Easyjet Legal Team

Later, she took this idea and returned to the legal team as group leader of the legal department and was soon tasked with developing the team. As the team grew, she took on the role of Assistant GC and has now supported de Bie in “everyone and everything” in her broad role. Dan agreed with his general counsel for the group that what the team needed was a versatile – hence the “O”. But that was just the beginning of the challenges. Mills says, “We have been involved in a major restructuring this year. The team has helped our financial colleagues raise over £6 billion in funds, including a capital increase. There has been various other financings as well as the sale and lease of aircraft. Unfortunately, we have also had to restructure our workforce. At the same time, we also suffered a cyberattack that our digital security team has mastered and continues to manage. Lowe wanted to return to Manchester and first applied for a financial position that was filled internally, then the recruiter then contacted her with the opportunity to join Co-op`s legal team. After an illustrious career at White & Case in New York and London, among others, as well as internally in leading organizations such as General Electric and Royal Mail, his time at easyJet in 2019 was also driven by these values. “easyJet`s vision, values and culture are closely aligned with mine.

It`s important for me to create an environment where my team can thrive, and I wanted to work in an environment where that`s the case overall. Doing the right thing is at the heart of decision-making here,” she says. The move turned out to be great for Mills, who enjoyed working as a business partner for the sales teams: “I`m really interested in the companies and how they work and the business side of things and I`m a real people. I enjoy working as a business partner and really understanding individuals and understanding what rests on their shoulders and how the legal function can help them in decision-making and risk management. Together, they designed sessions that required minimal preparation for businesses and tested how they would do things instead of relying solely on their legal expertise. What did they ask of companies? “I`ve always been someone who protected the outsider or the child who was bullied at school. It made me think about starting a career where I could do the right thing with people, and that`s the driving force that made me want to go to law school. And to this day, I`m still very motivated to do the right thing – not just answer the question “Is it legal?” she adds. 2002 Internal Auditor, The Cheshire Building Society 2003 Audit Intern/Deputy Director, KPMG UK 2007 Deputy Director, KPMG UK 2009 Manager, KPMG UK 2012 Consultant, Green Canyon Consulting 2015 Chief Operating Officer (Legal and Secretarial), Co-op 2019 Chief Operating Officer (Office of the Legal Director), easyJet Review, led by Maaike de Bie, EasyJet General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel Rebecca Mills and Head of Legal Operations Helen Lowe, concluded this month. Team size 95, including 25 lawyers Privileged Consultants Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Clifford Chance, CMS, DAC Beachcroft, DLA Piper, Herbert Smith Freehills, Knights, Norton Rose Fulbright, Pinsent Masons It`s a feeling Mills repeats: “As a collective, it`s been a year of absolute crisis, we`ve been incredibly proud of how we`ve worked together as a team, it was right in the middle of it all from day one. In this way, the team will continue to embrace the “orange spirit” and values, starting at the top.

Mills says, “We really come first and are very focused on people`s well-being and our own well-being. The leaders of the organization – including Helen, Maaike and I – are really trying to illustrate this. The work of easyJet and others doing something similar means that law firms are listening and demanding that law schools modify outdated curricula to introduce a wider range of skills that are crucial for the next generation of lawyers. The introduction of O Shape attributes into the legal education system has the potential to radically change the profession in the long run – a legacy for which the O Shape Group exists. A legal career with us is as challenging as it is rewarding. You will enjoy varied work with all levels of the company and all regions of the network and get to know different legal and business cultures. Whether it`s contracting, negotiating and managing claims, hiring external consultants, or dealing with regulatory affairs and regulators, you`re constantly challenged. They also help us remove texts for marketing and advertising purposes and provide general advice on compliance with UK and EU laws. And, of course, you`ll be working with some of the sharpest legal minds out there. This phase also included the provision of advice as if a message was left on a voice message. Finally, the teams were invited to complete the “Himalayas” exercise, a business simulation developed by Harvard Business School, Lowe explains: “The idea is that it shows how people work as a team.

We sent it to each of the law firms we interviewed during the meeting, so they didn`t have a chance to prepare and didn`t know who to bring. “But she quickly learned that as an aspiring role, she was able to integrate them into her strengths.” That was before the legal operations got bigger here and it was just starting to take off in the U.S., so I didn`t really know what I was getting into. But just like my past in consulting, I simply rolled up my sleeves and began to define what this role meant both in itself and in terms of what I could bring and the value I could offer. GC Maaike from Bie echoes this sentiment: “I have the privilege of leading a great team and I consider it part of my role to help them give their best. Everyone is different and I start by getting to know the people on my team and what motivates them. I am also transparent and open; I don`t have all the ideas or answers – many of the best ideas and answers are the ones that team members come up with themselves. In fact, the diversity of the team`s experience and expertise is a key feature. Mills says, “We all have very different backgrounds; We all have different approaches and perspectives on life and it`s really interesting and valuable. A high priority for me and easyJet is to create a culture of belonging and a place where everyone can be themselves. We sent a series of fairly standard email requests to companies 24 hours before our meeting and asked them to give voicemail-like advice during the meeting. It was an opportunity to understand how they could communicate really complex concepts briefly and to the whole company.

It was a really difficult area – some teams did it absolutely correctly, while others struggled to get away from the law and turn it into truly commercial advice. Without legal training, Lowe initially didn`t know what to expect from the position: “I didn`t understand the concept of an in-house legal team. The organization had a consumer-focused business that handled the transfer and succession, and I was preparing as if I would be part of that team. I had to turn around pretty quickly in the interview, redraw it in one way or another and integrate into this inner world that I knew nothing about. We make sure to work within the relevant legal systems and comply with European laws while maintaining good corporate governance. To protect our reputation and support all parts of our business, we support and ensure that all the different teams that make up easyJet are aware of all legal issues and their responsibilities.