Team size: Over 200 

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

As a general matter, our teams work closely with our commercial and operational teams globally to deliver on Diageo’s performance ambition, to be one of the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world.  Amongst other things, we have worked closely this year to embed enhanced guidelines and practices on ESG and green claims, artificial intelligence, route to market changes, the digital transformation of our business, including B2B and B2C, as well as significantly broadened the way that data is understood and used to drive value in the business.  

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

The role of general counsel continues to evolve rapidly because of the changes, challenges and opportunities in the external environment.  Certainly, the last several years have been ones defined by volatility, and surviving and thriving during these periods of volatility requires a broadened understanding of context, history and also what is going to drive a business to success. Therefore, the remit of general counsel will likely continue to expand, and the sphere of impact and influence will as well. Therefore, it is increasingly incumbent for effective general counsel to be well connected and have wide access to information and seats at tables outside the law – so that they can incorporate all of that into the advice and guidance they give. 

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?   

Delivering our function’s ambition to clear the path for the profitable and sustainable growth of Diageo requires top talent. The challenge was how to grow existing talent with pace and across such a diverse team – culturally and geographically, but also with diverse practice areas covering legal, corporate security, brand protection, business integrity and company secretarial. Leadership tools existed in the broader Diageo business but to truly deliver our ambition we needed talent to develop skills specific to and in the context of the legal function. We also needed to inspire our talent by creating innovative opportunities for them to grow and ensure Diageo’s leaders get to know our talent. 

We therefore designed the unique LEAP Legal Leadership Academy consisting each year of two cohorts of eight high-performing, diverse individuals selected from across the global legal function. Participants engage with members of the legal leadership team and senior business stakeholders through virtual and in-person modules, mentor relationships, and individual work focused on career growth, leadership skills, relationship-building and personal branding. Each cohort concludes with the participants hosting a virtual legal conference for the over 200-strong function, enabling them to practice academy learnings and skills.