About

Team size: 45
Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance, DLA Piper, DWF, Pinsent Masons

‘I was the company’s first general counsel,’ Serco Group’s David Eveleigh recalls about his arrival in 2014. ‘It was for good reason too; it was in quite a bit of trouble.’

That is an understatement: in November 2014 its share price plummeted to 218.7p from 674p the year before, after four profit warnings. A scandal had broken out over the misuse of taxpayers’ money: billing the Ministry of Justice millions of pounds for electronic tags for offenders who were still in prison, or even dead. On Eveleigh’s very first day in the job, the chair, Alastair Lyons, resigned during a board meeting. ‘I thought that was a bit rude,’ Eveleigh comments.

Needless to say, Eveleigh requires lawyers with special skills to keep up with the demanding environment: ‘A lot of legal professionals like big issues so they can look like a hero – transactions or disputes. Our company would be like crack cocaine for them. But by doing so, you are not helping the business. How are you making sure that these problems don’t arise in advance?’

Fortunes have begun to change for Serco in recent years. In 2018, the company bought out BTP Systems, a satellite communications business, with Eveleigh describing it as ‘the biggest deal Serco has ever done.’ He and his lawyers were equally involved in settling a major dispute in Australia.

Eveleigh has certainly played a part in steadying Serco’s ship and has been rewarded with a seat at the highest table in the company. ‘Becoming an integrated part of the management team – you really have to earn it. I think I have.’