Meet The Team – With Group Legal Manager/Company Secretary Nicola Wignall Jennings

Nicola is Legal Manager/Company Secretary for Suttons Group, based at our Widnes office. Nicola is responsible for a wide variety of areas such reviewing new contracts and advising the HR department on employment law. Please read on for the full interview.

How long have you been at Suttons and can you describe your journey and progression within the company?

I have been at Suttons for six years in July. I joined as the first group lawyer the company had had for several years so there was lots of work to do in establishing legal governance, standards and procedures initially. I also took over responsibility for the insurance team when the Insurance Manager retired which was a significant undertaking.

During my time at Suttons, I have developed excellent working relationships with the Suttons Board, as well as the Commercial and HR teams who I work very closely with day to day. My legal knowledge base has increased during my time at Suttons particularly in relation to logistics and marine laws and practices.         

What does a typical day for Group Legal Manager/Company Secretary consist of?

A typical day is extremely busy and varied.  I am a commercial lawyer so most of my day to day work centres on reviewing all the contracts which the Group, Tankers and International enter into.  Most days I will be reviewing contracts and will have calls with the Commercial teams to provide feedback.  I provide employment law advice to HR so I liaise with the HR team most days. I also frequently have calls with the external lawyers that we use for certain legal matters. As a lawyer it is important to keep my skills and knowledge up to date, so I must undertake a lot of Continuing Professional Development and Research. I am also the company secretary for all the UK companies in the Group, so I have to undertake company administration most days.        

What have you recently achieved or been proud of in your professional life?

I am very proud of the new contracts we have entered into recently for BOC Cylinders, Nouryon, and Yorkshire Water.  I have also recently delivered TUPE training to HR and Commercial, as well as recently settling a legal matter with an excellent result for Suttons. 

What do you enjoy outside of work?

Outside of the ‘Covid-19 world’, I very much enjoy shopping and spin classes at the gym.