Mary is an experienced General Counsel who has held senior in-house roles with Starbucks Coffee Company, Arcadia Group (Topshop, Topman and other high-street fashion brands) and Harrods Group (advising Harrods department store, Kurt Geiger shoes and Fulham FC).
She has considerable experience advising businesses expanding internationally (including in the USA, Italy and the UK) and providing legal leadership on flagship retail development projects
Mary is skilled at distilling complex issues into straightforward, pragmatic solutions. With experience working within retail, fashion, food & beverage, and consumer goods businesses, she provides advice, leadership and strategic support on a General Counsel-like basis advising on commercial contracts, franchising, licensing and distribution agreements, and employee and third-party disputes, pulling in specialist counsel where needed.
Expertise
- General Counsel support – supporting boards and leadership teams in delivery of a business’ strategic goals
- Planning and project leadership – advising at the start of a project, staying embedded as part of the commercial team through to delivery, issue spotting, and appointing and managing relevant legal resource
- Internal and external legal resource design, managing delivery of legal services
- International expansion – licensing, franchising, distribution, and equity-owned
- Acquisition and integrations of businesses
- Working with boards and leadership teams on strategic projects, governance and stakeholder management
- Commercial contracts –franchising & licensing agreements, buying and selling goods and services (NDAs, consultancy, marketing, sponsorship, concessions, outsourcing)
- Dispute resolution – strategy, negotiating commercial settlements, managing external counsel, advice on exiting from pre-existing relationships
- Real estate portfolios -managing complex development projects, appointing specialist counsel
Experience
General Counsel/In-House Legal Support
- Advised owners of UK multi-site/omnichannel retailer – board governance, advice on insolvency & restructuring issues, senior hires and exits, corporate reorganisation, advertising & labelling, and commercial contracts.
- Advised a US snack food brand on supplier agreements and distribution strategies.
- Panel firm reviews and review of legal support model.
Retail
- Expansion of the Topshop and Topman brands into the US through the opening of directly owned flagship stores and e-commerce channels (leases, construction projects, distribution agreements, intellectual property, local employment contracts and terns, putting local advisors in place).
- International expansion of Arcadia brands and Starbucks through licensing, franchising, concessions, online marketplaces, ecommerce.
- Advised Starbucks on entry into the Italian market with the construction of its flagship “Reserve Roastery”, a complex construction project to build a 25,000 sq ft manufacturing plant and high-end flagship store and customer experience in a listed flagship building in the centre of Milan (creation of legal entities, appointment of local advisors, negotiations with the institutional landlord for the building lease, planning, permitting, distribution, supply chain and warehousing, tax, financing, employment, events and marketing).
- Grant of development rights for the Starbucks brand in France, Italy, Germany, Benelux, Slovakia, Middle East and South Africa.
- Ongoing relationship management of licensees across UK, Europe, Middle East, and South Africa – resolving disputes, managing licensee insolvency, protecting licensor interests, reputation management and addressing working practices.
- Providing in-house leadership and support on M&A projects including:
- sale of a 150-store German business and grant of development rights
- sale of 25% of Topshop/Topman businesses to a US-based private equity firm.
- preparing the Kurt Geiger business for a sale to a private equity-backed management buyout
- Advised on bankruptcy and financial restructuring of master franchisees (holding territorial licences) and joint venture companies, and advising on termination strategies.
- Managed supplier insolvency and advised on termination strategies.
- Advised the board and shareholders of one of Starbucks’ joint ventures, tasked with scaling a new start-up brand globally. Investor management, funding rounds and ultimately a sale of Starbucks’ shareholding to one of the JV partners.
Intellectual Property
- Worked with external counsel to manage trademark prosecutions internationally to secure trademarks for the Topshop, Topman and Burton brands as part of their international expansion.
- Negotiated amendments to trademark co-existence agreements.
- Trademark & design rights disputes – negotiating direct commercial settlements with counterparts.
Regulatory
- Provided leadership within Starbucks on its response to a competitor’s misleading advertising campaign, appointing counsel and achieving a swift takedown and settlement.
- Provided leadership within Starbucks on global public recalls, balancing health & safety requirements, contractual commitments and financial loss.
- H&SE investigations –appointing specialist counsel and managing in-house.
Germany
- Grant of development rights for the Starbucks brand in France, Italy, Germany, Benelux, Slovakia, Middle East and South Africa.
- Providing in-house leadership and support on M&A projects including: sale of the 150-store German business and grant of development rights sale of 25% of Topshop/Topman businesses to US-based private equity firm.
Recognition
Named on The Lawyer’s Hot 100 lists 2009 & 2018
Career
Mary qualified as a solicitor in 1999. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2023, she worked at the following organisations
- Starbucks Coffee Company
- Arcadia Group
- Harrods Group (including Kurt Geiger & Fulham Football Club)
- Herbert Smith