General Counsel & Company Secretary Recruitment
Background
A FTSE 250 retail business, instructed Florit Legal on a General Counsel search project. Prior to this, the company had employed a Company Secretary. They had been responsible for pensions, insurance, facilities and managing legal matters via external law firms. The existing incumbent was relocating to another part of the UK.
The client engaged us following the incumbent’s recommendation to the company’s Chief People Officer. As a result of a competitive tender, we were retained on an exclusive mandate to undertake the search.
Client’s Brief
To support a newly enhanced business strategy the board had decided to upgrade the role into a combined General Counsel & Company Secretary role.
The brief was to hire a qualified lawyer this time round – with not only general counsel experience but also experience of having acted as a company secretary in a fully listed PLC environment.
The appointee would be required to:
- Provide sound counsel, guidance and support to the company and ensure it continues to comply with its governance and statutory obligations.
- Manage all legal risk, with a considerable emphasis on commercial contracts.
- Improve procedures around commercial/supplier agreements.
- Introduce a greater level of proactivity and efficiency in administrative support.
Recruitment Solution
Our approach is to take a full brief from all key stakeholders before commencing any General Counsel search – in this case holding separate briefings with CEO, CFO, CPO and Chairman.
A total of 86 interested parties and applicants had been considered from a variety of backgrounds. This produced an initial shortlist of 10 senior candidates offering a combination of the core skills and experience required. There were no internal candidates. However, there were several who had been personally recommended by various members of the board. We considered these candidates alongside those produced by the robust General Counsel search process we undertake. From the shortlist, our client agreed with us on the 6 strongest candidates to interview.
After a three-stage recruitment process references were taken from directors of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies and a successful General Counsel & Company Secretary appointment was made.
