa Rodriguez, General counsel Canada Life – UK and (interim) general counsel Irish Life Group

Team size: 15

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

On the commercial side, the team supported the transition of hundreds of stand-alone Defined Contribution Group Pension Schemes into the Irish Life Empower Master Trust, making it one of Ireland’s largest Master Trusts. We negotiated milestone contracts with key AI and technology suppliers to help drive Irish Life’s digital strategy, which allowed our businesses to better understand their customers, reduce claims-processing times, improve customer experience, and eliminate wasted costs. The team also supplied legal support to Irish Life Health to forge a strategic partnership with a leading primary health care provider developing tailored care-pathways for customers.

On the transactional side, the M&A team advised on the successful transfer of the Ark Life insurance portfolio to Irish Life Assurance, adding approximately 150,000 new policies and gaining approval from the High Court. In 2022, the team supported nearly a dozen acquisition and disposal transactions and advised on sophisticated and complex corporate restructurings, managing time-sensitive deadlines and coordinating with senior stakeholders across the organisation. These transactions included the launch of a strategic planned life and pensions joint venture between Irish Life and AIB, a landmark transaction in the Irish market which received regulatory approval from the CBI in early 2023.

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

Last year marked significant change for our businesses both at the macro-economic level and in the way we all work together. Hybrid working gave us greater flexibility and personal autonomy over the shape of our day, but also created new challenges. First, we had to think through how best to remain at pace with the needs of our business partners with fewer opportunities to see them face-to-face or enjoy spontaneous ‘water-cooler’ interactions. We tackled this through regular progress meetings with each business lead to make sure the right work was getting the right attention in the right order. Second, we had to consider our own team dynamic and how best to stayed connected with one another. Weekly team meetings alternated between formal agendas and more ‘free-style’ discussions as we sought to maximise individual flexibility while creating opportunities for team members to see each other. Finally, we leaned into feedback in our employee surveys that showed our work / life balance had come under strain. Everyone collaborated on thinking of steps we could each take to support individual and collective well-being, devising a framework to ensure it remained a priority.

Has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected your company and the team’s priorities, and if so how?

Because the legal team is driven to support its business partners’ achievement of their strategic initiatives and Irish Life’s commitment to sustainability is core to its strategy, sustainability plays an ever-increasing role in the legal team’s priorities. Irish Life’s asset manager has been at the forefront of sustainable investment and a legal team member was recently seconded directly into the business early this year to support its sustainability agenda, including assisting with sustainability and climate change considerations for its disclosures. Similarly, the legal team have supported Irish Life group’s commitment to maintaining a sustainable workplace in the redevelopment of Irish Life’s Abbey Street campus. The legal team were pivotal in supporting Irish Life’s transition to the electronic execution of contracts where possible, ensuring execution formalities were maintained, other legal and regulatory requirements were satisfied, and the team could move forward in the pursuit of ‘paperless’ operations.