As a former rugby player, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) EMEA general counsel Stephen Bendall puts teamwork at the centre of his management of the legal team at one of the world's five largest banks.

It's a focus that is currently proving particularly useful as the Japanese banking group, which includes Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, looks to implement an integration strategy aiming to bring its three divisions – commercial, investment and trust banking – closer together outside Japan.

"Our clients look to us to provide holistic support for all forms of banking; we are therefore organising the legal team to properly give that kind of rounded support to the business," he says.

"This is a critical moment in the history of the financial markets. For a global legal team in this sector to be effective and keep up with all the various changes to law and regulation, they need to be all working together sharing information and seeing each other as colleagues", he says, adding: "I think there is still work to do to continue to fully embed the new structure. We have a terrific team but the EMEA structure is relatively new and we are continuing to get more and more integrated. These things don't happen overnight."

Bendall took up the EMEA group legal role on top of his international head of legal for investment banking role in July 2017, and since then has been looking at how to align both the internal legal team and external legal advisers with the wider bank's new structure.

In Japan, local banking regulations mean the three divisions have to be separate, but internationally MUFG is trying to bring them closer together as it becomes more global.

In November 2013 MUFG's commercial banking division, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, set up its first EMEA legal panel, naming Slaughter and May, Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Ashurst, Berwin Leighton Paisner, Hogan Lovells, Norton Rose Fulbright and White and Case to its preferred firms list.

It also runs a separate transactional roster including all of the firms above, as well as a number of others.

Bendall comments: "Now the integration has been implemented, we are looking at our external legal support and how to best to set it up to advise what is now an integrated team in a global business, so it is a slightly different situation to what it was before.

"We are currently reviewing what law firm support we need, but what is pretty clear is that a business our size with such a global presence has a very strong need for high-quality law firm support."

Bendall is looking at what he wants from his external law firms in two different ways. Firstly, he wants global legal support from some of the major firms that operate across multiple jurisdictions. On top of that, the bank does transactions in very specific international jurisdictions where he needs particular support.

At this point he does not want to create a formal panel, he says, adding: "We would not just pin ourselves down and say we will just go for this group of law firms – flexibility is key."

This kind of flexibility is also key for the in-house legal team, particularly in the current economic climate.

Prior to taking on his new role, Bendall was looking after a 40-strong international legal team spread across London, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, which dealt purely with the investment banking division. The addition of the EMEA role takes the number reporting into him to about 60 staff across 11 countries.

"The integration of the legal team has been a great success," comments Bendall. "A large group like MUFG wants its lawyers to be able to advise the whole business, as you often get better outcomes. It's also great from a career perspective for the lawyers as they get a much broader experience."

Before joining MUFG in January 2013 as EMEA legal head for the investment banking division, Bendall spent more than 10 years at Deutsche Bank. Originally from New Zealand, he came to the UK in the early 1990s to play rugby but soon decided to focus on the law and spent time in private practice at Kennedys and legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (now Clyde & Co), before joining Clifford Chance.

He may not have continued his rugby career, but Bendall believes the sport has influenced his legal career. "My background as a rugby player has meant that I have spent my whole life being in a team environment where teamwork and clear team structure is critical to success," he says.

"I am confident that if we build the right relationships both within the legal team and with the senior management in all these different locations, continue to develop our expertise as a team and further embed the integration, we can be really successful."