CASE STUDY

Appointing a General Counsel

Situation

A highly international FTSE 100 company was looking to appoint a new General Counsel. In recent years the company had been through a number of legal difficulties and so this was a highly sensitive and high-profile appointment internally, sitting on the Group ExCo and reporting to the CEO.

Approach

Finding the right personal fit and set of similar experiences, rather than sector experience, was critical. Rather than focus on narrow sector experience, we looked for people who had been through similar difficult situations and would therefore be able to advise the CEO and the Board how to avoid some of the ‘bear-traps’ in the future. Given the nature of the business, the search was completely global in nature.

Impact

The final shortlist of five candidates came from four countries across three continents. As four of the five candidates were from outside the sector, we worked both with the candidates to educate them on the industry and our client to help them see the parallels between the candidates’ experiences and their challenges. The successful candidate came from outside the sector but had been through similar challenges to those faced by our client. That balance of fresh thinking and understanding has helped them make an immediate impact on the business.