Team size: Approximately 225
 

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

The legal directorate provides substantive legal expertise to all parts of the Bank of England on the full breadth of its evolving statutory and regulatory remits and functions, as well as supporting the Bank in a traditional, in-house legal capacity. Our recent work includes implementing the landmark Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 and related priority projects, such as Solvency II reforms, an expanded CCP resolution regime and changes to FMI regulation. We have been delivering priority projects furthering the UK’s competitiveness as a leading global financial centre through international trade, mutual recognition and partnership agreements. Our team provides advice to the Bank’s governance, employment, commercial and data protection functions on managing legal risk, and recently we have been taking action to ensure the safety and soundness of firms and financial stability, including the recent response to Silicon Valley Bank’s difficulties and UBS’s takeover of Credit Suisse.
 

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

In the age of polycrisis, a general counsel must not only demonstrate technical legal excellence, but also be a creative, pragmatic strategic advisor, an effective crisis manager, and a trusted leader. My experience in recent years has taught me that you cannot necessarily predict the next challenge but, if you build a confident, highly capable and motivated team that shares a common purpose, difficult tasks can be successfully overcome. Over the next five years, much of my focus will be on ensuring that we continue to have a diverse, inclusive and supportive environment that offers career and personal development opportunities. In the coming years, technological innovation, AI and digitisation, will require ongoing investment in its capacity and capability, so colleagues can continue to provide high calibre legal advice.
 

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?   

The Bank is committed to achieving value for money, and we have risen to this challenge, by offering new cost-effective career development opportunities for our lawyers. We have introduced reciprocal secondments to HM Treasury, the Financial Conduct Authority and the European Central Bank, which strengthens our relationships and collaboration with those institutions. We also rotate our senior leadership team to lead the Bank’s work in new technical areas, increasing their experience, expertise, and enhancing the resilience of succession to the general counsel role. Finally, we launched the Trainee Solicitor Development Programme, which offers a route to qualification, enhances our early careers offering, and provides a succession model through which a trainee could conceivably progress from the Bank to general counsel.