Helena Samaha is set to join the London office of DLA Piper
London – 24 May – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – Helena Samaha, who ran one of the most successful in-house legal departments in the UK while at Virgin Group, is set to join the London office of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary (“DLA Piper”).
Helena was with Virgin for seven years and held the position of Group Legal Director before leaving early this year. While at Virgin Helena managed a wide variety of group-wide legal issues, which included handling the legal work on new ventures and ongoing business requirements, both in the UK and overseas, as well as overseeing the group’s relationship with its external lawyers. She was responsible for the group’s radical but successful legal panel overhaul in 2001, which reduced the number of law firms used from over 50 to a panel of 11 in order to create the optimum service for Virgin subsidiaries.
In addition, Helena acted as legal advisor to the Virgin Management Board and Group Trustees on a number of legal risk and corporate structure matters, and she took the lead on numerous transactions.
Helena’s appointment will strengthen DLA Piper’s commercial team and she will help to build the international business partnering practice.
Commenting on Helena’s appointment, Nigel Knowles, Managing Partner at DLA Piper said: “Her experience as general counsel will be of enormous value to us. Helena has a wealth of knowledge on the dynamics of this role and the establishment of panels, which is of huge importance in all large corporations. I know she will make a significant contribution to the business across several areas.”
Helena officially joins DLA Piper as partner in September 2005.
