About

Team size: 60

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last year?

The negotiation of contracts associated with the setting up of Nightingale Hospitals and the negotiation of all required storage and warehouse contracts relating to the logistics involved in rapid manufacture of ventilators were both projects of national importance that we were involved in. We also provided general legal advice and assistance facilitating continued air operations in lockdown countries by liaising with aviation authorities. In addition, we advised on current NHS patient transfer terms to facilitate the Covid-safe movement of vulnerable renal patients to and from hospital and collaborated with various stakeholders on back-to-work planning, procedures and “shielding distribution” of critical supplies. Finally, we had a major role in the company’s extensive planning for Brexit.

What were the main difficulties your company faced during the initial Covid lockdown?

Like all companies we did face a number of challenges during lockdown. The physical and mental health and safety of our employees was a paramount concern for us. We established a task force to deal with this and ensured consistent communication with employees to address mental health and wellbeing. As well as virtual drop-in meetings, we organised social zoom calls, wellness committees and regular publications. We also changed the employee assistance provider and rolled out a 24/7 doctor on call telephone service while increasing private health care check-ups.

We also kept our customers’ critical supply chains going – we continued our customer-centricity and increased collaboration between business units, ensuring the assets of one department were used to the fullest extent by others. Finally, the team provided legal and compliance training to the business and lawyers along with on the job learning for our more junior lawyers.

How did you adapt to the massive surge in orders and deliveries due to the pandemic, and what were the main legal implications of this?

First of all, the increased staffing levels and introduction of shift work in operations were extremely important, as was the increased collaboration between business units and the increased focus on group purpose and levels of customer centricity.

We kept closely to the Group’s strategy, which was stress tested during the pandemic and found to be resilient, robust and fit for purpose. The main work implications for legal were the importance of building resilience, increased empathy and recognition and striving for a better work-life balance. We also undertook training on the art of virtual negotiation.

Overall, we adapted extremely well, and the legal department’s KPIs were the best ever – often up by 10% on previous scores. We also achieved an overall business partner satisfaction score of 93%.