About

Team size: 120

Major legal advisers: Allen & Overy, Herbert Smith Freehills, K&L Gates, Linklaters, Mayer Brown, Osborne Clarke, PwC, Sidley Austin, Simmons & Simmons, Squire Patton Boggs, Travers Smith

‘We try and do what we call “brilliant basics”,’ TP ICAP executive director and group general counsel (GC) Philip Price comments. ‘That means best-in-class panel arrangements and using the best technology and management information, which allows us to operate in the way any 21st century in-house team should.’

That approach has seen the FTSE 250 interdealer broker increase headcount across its legal, compliance, risk and corporate secretarial teams by 35% in the year to October 2019, savings of more than £500,000 generated by the establishment of a global centre of excellence for compliance monitoring and surveillance in Belfast, and a reduction in external legal spend of more than £2m in the year following an extensive panel review.

Price had joined TP ICAP’s predecessor Tullett Prebon as group GC and head of compliance in early 2015, after which he was asked to lead on the company’s £1.3bn acquisition of ICAP’s voice broking and information business, which completed in 2017. During that period, he spent time working with and getting to know the company’s board and in September 2018 was appointed to TP ICAP’s board.

‘Many chairmen might unfairly view lawyers as skilled subject matter experts but not capable of managing businesses or bringing anything into a boardroom other than debate, but that’s unfair,’ Price comments. ‘Legal training allows people to absorb vast amounts of granular, complicated information, so I’m a big fan of lawyers on boards.’

Price has since led on a global transformation programme across his functions in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, focusing on people, process, technology and information. In conjunction with this, a global chief operating officer for the functions, Mark Turner, was appointed, while former US Commodity Futures Trading Commission head of market oversight Amir Zaidi also joined as global head of compliance.

A big piece of work has involved a full panel review of the company’s EMEA advisers, which is now being rolled out in the US and APAC. The idea was to deepen relationships with fewer firms and has involved negotiated fee and volume-related discounts, legal advice funds based on amount of work given to firms, as well as the implementation of matter management, management information and e-billing technology. Total savings are said to already exceed £2m.

‘We get real visibility in terms of where we’re spending, which means we can also challenge firms,’ says Turner. ‘We had one firm delivering an employment matter in London and the same firm delivering an employment matter in Spain, but the leverage and way that matter was being delivered was completely different. That allowed us to go back to the firm and say, “Why?” We’re challenging them in a positive and constructive way.’

The centre of excellence in Belfast, which houses more than 300 staff, is where part of the compliance function sits to do the initial work on any monitoring issues that arise before further evaluation is undertaken with staff in London. Company-wide, Price also chairs the firm’s approach to culture and conduct.

‘We’re also doing more work around development and providing the appropriate training,’ he notes. ‘I don’t think anyone necessarily wants a firm run by lawyers in terms of management, but equally, promoting lawyers with the right sort of skills to move into business is something we’ll positively encourage this year.’