Lessons I Learned in Law

Ailsa Longmuir on how lawyers are business enablers, not blockers

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Episode notes

In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Scott Brown speaks to Ailsa Zoya Longmuir, General Counsel for Centrica Energy Marketing & Trading and Centrica Business Solutions.  Ailsa has been with Centica for 12 years and is responsible for all Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Affairs matters for these business units globally. She is a  leading Executive Sponsor for Diversity & Inclusion and Charitable Initiatives and is also chairwoman of Centrica Energy Trading A/S’ board. 

Ailsa shares the three lessons she’s learned in law including:

·      Isolate the issue. Try to advise the business on what they need to know, rather than overdelivering with unnecessary information. 

·      Ask why!  You need to fully understand the business and its goals in order to effectively advise. 

·      Trust your instincts. If you have a gut feeling about something, it is quite often correct! 

 

Ailsa explains the structure of the legal team at Centrica, and why she thinks legal teams are integral to the success of the business they’re advising. Including the legal team in decision making will ‘improve their commerciality in the long run, and give them the ability to come up with more creative legal solutions to make what the business wants to happen, happen’. 

 

Ailsa also reveals the impact that the Russia-Ukraine war has had on Centrica as a business and the energy market more broadly. 

 

Presented by Scott Brown of Heriot Brown Legal Recruitment. 

 

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