Weightmans has appointed a dedicated ESG Manager and General Counsel.
National law firm Weightmans has appointed a dedicated ESG Manager and General Counsel, as it seeks to become a Top 30 law firm.
Abhay Srivastava, who has over 13 years’ experience, has joined Weightmans from Shell where he spent the last five years to help the firm better integrate environmental, social and governance factors into its operations.
During this time he worked both as an Assurance Manager within Shell’s real estate function, before taking a role with the Shell Foundation. His most recent role involved incubating new businesses, providing business and ESG impact strategy support to portfolio start-ups and driving policy improvement and advocacy projects. Prior to this, Abhay also held roles with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages in India and IBM.
Abhay is a qualified engineer with a postgraduate degree in sustainability. His experience includes Health, Safety & Environment management systems, sustainability reporting, ESG risk management and assurance/governance processes.
Abhay also serves on the board of directors for two early-stage social businesses in sustainable fashion segment and healthcare respectively.
Commenting on his new role, Abhay said: “The importance of ESG across all businesses and functions continues to grow, so in my new position with Weightmans I will be focusing on integrating these fundamentals into the company’s operating model and business strategy to lay the foundations for Weightmans to be an environmentally and socially conscious law firm. I will be working closely with internal stakeholders to ensure that we are providing the best resources and capabilities for our people, and most importantly our clients.”
Further to this, Weightmans has appointed James Holman as General Counsel and to its board as Strategic Head of Risk.
James joined Weightmans in 1989, qualifying as a solicitor in 1992 before becoming a partner in 1997. He has nearly three decades of experience of personal indemnity claims and extensive experience of alternative dispute resolution.
He has spent the last eighteen years in his role as Head of Compliance, managing a team of 20 and taking ultimate responsibility for data protection, audit, supplier management, compliance and anti-money laundering. Through his new additional position as General Counsel, he will be better placed to advise the firm on potential risks and help to mitigate areas of concern for clients.
James commented: “Following a successful four years leading the risk and compliance functions, I am looking forward to taking up this important new role as General Counsel. Being on the Board will ensure that risks are considered from the very beginning of strategic decision-making and can help ensure both clients and our internal stakeholders have the most relevant advice. The position also mirrors that which a number of our clients have within their corporate structures, so this will allow us to more easily facilitate conversations with them and provide an even better service.”
These announcements follow the recent promotion of Stuart Whittle to Chief Innovation and Technology Officer.
John Schorah, Managing Partner at Weightmans, added: “These three new senior appointments highlight our continued commitment to excellence for our clients. Technology, ESG and risk are all cornerstones of a successful law practice, and we believe these new positions will help us to reach our ambitions of becoming a Top 30 law firm, while also helping to drive forward innovation in the sector as a whole. I would like to congratulate Abhay, James and Stuart on their new roles, and wish them every success in the future.”
