Dentons chooses ex-RBS executive as UKMEA managing director

Global legal firm Dentons has announced the appointment of Lisa Sewell as managing director for the UK & Middle East region, replacing Brandon Ransley, who retired earlier this year.

Ms Sewell, who has over 20 years' experience in driving business performance and change in multinational organisations, arrives following 10 years working with the Royal Bank of Scotland on its turnaround, undertaking senior management roles, most recently as director of shared operations, leading a global team of 7,500 across the UK, India and Poland. Prior to working with RBS, she was head of strategic analysis at Lehman Mortgage Capital, and drove the operational integration of Energis and Cable & Wireless after starting her career with management consultancy group, PA Consulting.

She commented: "The UK & Middle East region of Dentons has come a very long way in a short period of time – over the past three years we have opened new offices in Watford and Jeddah, launched our Warsaw shared services centre, merged with Maclay Murray & Spens and hired over 30 new partners into the business, all while playing a part in driving and integrating the huge global growth Dentons has experienced in the process of becoming the world's largest law firm with over 9,000 lawyers in 70 countries.

"I am looking forward to bringing all of this together so that we can become more efficient and integrated as a business, and more responsive to clients' demands for a different style of service that delivers, and is seen to deliver, value at all stages."

UK & Middle East CEO Jeremy Cohen added: "Lisa is a highly experienced and impressive executive with a strong history of managing and delivering change, and I am delighted to welcome her to the firm. She brings to the table professional management skills, experience of simplifying businesses and making them more efficient – including digitisation and the smarter use of technology, a highly inclusive approach to building rapport with a diverse set of stakeholders, and a proven track record of developing and delivering on pragmatic and commercial strategies."