Leadership spotlight: Director of Legal – Marketing, Consumer, Regulatory and External Affairs


In this series we will hear from the Senior Leadership Team at Three about the latest activity across the company and a little about the people behind the projects.

Vital stats

  • Name: Justin Bass
  • Job title:             Director of Legal – Marketing, Consumer, Regulatory and External Affairs
  • Function:             Legal, Government and Regulatory Affairs (LGRA)
  • Tenure: 18 years

Tell us a bit about your background

I grew up in Liverpool and slowly made my way down south, studying Law & Business at Birmingham Uni along the way. I worked in private practice for a number of years as a Media & Entertainment lawyer at niche law firm, Wiggin,  many of whose clients were well known rock artists and TV personalities. I was seconded to one of their key clients – Telewest (now Virgin Media) which gave me the inclination to move in-house. I joined Three UK when it was effectively a start-up just a few weeks after commercial launch and even spent some time over in Three Ireland too in the first couple of years. When things get manic, remembering those early days as a start-up certainly puts things into perspective.

In a nutshell, describe your role and how it supports Three’s objectives

My role is to make sure our function enables the business to deliver on its commercial objectives in a legal and regulatory compliant manner, whether that is in the implementation of new IT platforms or the propositions we offer to customers. We help negotiate and drive forward deals such as Chelsea FC sponsorship, Gogglebox and other brand partnerships, as well as indirect sales partners. We also work closely with Group on protecting the Three brand and represent the business to our regulator Ofcom on consumer and network related matters.

 

What is your proudest achievement from  your time at Three UK?

  1. Successfully defending Three all the way to the European Court of Justice from a trademark/comparative advertising infringement case bought by O2. We made new law across Europe and proved to the competition that we would not be bullied in the telecommunications market.
  2. Negotiating and securing the Chelsea sponsorship with a great team within just 5 days.
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