Team size: 223  

Major legal advisers: Slaughter and May, Hogan Lovells, TLT, Wiggin, Osborne Clarke   

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

The most significant transaction over the last year has been the joint venture agreement that Vodafone signed with Three. This transaction saw my team and I working with business stakeholders and our group colleagues to get the agreement completed. 

This was carried out while negotiating major sponsorship deals with Wimbledon, Glastonbury, and the Welsh Rugby team. We were also integral to the deal reached to become the main supplier for Allwyn, who will be operating the National Lottery from February 2024. 

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?   

We face regulation from multiple regulators. This means constant close monitoring to ensure we are well prepared for any regulatory changes, which constantly evolve. My role is to ensure that I understand the regulations and our business goals to allow us to respond quickly and in a way that enhances our strategy.   

Further, AI will continue to evolve in the way we practice law, and it will be interesting to see what the future holds in this respect.   

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense? 

Our legal transformation team created a contract lifecycle management platform which enables Vodafone Business to instruct our lawyers on their matters and keep all key documents in one place. I have driven the use of automation to enable our sales colleagues to self-serve and execute many standard contracts themselves, without the need for bespoke legal support. 

Since our team started developing self-serve contracts in-house, over 63% of all contracts completed have been self-served by our sales teams. We recently expanded the platform with contract analytics tools. which uses AI to extract obligations, clauses, and metadata to allow business functions to manage obligations contained in the contract. 

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company? 

Vodafone’s overall strategy is directly linked to sustainability, and we have a team dedicated to sustainable business to ensure inclusion for all; commercial success that does not come at a cost to the environment; and support for a digital society.   

We also have Vodafone Foundation, which invests in communities where technology can make a difference. My team supports both the Foundation and the sustainable business team, and I play an important part in leading this.