One of the UK’s biggest listed companies is conducting a major upgrade of its in-house legal capabilities because it believes that the legal pressures on business have escalated, its general counsel said this week.

John Davidson (pictured), general counsel and group company secretary at brewer SABMiller, said in an interview with the Gazette that the company is ‘up-weighting’ its legal function because ‘the world is getting a more difficult place to do business in’.

Davidson, who is also chair of the GC100, the group that represents the interests of legal chiefs at FTSE 100 companies, said that SABMiller is pushing ahead with a project to appoint senior lawyers in all its key international locations.

‘We are gradually up-weighting the legal function within the group, in accordance with a mandate approved by the executive committee,’ he said. ‘Everyone recognises that the world is getting a more difficult place to do business in. There are more regulatory, reputational, compliance and governance issues, and people are getting more litigious. We have to improve the way in which the legal function supports the business, and becomes an enabler and supporter of the business objectives, rather than people just dealing with compliance, regulatory and contracts.’

Davidson said that cost-cutting was not the main driver for the changes, but rather the legal department was ‘adapting to the new world’. He said that the changes might lead to an increase in the 130 lawyers currently working in-house at the company, but that the focus was on appointing a number of ‘experienced lawyers at the regional level, who are able to take a more holistic view of legal risk and legal strategic objectives’.

Davidson added that a senior lawyer will soon be appointed in the South Africa region, and that the company recently appointed a senior legal director for Latin America. Both will report to their respective regional boards, but will have direct reporting lines to his team in London.

‘The model is changing to adapt to the new needs of the business,’ he said. ‘It’s a natural evolution.’

  • Read the full interview with John Davidson in next week’s Gazette.