BT Consumer GC handed wider role in wake of EE acquisition
Russell Johnstone gains more responsibility after exit of former EE GC
July 28, 2017 at 09:29 AM
2 minute read
BT Group has appointed Russell Johnstone as GC for its expanded consumer business.
BT Consumer is the main retail division of the UK telecoms giant.
Johnstone, who has been GC for BT Consumer since 2015, will now be responsible for a newly expanded business operating across three brands: BT, EE and Plusnet.
The news comes in the wake of the telecoms giant acquiring rival EE for £12.5bn last year.
EE's GC James Blendis left the company in June, just before BT officially integrated the two legal teams at the start of this month.
Johnstone originally joined BT in 2011 as acting head of vision and third-party projects for BT's TV arm. He joined from former UK pay TV service Top Up TV. He became head of commercial and media for the company's legal team the following year, before eventually becoming GC in 2015.
In March, Johnstone was one of only two in-house lawyers to advise on the deal which saw BT secure the £1.2bn exclusive broadcasting rights for all Champions League and Europa League football.
The intricacies of the deal were finalised in just one week, after BT won a competitive auction process for exclusive broadcasting rights until 2021.
In April, BT finalised a review of its UK and Ireland legal advisers, with 37 firms appointed to the new line-up.
Firms that made it onto the roster include Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters Addleshaw Goddard, Eversheds Sutherland, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Bond Dickinson, among others.
The new appointments will run until April 2020.
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