A general counsel for a specialty insurer under regulatory review

The brief

The insurer writes marine, energy and political risk business with gross premiums of about £1.4 billion. Its general counsel had left at short notice in the middle of a regulatory review of claims handling and conduct controls, and interim cover came from a senior associate at an external firm. The board needed a permanent general counsel who could own the remediation programme, rebuild the relationship with the supervisor and be approved under the senior managers regime without delay.

The chief executive was clear that a technically excellent lawyer would not be enough. The role needed someone who would tell the board unwelcome things early and could hold a room of underwriters.

The search

Daniel mapped 138 general counsel, deputy general counsel and partners across insurance, reinsurance and financial services regulation. We approached 36 and met 19, screening each for regulatory history and for conflicts arising from previous roles before a name went to the client.

Four went to the shortlist: two sitting general counsel, a deputy from a larger carrier and a partner from a City law firm. Each completed a case discussion built on an anonymised version of the review findings. The search nearly went wrong at the final stage, when references for the preferred candidate raised a question about a previous employer’s enforcement case. With the candidate’s consent we looked into it properly, speaking to two former colleagues and the external counsel who had handled the matter, and established that the candidate had in fact led the remediation. We put the full account to the board in writing before the offer was made, and the regulator approved the appointment ten weeks later.

The outcome

The new general counsel took ownership of the remediation programme in the first month and restructured the legal and compliance team, bringing in a head of conduct risk through Roster. The supervisor closed its review eight months after the appointment with no enforcement action. A year on, the insurer has moved into two new lines of business, and the general counsel sits on the executive committee, a seat the role did not have before.