About

Team size: 174
Major law firms used: Herbert Smith Freehills, Slaughter and May, White & Case

International healthcare company Bupa had a busy year for M&A in 2018. The company sold 22 of its UK care homes to Advinia Healthcare; disposed of its medical alarms business, and sold 12 care homes and four retirement villages in New Zealand; and made key acquisitions of a fertility business in Spain and insurance business in Turkey.

But for chief legal officer Penny Dudley, appointed to the top legal role in April 2016, M&A was far from her legal team’s main focus. She leads an in-house function across 13 countries, with the largest parts of the team in the UK, Australia and Spain. The team is organised against each of Bupa’s four main geographies, reporting to Dudley and the chief executive of each region, while a privacy function was also added with the appointment of group data protection and privacy director Heike Norris in May 2017.

One of her key objectives is ensuring her team is working effectively with other functions in the group, such as compliance and corporate affairs, particularly in areas like brand and reputation. She also wants her lawyers to broaden out their experience through exposure to other functions and skillsets. ‘There is now a broader role for legal risk management,’ she comments.

‘It requires considering risk through a reputational lens, so along with “can we do something?”, also asking “should we do it?”’