About

Team size: 26
Major law firms used: Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance, Eversheds Sutherland

Network Rail GC Stuart Kelly has faced constant change since taking the top legal job two years ago. It appointed a new chief executive, Andrew Haines, in May 2018, months before it sold its commercial estate portfolio of more than 5,000 properties for $1.46bn.

At the same time, Network Rail embarked on its longest- ever panel review process for work that could be worth more than £70m over five years from April 2019. The review, which took the best
part of a year, was about aligning with a new five-year corporate strategy for the overall business. Kelly has just 26 lawyers in his team, lean for an organisation of Network Rail’s size, but the perfect size by Kelly’s estimation.

‘We expect that the new panel arrangement will result in smarter commercial models. The firms will be allocated to different businesses rather than competing within a business. They get the work and don’t need to look over their shoulder: that shows commitment on our part and then everyone can focus on things that drive out waste and add value.’

Network Rail will introduce a legal operations manager as part of its new panel arrangements. Kelly is also an advocate of legal tech start-up, Apperio, which tracks legal spend data. He believes innovation needs to be driven by in-house legal teams, because they know their own problems better than anybody, including external law firms. ‘My role is increasingly about getting out of the way and allowing people to take the opportunities that are there,’ he observes.

Eversheds Sutherland executive partner Ian Gray comments: ‘It’s been another big year of change at Network Rail as it looks to change and reorganise its legal functions. Stuart just never stands still and is always looking out for the next thing to improve in his legal function. He’s completely focused on improving efficiency; a lot of GCs say they want to improve efficiency, but Stuart actually does.’