Hitachi Rail Europe set to hire its first GC

Hitachi Rail Europe is to hire its first ever general counsel, less than a year after the company revealed which firms had won places on its inaugural legal panel, reported The Lawyer. The new general counsel will sit on Hitachi Rail’s executive board, alongside global CEO Alistair Dormer, and will assume a co-secretarial role in time. To date, Hitachi Rail’s commercial lawyers have advised on matters involving contracts, suppliers and customers, in addition to outsourcing work to the company’s legal panel. However, the general counsel is expected to take responsibility for these tasks, due to the growing nature of the business. The recruitment process is currently underway.

In 2015 alone, Hitachi Rail’s in-house team has dealt with new contracts for Scot Rail and First Great Western, as well as the first traffic management contract in the UK. The move is intended to bulk up the company’s internal capability, after it appointed Addleshaw Goddard, Ashurst, DLA Piper, Eversheds, Shoosmiths and Stephenson Harwood to its first external legal panel last year. The panel was carried out by legal counsel Rachel Crosier at the end of December, who has since returned to former firm DLA Piper as an associate.