Team size: 40
Major legal advisers: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Addleshaw Goddard, Simmons & Simmons, Freshfields
 

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

As an in-house legal team, we are very proud to have played an instrumental role in Haleon successfully demerging from GSK, completing a multi-year journey to establishing Haleon, working closely with GSK, Pfizer and external advisors. On 18 July 2022, Haleon listed as an independent company on the London and New York stock exchanges, this represented the biggest European listing in a decade, this milestone was the result of considerable effort, planning and collaboration by our dedicated in-house lawyers and colleagues from around the world. We successfully negotiated and finalised hundreds of agreements, published the UK prospectus and the US secondary listing, and other public documents. We worked hard to put in place world-class governance that would enable us to operate a FTSE-20 company from day one.
 

What do you see as an opportunity or risk over the next six months?  

Since fully running as an in-house legal team for an independent company, we have taken advantage of opportunities to evolve and create a more agile and effective organisation attuned to the consumer health and FMCG orientation of Haleon. We have embarked on a digital transformation journey to put data and analytics at the center of decision-making, and to enable real-time collaboration and effective workflow management.
 

What are some of the main trends impacting the industry sector you work in in the United Kingdom?   

Haleon, headquartered in the UK, is a world-leading consumer health company with a clear purpose to deliver better everyday health with humanity. Our leading brands, which include Sensodyne, Centrum, Panadol and Voltaren, are built on science, innovation and human understanding, and are trusted by millions of consumers worldwide. To drive efficiencies in the healthcare system and reflecting consumers’ desires to educate themselves and manage their own wellbeing, there is a significant trend towards more ownership of self-care by consumers.
 

As the legal landscape evolves, what steps are you taking to foster a culture of continuous learning and development within the legal team, ensuring that they are all well-equipped to address future legal complexities?    

Our strategy is firstly, to protect our company, our people, our assets, and reputation, second, to enable our company by embedding strong governance for the business to grow responsibly, and third, to provide pragmatic advice and services, as well as customer-centred business partnering. We have in place a robust set of internal initiatives to embed a purpose-led, consumer-centric, and performance-focused culture for the in-house team. Initiatives include diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and employee development delivered through our multi-faceted learning and development strategy.