What the business wants from legal in 2023

What do business leaders want from their legal team? We decided to ask them. Top-level executives from Trustpilot, Cazoo, GoCardless, USV and more share their thoughts on how legal can enable them to do their best work.

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What's inside?

C-suite leaders with experience at companies like Trustpilot, Cazoo, GoCardless, Funding Circle, and more share their thoughts on what makes a strong legal team, what they expect from their legal colleagues - and how to avoid poor collaboration.

Intro

What does the business need from legal?

Michael Haynes, General Counsel at Juro, introduces this eBook with a look at the ever-evolving legal role, and the things he's learned from his experience at scaleups like Cazoo, RVU and Zoopla Group.

Michael Haynes is the General Counsel at Juro, bringing over a decade of legal expertise to the team. Since joining in 2022, Michael has led Juro’s legal function, supporting the platform’s mission to empower businesses with intelligent contract automation. 

As a two-time customer prior to joining Juro, Michael occupies a key role in helping to guide product strategy to meet the needs of time-crunched legal teams looking to agree contracts faster.

An experienced in-house lawyer, Michael has a strong track record in tech, intellectual property, and data protection law, making him a critical asset to high-growth digital companies. Previously, Michael was Group Head of Legal at Cazoo, where he helped navigate the company’s rapid expansion and led its legal operations. He also held senior legal roles at RVU and ZPG, focusing on commercial law and compliance in innovative digital settings. Michael began his career at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as a trainee and then associate.

Known for his pragmatic approach and collaborative mindset, Michael ensures that Juro remains compliant, forward-looking, and resilient in the fast-evolving legal tech landscape.

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Chapter 1

How legal can enable sales

One of many tasks that may fall into legal’s in-tray include enabling sales to close deals faster. How can lawyers get started? In this section we get the latest from leaders in high-powered sales teams at Funnel and Farewill, to learn about what they really want from legal.

James Ireson is the Chief Revenue Officer at Funnel.io where he is responsible for the go-to-market strategy and leads a revenue team of 150 people. James has also held a recent role at The National College as the Interim GTM and Operations Leader.

James has also gained go-to-market experience in several other companies, including Zendesk and Bloomberg.

Jenny Zhao is the Chief Operating Officer at Farewill, where she previously held the role of Chief Commercial Officer.

Before joining Farewill, Jenny was the VP International at Bulb, the UK's largest green energy supplier.

Jenny also has several awards, including The Drum 50 under 30 which celebrates the innovative young women making strides in digital, and the Above and Beyond Award issued by Manning Gottlieb.

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Chapter 2

How legal can enable finance

Legal and finance often end up working closely together at a high-growth scaleup - especially when it comes to funding rounds, contracts, and negotiations with customers or merchants. How can legal empower finance to work as effectively as possible? We asked CFOs at GoCardless and Topi.

Catherine Birkett is the Chief Financial Officer at GoCardless where she leads the finance team and is part of the executive team. Before joining GoCardless, Catherine held the CFO role at Interoute, where she was part of the management team which grew revenue, completed several acquisitions, and sold the business.

Keji Ajayi is the Chief Financial Officer at Topi, where she is an experienced finance executive and specializes in credit and corporate finance.

Keji is also an advisor for a variety of tech startups where she supports on areas like complex debt financing transactions, credit analysis, and more.

Keji has an MBA from INSEAD and has completed several other qualifications, including at Imperial College London, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, and Morgan State University.

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Chapter 3

How legal can enable marketing

Marketing teams at scaling businesses need to move fast - so what can in-house lawyers do to support them? We quizzed marketing leaders with experience at Cognism and Spendesk on their thoughts around effective legal and marketing collaboration.

Alice De Courcy is the Chief Marketing Officer at Cognism Group where she runs marketing across multiple territories and brands. Prior to joining Cognism, Alice held roles as the Marketing Manager at Juro, and a Senior Marketing Executive at Thomson Reuters Legal UK & Ireland. Alice has also published a book documenting her journey: "Diary of a first-time CMO".

Stephanie Bowker is the CMO at Defacto, and a fractional part-time CMO in partnership with FinTech companies ranging from Seed to Series B funding. Before becoming the CMO at Defacto, Stephanie founded Ourspace, and was the VP of Marketing at Spendesk where she was promoted from Head of Marketing.

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Chapter 4

How legal can enable people and talent

As the business grows, they ramp up hiring. More hires equal more contracts - and that’s just one area where legal and people & talent work together. What other projects do they collaborate on? And what do people & talent professionals at world-class businesses, like Truspilot and Cazoo, want from legal?

Donna Murray Vilhelmsen is the Chief People Officer at Trustpilot where she has used her expertise in HR and performance management to prepare the company for pivotal transitions, including the preparation for IPO. Before joining Trustpilot, Donna held roles as VP Human Resources at COWI and Senior HR Manager at Svitzer. Donna also has a Bachelor in HR Management from the University of South Australia.

Veronica Sharma is the former Group Chief People Officer at Cazoo, and an Operating Advisor for Warburg Pincus LLC, a leading global growth investor with more than $83bn assets under management.

Veronica is a trusted advisor having previously held roles at organizations such as Photobox, Moonpig Group, eBay, and Heathrow.

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Chapter 5

How legal can enable engineering

Behind every SaaS scaleup, there’s a product and engineering team, working tirelessly to build the best product for their customers. How can legal enable engineering to work more efficiently? And what does that collaboration look like?

Mark Flowers is the Chief Technology Officer at Juro, where he leads the development of Juro's intelligent contract automation. 

Mark joined Juro in 2022, leading and scaling the engineering department across several countries to enable rapid iteration and development of cutting-edge legal technology, powered by generative AI.

Before Juro, Mark served as VP of Engineering at Aircall, a leading cloud-based phone system company, where he guided engineering teams to enhance voice solutions for seamless business communication. Prior to that, he was the Engineering Director at Condeco, a global leader in workplace technology solutions, where he played a key role in expanding the product's capabilities and user base over his five-year tenure. With a career that includes senior roles at BT, Macrovision, and Merrill Lynch, Mark brings a wealth of experience in building reliable, scalable technology platforms.

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Chapter 6

How legal can enable investors and the Board

Legal teams sit at the heart of most funding rounds - managing relationships between founders, the wider business, and of course investors and the Board. What do investors at Eight Roads and Union Square Ventures expect from legal at a scaling business? Find out in this section.

Alston Zecha is a Partner at Eight Roads, a global venture capital firm with more than 50 years of experience. In his role, Alston supports the boards and management teams of Eight Roads' portfolio companies on strategic, financial and operational issues.

John Buttrick is a partner at Union Square Ventures (USV), a venture capital firm based in New York City. John started his career as a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell, a white-shoe international law firm.

Before joining USV, John had a wealth of experience supporting startups as either an investor, director, managing partner, or consultant.

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Chapter 7

How legal can enable the CEO

What impact can legal have on the top-level execs of the business? We asked the CEOs at Super Payments, Yoto and Juro. In this section, they share their top tips on how legal can enable them to scale their businesses successfully.

Ben Drury is the Co-founder and CEO at Yoto, an interactive audio platform for kids. Alongside his role, Ben has also held several roles as a Non Executive Director, including at Marmealade, Intercede, and Pimoroni. He has also been an angel investor in companies like Permutive and Causaly. Ben has had plenty of experience working with lawyers throughout his career across all of these roles.

Samir Desai CBE is the CEO and founder of Super Payments, and the CEO and Co-Founder of Funding Circle, the largest online small business loan provider in the UK. Before starting his businesses, Samir was a Management Consultant to global retail banks, investment companies, and private equity firms for The Boston Consulting Group.

Richard Mabey is the CEO and co-founder of Juro, the intelligent contract automation platform. Under his leadership, Juro has scaled rapidly, backed by $38 million in venture funding from prominent investors including Eight Roads, USV, Point Nine Capital and Seedcamp, and the founders of companies like Indeed, Gumtree and Wise.

Richard trained and qualified at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, working as an M&A associate in London and New York. He gained an MBA from INSEAD, and then spent time at LegalZoom, learning to build legal tech products.

Frustrated by the manual legal processes that slow down businesses, Richard co-founded Juro in 2016, with a mission to help the world agree contracts faster. Beyond Juro, he hosts the "Brief Encounters" podcast, makes angel investments, and supports other ambitious ventures from the boardroom. Richard is a Fellow of the RSA, an adviser to The Entrepreneurs Network and sits as a Non-executive Director of Bright Blue.

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