the view from BT's legal department
Legal Week reports
January 21, 1999 at 09:40 AM
2 minute read
Head of legal: Alan Whitfield.
Size of department: more than 200 lawyers based around the world.
On outsourcing: "The only thing we do not do is property law" so the vast majority of work is retained in-house.
Have used the following recently: Linklaters, Bird & Bird, Lawrence Graham and Ashurst Morris Crisp.
On 'telecoms' lawyers: "There are two types of telecoms lawyer. There are those who do transactional work in the telecoms area who need to know how the business operates.
"Then there are those who deal with regulatory and competition law. In BT just about everyone is a 'telecoms' lawyer," he adds.
"They have to know how the business works – everything is telecoms-specific.
For example an employment lawyer has to know about the health and safety considerations faced by our workers.
On outside lawyers: "As competition increases, so the lawyers of other companies have become more and more expert."
On BT's lawyers: "We recruit people with the right skills and underlying attitude. They do not need to be a physics graduate, but if they take fright at a computer screen then this place is not for them."
Internationally: "We manage everything – we structure the transaction but get local individuals on board."
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