Oliver D. Email & Phone Number

London, Gb

London, England

The Commercial and Private banking franchise brings together UK market leading businesses and brands including Lombard and Coutts serving commercial enterprises - including large corporates - and the complex needs of wealthy individuals. The bank is the largest lender to SMEs in the country and in 2017 was awarded best UK Private bank at the Global Private Banking Awards for the 6th year in a row. In addition to its UK operations the franchise operates in 8 other European jurisdictions.I also cover the RBS International business which offers a range of offshore banking services to personal, business, commercial and financial intermediary companies. The operation has its headquarters in Jersey but also has presence in London, Luxembourg, Guernsey, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man.In total the business employees c.14,000 employees and I am the sole dedicated employee relations specialist supporting the entire franchise across all the jurisdictions in which it operates.The work I undertake is varied ranging from dealing with individual employee issues in a variety of countries to providing input and support on divestments (such as the divestment of the Coutts International business in Switzerland and Hong Kong), joint ventures, the establishment of new fintech enterprises and/or working with these to acquisitions. The bank has gone through a period of considerable change and restructuring activity has been at the forefront of activity and I have had a significant role to play in that from both advising on strategy and approach to chairing meetings with unions in the UK and European Works Council and advising on the strategy for consultation elsewhere in Europe.I also provide direct support to Directors of the division on a variety of issued including regulatory investigations and consequential investigations into employee conduct.I am highly regarded for my pragmatic, commercial advice and ability to find options and solutions to resolve issues.

I was promoted to head up the global employment law practice in 2012 and had oversight of the work of the internal employment legal team.Highlights include:-Spending almost a year working on the regulatory investigation and consequential investigation into employee conduct following a major IT failing at the bank which had significant regulatory and reputational impact.Involvement in a further high profile regulatory investigation into LIBOR.Developing template employment legal document for use in global outsourcing transactions including providing guidance notes and also fallback positions for commonly negotiated positions together with training on these.

I joined the Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest Group in the aftermath of the acquisition (with 2 other banks) of ABM Amro and the financial crisis. As a result of its acquisition RBS inherited a significant EMEA presence with over 20,000 employees in many jurisdictions from France and Germany to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. There were no in-house employment legal support in any of these jurisdictions. Highlights include:-Setting up an external employment legal panel for each country and agreeing ways of working with a part of the business which was used to a very different way of operating (local autonomy as opposed to central decision making and reporting) .Working on the merging of 2 banking entities into a single legal entity in what is believed to be the biggest cross border merger that has taken place implanting 28,000 employees in 44 jurisdictions and managing a team working on that. Working on significant change projects and divestments in multiple jurisdictions including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, UAE, Netherlands and the UK

Nortel was formerly the world's largest telecommunications company prior to entering into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US and Administration arrangements in Europe in 2009 (which was my reason for leaving) During my time there I was solely responsible for handling employment law related matters and initiatives in EMEA and was also involved in global projects and initiatives.Highlights include:-Being Chairman and Trustee Director of the Nortel Networks Employee Benefits Trust.Handling the employment legal aspects globally of multi billion dollar mergers, acquisitions and sale projects including advising on the strategy, overseeing and managing the input (and costs) of external legal advisers in multiple jurisdictions.

During my time at UBS I provided the full range of employment legal support from contentious to non contentious matters to multiple parts of the business including providing sole over for the UBS wealth business in the UK. The opportunity at Nortel that arose provided me with an unmissable opportunity to broaden my knowledge in terms of both industry sector and breadth of international work.

I joined McDermott Will and Emery shortly after it opened its London office (being its first office outside of the US).Outside of the usual employment law advice that is expected of a full service law firm highlights included assisting both US colleagues and US companies developing a greater understanding of operating outside of the US and the differences of operation in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.I spent almost 9 months in total during my time at the firm working in house in the legal department of J Sainsbury plc which not only resulted in them being a significant client for the employment practice but also fuelled my desire to further my career as an in house lawyer.

I started my qualified career at Edge Ellison which was one of the "big four" Law firms in Birmingham before merging with Hammond Suddard solicitors in 2000 to become the 11th largest firm in the UK (this firm has subsequently merged with the US law firm Squire Sanders).During my time I developed an interest and specialist expertise in employment legal work on corporate mergers and acquisitions which led to me being seen as the person to involve on such projects.I also rather unusually obtained an injunction to restrain secondary picketing for a client.I moved when the opportunity arose to join a US law firm in London with the attraction of more internationally focussed clients and work.