Liverpool Law Mar 2017

Interview
Lawyer in Lights
Martyn Rodmell
Head of Legal, Princes Foods
This month’s Lawyer in
Lights is Martyn Rodmell,
Group Legal Counsel and
Head of the Legal Team at
Princes Group.
Princes is a local treasure, an
historic company established
in Liverpool in 1880 and has
developed into an
international food and drinks
company involved in the
manufacture and distribution
of branded and customer own
brand products sold
throughout the UK and
internationally.
I had an introduction to the
portfolio of leading brands,
including many household
names, when I had the
opportunity to interview
Martyn at Princes head offices
in the Royal Liver Building.
Princes are based on the 5th &
6th floors, within the Royal
Liver Building and enjoy
amazing views over the River
Mersey.
Princes has a far reaching
supply chain to provide raw
materials for its global
operation. For example fruit
imported from Spain,
sweetcorn, chicken and
pineapple from Thailand,
corned beef from Brazil and
tomatoes from Italy to name
but a few. These foods are
processed and sold to markets
in the UK and Ireland,
mainland Europe and beyond.
Martyn joined Princes in
October 2000 having started
his career in private practice
but moved in-house early in
his career. Before joining
Princes he worked as Head of
Legal at Lex Vehicle Leasing
based in Sale. As well as the
exciting prospect of setting up
a legal team, as a Formby man
there was the added bonus he
was able to give up the commute
when he moved to take up the
post in Liverpool.
When Martyn joined Princes he
worked with one colleague, who
carried out a Company
Secretarial role. Martyn has
grown the legal team which now
consists of 4 solicitors, a
chartered legal executive and a
trainee. One member of the
legal team, an Italian advocate,
is based at Princes offices in
Southern Italy.
Martyn’s main role is the overall
management and supervision of
the legal department and is keen
for the team to develop
relationships direct with their
internal clients consisting of
Directors and managers. As well
as being head of the legal
department and on the Brexit
committee, he is also Secretary
to the Compliance Committee.
Princes operates a strict Code of
Conduct with a commitment to
high standards and puts
compliance at the forefront of
the way it does business. The
legal department handles most
of the legal work of the
company with support from
external lawyers for some
foreign work in overseas
jurisdictions.
Martyn stressed to me the
importance of in-house lawyers
understanding the business they
support, its priorities and
business plans and being
personally organised as well as
knowing the work within the
pipeline and being able to
manage the unexpected. With a
company of this size, Princes
invests heavily in plant and
equipment with the legal team
ensuring that the Company
contracts on approved terms and
conditions. This part of the
legal team is headed up by my
Assistant Group Legal Counsel,
who has two legal managers
reporting to her. The legal team
also approves marketing
material to ensure that it is fully
compliant with rules and
regulations both here in the UK
and where relevant in Europe.
This responsibility rests with the
Senior Legal Manager who has
a trainee working with her.
The work the team carries out
means that members of the team
need have an understanding, as
a minimum of English Law, and
a working knowledge of the
principal Civil Codes in
mainland Europe. I did ask
Martyn if all of the contracts
came through in English and he
confirmed not, the team can
translate French and German
but given the difficulties with
language differences, they are
more likely to instruct external
lawyers for Polish matters.
The Italian Advocate, deals with
legal and operational work
relating to Princes’ operation in
Italy and French retailers Terms
& Conditions.
All in-house lawyers I have
spoken to, have stressed that inhouse
is not an easy option.
Martyn’s day starts shortly after
8am and he generally does not
leave the office until around
7pm and keeps fit by running in
the evenings. He is married with
two grown up children. His wife
is a Chartered Accountant. His
son is currently at Liverpool
University doing a Business
Degree, and his daughter is a
Junior Doctor.
I asked Martyn, generally, if he
got much opportunity to travel
given that Princes has factories
and offices across the UK and
overseas, from Glasgow to
Chichester as well as Poland,
France, Italy and Mauritius.
Martyn does travel a little
around the offices and
factories but Princes’ operates
a sustainability policy and
meetings are more likely to be
held by videoconference.
I asked Martyn if he agreed
in-house legal teams should
time record to show their value
to the company? Martyn is
definitely anti time recording!
He feels that there is no
difference between
implementing a time recording
policy in a legal department
from a finance department.
Also he wouldn’t want to
discourage people approaching
the legal department for help,
in the fear of the cost it would
incur, and in any event, he
cannot see the value of time
sheets to the company. A
successful legal team can
demonstrate its value to the
business without the necessity
of time sheets. A very clear
answer.
I was a bit astonished at the
amount of work the team
covered and how they were
able to be informed enough to
communicate across different
jurisdiction. Martyn pointed
out that the team has to be
cost effective to the company
and work closely together.
My last question was “what is
the best part about the job?”
The answer being “working as
a team” and of course the
social events which he told me
were particularly good!
Sylvia Shepherd
DLA Piper
www.liverpoollawsociety.org.uk
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