In the IHL seat
We are very pleased to introduce Duncan Vaughan, the Legal Director at Iceland Foods Limited as our second IHL x Pannone guest interview.
Iceland is one of Britain's fastest growing retailers. It was the first food retailer to join the Amazon Climate Pledge, achieved one of the most successful flotations ever seen on the London Stock Exchange and currently sits among the Sunday Times Best Places to Work (the only supermarket on the list). So, there was a lot to unpack (pun intended!). Having recently celebrated 10 years with Iceland, we asked Duncan to expand on his journey prior to his role as Head of Legal and Legal Director.
Duncan: Although I have spent many years in private practice, notably as a partner at Pannone, I have spent long periods of time in-house on secondment, for example at Manchester United, Marks & Spencer, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Iceland. During my career, I also acted for many large supermarket clients, so I knew the industry well and it was a natural transition to a permanent role in-house with Iceland.
Duncan recalled fondly that people often tell him how lucky he is to be in his role at Iceland. Whilst he wholeheartedly agrees, he shared with us that it makes him think of the famous quote by the South African golfer Gary Player “the harder I practise, the luckier I get” and that lots (almost 35 years’ worth) of hard work have resulted in securing his position.
Speaking of hard work, we asked Duncan the impossible question of trying to sum up a typical day in the life of an in-house lawyer at Iceland. Duncan punchily responded:
Duncan: Massively varied. Unlikely to do the same thing twice. Diary has to be flexible. And the common thread is that everything is urgent.
We continued on the topic of diary flexibility which can be a real challenge when managing a team of 75, answering to business stakeholders and acting as a confidant to the CEO of one of Britain’s most innovative retailers.
Duncan: Iceland is an international operation, and the legal team alone has grown from 15 to 75 people since I joined to enable us to service the growing demands of the business. It will of course be dependent on the business’ priorities, but my diary will often get rearranged. My role often requires me to travel, not least for the ongoing trade mark dispute with the Icelandic government, which has involved meetings in Reykjavik and hearings in Alicante (before the Grand Board of the EUIPO) and Luxembourg (before the European General Court). I expect this issue will also involve a further trip to Luxembourg for a final hearing before the European Court of Justice.
Iceland is owned by WD FF Limited which also owns Individual Restaurants (Piccolino, Restaurant Bar and Grill, Riva Blu, Forbici) and Inspired Global Cuisine Limited (formerly Iceland Manufacturing Limited). My team manages the legal affairs of every company within the WD FF group. As such, the areas we support, and the range of advice we provide, are vast.
Given the variety of work within the legal team, we asked Duncan what the biggest challenges that in-house lawyers face, in the retail or supermarket industry.
Duncan: It is undoubtedly the pace of change and ever-changing regulations; nothing stands still. There are often regulatory framework changes, for example the High Fat Salt and Sugars (HFSS) Regulations, so we must keep the business aware of its obligations and guide it towards commercially viable compliance solutions.
We asked Duncan with that in mind, how much competition with the ‘Big 4’ supermarkets and the challenger discount retailers of Aldi and Lidl, impact the legal team’s work.
Duncan: Retail is also one of the most fiercely competitive markets, with very tight margins. As the size of the market largely stays the same, you can only really grow by stealing market share from a competitor. To that end, we’re always trying new things, and the key is that, if we fail, we fail quickly. A business can waste endless time trying never to make a mistake; by analogy, you could spend billions building a machine to make sure a two pence coin always lands on heads, or, you could simply flip it twice. Iceland is the most fast-paced and entrepreneurial place I have worked, and I enjoy that.
Iceland’s entrepreneurial spirit is showcased by its impressive record of awards since its inception 55 years ago. It was also the first major retailer in the world to commit to eliminating plastic packaging from its own-label products and was the first supermarket to launch priority shopping periods for the elderly and vulnerable in response to Covid-19. It also continues to win countless customer and employee satisfaction awards.
However, with any resume as impressive as Iceland’s, must come challenges. We asked Duncan how important external communications and responses to the media are.
Duncan: This is, of course, a big part of what we do. We don’t allow incorrect or unfair press, so defending the brand and its reputation, if it is treated unfairly, is important to the business. We deal with reputational management swiftly and robustly by engaging internal and external teams.
We went on to discuss the fine balance between commercial objectives and legal risk, particularly given the pace of industry. We asked Duncan how his team handles the inevitable conflicts that will arise between the two.
Duncan: I always stress to the team that we are in the business of finding solutions, and I genuinely think we are perceived that way to the business. We accept that the business has priorities, and it is our job to help deliver those, de-risk them as much as possible, and then to fix problems if they arise.
It was clear that Duncan has enjoyed his time at Iceland, so we asked him about a legal achievement or challenge that stands out during his career. We briefly discussed Duncan’s first position post-qualification, in litigation, which he describes as a “baptism of fire” and, having survived that, nothing else has felt at all stressful since. Duncan shared with us that on his first day his boss informed him of the determining factor to his success, namely the ‘three ups’. Turn up, keep up, and shut up!
Duncan: There have been many highlights with Iceland. Perhaps the one which stands out was an appeal against the calculation of our stores’ business rates, which took Iceland all the way to the Supreme Court, where its appeal was upheld. It released £12 – £15 million of business rates which had been stayed pending the court’s decision. It is also worth around £3 million to the business every single year (and that figure increases with each new store that we open).
Whilst Duncan has clearly enjoyed a long and extremely successful career, we wanted to know what he would be doing if hadn’t become a lawyer.
Duncan: I always thought I was going to be a carpenter, and trained as one when I was younger, but ended up at university studying law. I have continued this as a hobby outside of work and have recently made a climbing wall for my children and am currently building a two-storey treehouse for them.
We finished our conversation with Duncan by asking our regular final question. That is, if the Iceland legal team had a “ring walk” song, what would it be?
Duncan: My mind immediately goes back to my time as a student. I still remember listening to Don’t Stop, by Fleetwood Mac. “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow” not only reminds me of that journey, towards bigger and better things, but also captures my firm belief that Iceland Legal’s best days are undoubtedly still ahead of us. We are always driving onwards towards something bigger.
And with that powerful message, we hope you enjoyed this interview as much as we did. We thank Duncan for his time and wish him and the team at Iceland continued success.
Duncan Vaughan
Legal Director
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