Law firm Browne Jacobson has appointed leading General Counsel (GC), Anneliese Reinhold as the first Non-Executive Chair of its corporate sectoral strategy board, the first of several sector-driven appointments.

Working closely with partner Declan Cushley who leads the firm’s corporate sector market group, Anneliese will bring strategic commercial, regulatory, legal and governance expertise to support the firm and its lawyers in driving the firm’s corporate sector strategy.

Anneliese, who qualified as a corporate lawyer in Australia in 1989, has worked with a diverse client base that includes start-ups, high growth businesses, large global listed and non-listed companies, spanning across Europe, the Middle East, USA and Australasia both as a General Counsel and a City law firm Partner. She is the former Chairman of the global Board of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), the world’s largest in-house counsel organization (45,000 members in 85 countries), until August this year was the most senior female executive of leading multi-billion turnover telecoms operator, du; is a founding investor and member of the Investment Committee at specialist tech ‘Micro-VC’, Dubai Angel Investors; and is also a Member of Council for the Institute of Directors (IOD); and member of the advisory Board at the high growth Legaltech startup App4Legal. She is described as a ‘bastion for diversity’ by The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist: Middle East, has been profiled as the one of the Middle East & Africa’s 20 leading women in the ICT sector, and has featured in LegalEra’s definitive guide, World’s Best General Counsel.

This appointment endorses the firm’s commitment to making the legal profession more diverse and inclusive. It also follows on from its official partnership with O Shaped in May 2022, an innovative movement with a mission to drive positive change within the legal sector.

In 2021, the firm also launched its revolutionary FAIRE (Fairer Access into Real Experience) initiative which aimed to change the way law firms recruit future talent and grow an industry-wide culture of inclusivity. FAIRE aims to support social mobility, offering students equal access to work experience that can pave the way for a career in the legal sector. It led to the firm being named the UK’s number one social mobility employer.

Speaking on the appointment, Declan Cushley, said: “We are delighted to have someone with Anneliese’s wealth of experience join us.

“Anneliese’s appointment and the future NED appointments reflect our commitment to re-think the traditional lawyer/client relationship. Anneliese and our other NEDs will help challenge our approach, supporting and influencing change.”

Browne Jacobson senior partner, Caroline Green added: “Anneliese’s track record as a senior board member is impressive and inspiring. We have worked hard over the past few years to build a more inclusive culture within our business and beyond, so it is fantastic to welcome Anneliese to our business sector board as well as three further female Non Executives in the near future.”

On joining Browne Jacobson, Anneliese commented: “Browne Jacobson have an excellent reputation for going the extra mile for their clients and for giving clear high quality legal advice on complex projects, but they are also a firm who have a real appetite for innovation and doings things differently. They recognise the need for the legal landscape to change and become more relevant to their clients and the sectors they serve; they are well versed in delivering advice to their clients in a pragmatic and straightforward way, but they are also recognised experts in those sectors too. I am excited to be supporting the firm in developing their approach.”