Italy: abrdn Investments Ireland Limited, Italiana Branch. Via Dante 16, 6 th Floor, 20121 Milan, Italy. Codice Fiscale/Partita IVA IT10519210966 – Codice Fatturazione Elettronica: USAL8PV; PEC abrdninvestmentsil@legalmail.it Iscritta nel Registro delle Imprese di Milano (n. 10519210966), R.E.A. MI – 2537761. Iscritta nell`Elenco delle Imprese di Investimento Comunitarie con Succursale tenuto dalla CONSOB (n. 171). Standard Life Group GC to assume the highest legal role at Standard Life Aberdeen next month Neither Standard Life nor Aberdeen Asset Management operates a formal panel of external law firms. Standard is known for using Life Slaughter and May and Addleshaw Goddard, while Aberdeen Asset Management also works with Slaughters as well as Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens.

While Standard Life itself does not have an official list of external law firms, the asset management division Standard Life Investments uses a panel of five firms Addleshaw Goddard, CMS, Herbert Smith Freehills, Maples Teesdale and Shepherd and Wedderburn, which were reviewed last summer. There was a significant difference in the legal culture between India and the UK. „There are no big differences today, but back then there was a reasonable difference in professionalism and use of technology. In India, law firms were more family-run and very traditional, while in the UK, law firms were highly professionalised. It was a more structured environment. When he joined the FTSE 100-listed manager and before the merger with Aberdeen Asset Management, the legal function was numbered in the mid-60s. The team was structured according to a multi-company group model, where the legal team split and focused on specific parts of Standard Life`s business. Slaughter and May supports Standard Life Aberdeen`s in-house legal team, led by Rushad Abadan (Group General Counsel) and consisting of Fiona McGowan (Co-Head of Legal SLA and Head of Legal UK) and Alison Rennie (Head of Platforms and Wealth, SLA Legal). He remembers a mixture of excitement and worry about his move, but says, „I`m reasonably open to calculated risks. It seemed like a great opportunity to work in one of the most important jurisdictions in the world. I wanted to see if I could do it.

The need for an external panel is also negated by the amount of work done internally, with Abadan saying, „We are reasonably self-sufficient. As far as BAU`s work is concerned, it is usually a tailor-made fund formation and investment advisory activity, for which we work externally. However, Standard Life Aberdeen challenged the decision, saying last May that Lloyds had no right to withdraw the mandate. Despite the difficulties, Abadan loves his role. „It`s a huge privilege to be general counsel in a firm like this, and I never take that for granted. Being chief legal counsel to the board is only one aspect of it. However, due to the work to ensure the success of the merger, as well as the company`s immediate growth plans, the size of the in-house legal team is expected to remain largely unchanged in the short to medium term. Since the merger, Abadan says the legal team structure has remained largely the same, in addition to being „much more international now“ as Aberdeen has brought significant capabilities to the U.S. and Asia Pacific. In the meantime, the team has grown to about 140 people. Rushad Abadan always knew what he wanted to do with his life. „I always had the idea of becoming a lawyer, already in school.

I was one of those people who knew their career path early on. Luckily for me, it worked. The new Standard Life Aberdeen does not have a formal external advisory board, which Abadan says is mainly due to the fact that neither company had one before the merger. However, without going so far as to call it a formal review of consultants, he confirms that the company is „in the process of looking at our portfolio of companies on both sides and deciding which companies we want to continue working with.“ Keith Skeoch, Managing Director of Standard Life Aberdeen, said: „Now that the arbitral tribunal has ruled in our favour, we will carefully consider our next steps and work constructively with Lloyds to resolve the issue.“ The in-house legal department of the new company will be divided into two main teams, one for asset management and the other for the retirement and savings part of the company, each with about sixty lawyers. Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) has won a legal battle against Lloyds (LLOY) decision to dismiss the group of funds as a pension investment manager for Scottish Widows clients worth £100 billion. After the deal was announced, the company said it planned to cut about 800 jobs as a result of the merger, with savings also expected by cutting legal, attorney and consulting fees. We reserve the right to monitor the use and content of emails sent and received by us to ensure compliance with our own messaging policies and to identify and address any illegal or abusive use of our systems. We add hyperlinks from the pages of this website to third-party websites that you wish to visit. We do not review these websites or control their content.