Barclays Bank Legal Counsel – Asi es lo Nuestro

Barclays Bank Legal Counsel

One of the main motivations for this project was to demonstrate the value that the in-house legal department brings to the entire company. This is fundamental to the functioning of the internal function, but Gaskins avoids being too philosophical about it. «What`s different about what we do is basically showing how we do what we do. We spend a lot of money on the company, so it`s a matter of transparency and accountability. One of the problems with the value debate is that you can only really get to the point if you remove the function to see what happens without it, and no one will! The company as a whole was not heavily involved in developing the new processes, with the exception of an overall mandate that led the project, which was a clear expectation for the management of legal fees. Currently, Barclays has integrated lawyers in different areas of business, and there will inevitably be legal services that will be shared between departments, such as litigation or employment law. «Business units want it to be very clear that they only pay for the amount of common legal services they use, and therefore more transparency throughout the delivery, management and billing process.» Going back to the genesis of the idea, Gaskins says Hoyt articulated the problems in the legislation by comparing them to an all-you-can-eat buffet. «It`s like people come to a buffet and choose what they want, but have very little idea of what things cost or how much they consume,» she says. «When the bill comes in for what you eat, it goes to someone else. We`ve spent the last 18 months figuring out how to price what`s on the menu, how to help the customer understand the prices, and then make sure the final invoice is sent fairly, accurately, and to the right person. «This means that Gaskins` role is not unique, especially in large financial institutions.» All the legal departments of the banks have teams like mine.

She believes that using people like her and her team allows lawyers to focus more on their legal work, although «it`s often difficult,» she adds ironically. «While bankers are much happier to bring issues back to the center and out of their jurisdiction, lawyers are very proactive and super smart, so they often want to move in and start doing something themselves.» The process of change will take about two years, with current progress halfway through. The new systems have been tested and deployment has already taken place with some teams. Now the challenge is to put everything in place on a global scale across the entire function. It`s a gradual process, Gaskins explains, explaining, «Litigation now has everything that`s going on around the world; We started with them because they are the most complicated in terms of needs. But by the end of the year, the rest of the legal department will also have all the systems. Mark Chamberlain: It`s important to the legal department that our employees feel connected to the company-wide diversity initiatives that are being rolled out in the region. For example, Barclays` «Encore!» program is specifically designed to help professionals who have taken a professional break re-enter the workforce. Barclays launched the programme in September 2016 by offering 12 «Encore!» – welcoming interns for a 10-week internship at the bank. Legal participated in the program by hosting an intern, giving the team access to an unconventional source of talent. Although this was developed in-house, the records management and e-invoicing function came from an external provider. Time management, property management and e-invoicing systems are all brought together as part of a tailor-made management information system.

From this aspect flows the overall functionality – it allows GCs to get an overview of the assignment of work, costs and a direct overview of the workflows of their department. Gaskins explains that it provides a much more informed view to legal decision-makers while ensuring that much less time is wasted on meetings to get updates, as individual CMs have the ability to enter a meeting with the data already prepared. Rhanda Moussa: «Bring your whole self to work» is the new lens of our team in which we define, drive and measure the strategic direction for diversity and inclusion within the legal department. We are basically working on three guiding principles that focus on attraction, retention and development. Both issue management and the e-invoicing system have an obvious application to how external work is handled. Symbiotic with the revolution of this use of external consultants was the revised Barclays panel. Gaskins observes that a key question in the design was, «How can we help lawyers think differently when hiring law firms?» Gaskins stressed that they still want the decision to be up to the lawyers, but incorporate new ideas around project management and transparency into this process. NAMWOLF is the acronym for the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms, an organization that aims to change the face of the legal industry with a focus on supplier diversity. CEO Joel Stern – former assistant general counsel at Accenture – talks to GC about NAMWOLF`s mission and how it will get there. Karen Roberts, Walmart`s general counsel, is a long-time advocate for diversity, both within the companies in which she operates and in the wider legal community. She shares the initiatives Walmart has implemented internally, as well as her thoughts on how large companies can use their size and reputation to make changes. One of the ways we support «bring your whole self to work» is by promoting Barclays` global diversity and inclusion strategy, which is based on five fundamental pillars: disability, gender, LGBT, multicultural and intergenerational.

Involvement in the network is key to promoting the conversation about diversity – both in the legal department and across the bank. Megan Doberneck, Vodafone`s U.S. general counsel, talks about the company`s revolutionary maternity policies and why it makes sense to invest in working mothers. After GC recently launched its «Bring your whole self to work» initiative, which aims to promote inclusion in the legal team around the world, GC spoke with Rhanda Moussa and Jane Son, in-house lawyers co-chairs of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for Law in the Americas, and Mark Chamberlain, Head of Diversity in the Americas at Barclays. to learn how this new initiative fits into the Bank`s broader agenda of inclusion activities. «Ultimately, it was a question of figuring out how to codify the work in relation to the cost of each case – essentially a catalogue of services for in-house legal services. This is often anathema to lawyers, but it is a concept that the company can understand. This can be uncomfortable for lawyers, as the idea that all work can be combined and priced cannot simply be applied to work that is essentially «advisory» in nature.