‘We’re not the “Department of No”; we’re not the “Deal Prevention Unit”; and we don’t sit in our ivory tower with the big book of law,’ says Rolls-Royce GC Mark Gregory about how his in-house legal team operates. ‘We understand the business and can give proactive business partnering. We do have to play the governance role – staying independent and objective – but that isn’t an excuse to avoid giving practical and solution-focused advice as part of an integrated team.’ Gregory was only appointed GC in late 2015, rising from head of legal and commercial at the FTSE 100 British engineering heavyweight to replace Robert Webb QC, but is already credited for his role in driving cultural change and business simplification at Rolls-Royce. It has been a challenging time to land such a role, too, with the business, which last year reported revenue in excess of £16bn, dealing with probes, profit warnings, leadership changes and shareholder activism. The most high-profile have been investigations into bribery and corruption by the Serious Fraud Office, US Department of Justice and Brazil’s Ministério Público Federal, resulting in deferred prosecution agreements announced in early 2017 and penalties totalling £671m. This was managed by a small central team working with external counsel, Gregory says. Meanwhile, in 2016, US activist investor ValueAct Capital secured a place on the company’s board after building its stake in the company following profit warnings a year earlier. Eversheds Sutherland co-head of global company commercial Keri Rees says Gregory led his team during a very challenging period for the business while supporting its focus on transformation and reducing costs. He credits the team for tightening management of external legal spend, lifting operational excellence and aligning and integrating the function with the business: ‘Mark and his team are playing a crucial role in the evolution of Rolls- Royce as it moves on from such challenges, and looks to drive culture change and business simplification. [They] have also implemented new models of working that align to the business’s wider strategy to become a leading technology company and drive digital technology.’ Gregory adds that, similar to many other in-house teams, Rolls-Royce expects the legal arm to be more than lawyers and instead partners willing to stick their necks out. It also faces the ongoing challenge of cost and efficiency, transparency and accountability. Collaboration is key, while the company’s chief executive has charged legal with setting an example in innovation. A chief operations officer, Deborah D’Aubney, has been working in the last few months to help drive this change, but Gregory admits the team is behind on technology: ‘I see that as an opportunity to leapfrog: one of the group strategic priorities is around driving a ‘digital first’ mindset and we’re embracing that. There’s lot of exciting technology out there that we can embrace to drive commoditisation, automation and simplification.’