Interview: Colin Anderson

Amid the frenzy which accompanied the recent acquisition of Scottish Widows by Lloyds TSB, broadsheet press speculation became feverish enough to question Standard Life’s pre-eminent position in the life assurance market.

At Standard Life House the next day, legal manager Colin Anderson didn’t seem perturbed. As one of 26 solicitors, spread over five departments, he is confident that with approximately £70 billion of funds under management, the period of substantial growth which has coincided with his 13 years at the company will continue.

It seems fair to begin by asking where a solicitor fits in to an organisation whose staff in Edinburgh alone numbers 6,500 distributed over 22 offices.

“Essentially I’m here to offer legal advice and support to our life business. This includes giving support to the company’s operations in Europe and further afield. For example, I’m involved with helping to grow and develop our subsidiary in Spain.

“We’re also hoping to enter the Indian insurance market and are currently researching and learning about the market in China in anticipation of being able to become involved there. A lot of my involvement is therefore working with external lawyers who advise us on the local laws”.

In helping establish Standard Life’s overseas ventures, Colin Anderson gets involved in the tendering process of selecting lawyers to support the domestic team. “These have worked out well. We assess what we’re looking for and what they can offer us – preferably speaking our language to avoid translation difficulties – generally will opt for individuals or firms who can join the team, contribute and help.”

His remit in bringing external lawyers on board extends closer to home. In domestic matters Standard Life will often have to contract-out litigation or specialist advice on questions of perhaps English tax and trust law.

For the Standard Life legal team this can be useful as a learning tool. “An area like unit trust work used to be out-sourced, but now we try to do it all in-house. Where we don’t have the competence or expertise we’ll seek advice from outside.”

For Colin Anderson, being an in-house lawyer means getting closely involved in the company’s business strategy. “You get to know the company’s business and how it operates, becoming involved in helping to achieve an efficient and effective operation. As part of a project team I know Standard Life’s business managers aren’t just looking for legal advice, but pragmatic advice and opinions based on my knowledge of our business.

“As a solicitor, I need to know the business well. I’d be criticised for giving advice not relevant to business needs. In running a business, we’re servicing the needs of customers, not testing esoteric legal arguments. A big feature of being in-house is being accessible and in a sense multi-disciplinary.”

Colin Anderson’s vision of attaining multi-discipline status does not, however, include any link-up between Standard Life and any of the major law firms.

“I would say it is unlikely we would get involved in anything similar to the Arthur Anderson-Dundas & Wilson arrangement. Standard Life have diversified into banking and health care, but I cannot envisage diversifying to make legal advice a core business. Any diversification must be to offer customers something they need.”

His own background prior to joining Standard Life in 1986 included spells at Biggart, Baillie & Gifford and Shepherd & Wedderburn. Nevertheless he seems convinced that the modern in-house lawyer is on balance probably better off beginning where they mean to go on.

“We are very keen to bring in trainee solicitors, offering them a wide variety of work and experience. Recently it has been our policy to put them out to have six months’ experience in private practice and in return we’ve taken someone from the private sector. It enables our trainees to carry out the type of work, such as commercial property transactions, that they wouldn’t do here.”

Colin Anderson’s commitment to promoting the cause of in-house lawyers is evident in his participation in a number of groups promoting their cause. He is co-founder of the Legal Managers Forum, a quarterly meeting point for solicitors from 28 life offices in the UK to discuss the life insurance industry and management issues.

Foremost is his vice-chairmanship of the In-House Lawyers’ Group of the Law Society of Scotland, formerly known as the Public Sector and Commerce Group.

“There has been a great increase in recent years in the numbers of in-house lawyers, but there was a feeling that the needs of those in the commerce and industry sectors weren’t always serviced by the PSCG. The change of name was intended to make clearer what the group is about.

“We are keen to develop a representative role, commenting on Government legislation through our working parities and through our places on the Law Society of Scotland’s council.

“Our group now represents about 20% of the profession and by increasing our profile we hope eventually to be able to implement ideas such as developing a skills register of our members.”

The group’s series of seminars for the year ahead have attracted a high calibre of speakers, including Professor Karl Mackie of the Centre for Dispute Resolution who will talk about managing the in-house legal department in September. Sessions on employment law, data protection and a talk on sports law at Hampden Park are among the other highlights of the coming months. Membership is free and anyone interested in joining is invited to contact Lorna Davies at the Society.

Perhaps less well-known is ECLA, the European Company Lawyers Association, drawn from members of 13 of the EU states of which Colin Anderson is the Scottish board member.

The group was founded in the 1980s as a direct result of a ruling by the European Court in the AM& S case where legal privilege was limited for in-house lawyers in relation to EU competition matters. As a consequence, the legal departments of a number of companies have been subject to dawn raids by Commission investigators.

“The idea of legal privilege is sacred to all lawyers who practise Scots law, subject to a code of ethics. As a result of that ruling we don’t have that privilege and that is what ECLA was started to fight for. In essence we don’t have the same independence, the suggestion made by the ruling is that our first day is to our company, not our profession. But I’m bound by the same code of conduct set out by the Law Society of Scotland.

“ECLA aims to establish a level playing field with lawyers in private practice. Representations have been made to the European Parliament and they recently voted in favour of extending the right to in-house lawyers. Ironically, in-house lawyers employed by the European Commission do enjoy legal privilege.

There are plans for ECLA to launch a website and publish an annual law digest, containing a collection of articles relevant to lawyers in Europe.

Looking ahead he is clear about the challenges that take priority as legal managers at Standard Life.

“We must further develop our relationship with customers, provide what they want not what you think they might want. To this end, we must exploit technology. The Internet has changed, and will continue to change, legal work and research, but at the same time we must keep a handle on costs.

“Harmonisation with Europe hasn’t gone as far or as quick as some people expected, but the euro will affect some of our operations. We know there is a great competitive advantage in being ready to work in the global market.”

Colin Anderson seems sure to be able to adapt to most changes in business and legal culture.

“When I started, the question of fees was hardly mentioned. Now you have to be up-front and it’s one of the first questions I ask when negotiating with external lawyers. People never seem in the least bit concerned.”