Sarah Holford

Scania

“Ahead of her years” is an understatement for Scania UK head of legal Sarah Holford, one of this year’s youngest Hot 100 lawyers. She had just completed her training contract when she joined Scania as an in-house counsel in 2017, and was swiftly promoted to head of legal and compliance in early 2019 to deliver something different and to help the legal team become more commercial and approachable. In the past two years, Holford has achieved that and more, by demonstrating not only technical excellence but also deep understanding of technologies and ability to accelerate business engagement.

Within the company (and its parent group Volkswagen) as well as the legal circle, Holford enjoys a reputation as an early adopter and change-maker, who has radically transformed the legal team’s image with adoption of smart legal tech solutions such as matter management system Matters+ and an AI contract review and mark-up solution. Implementing an entirely new system was a bold and brave move, but Holford brought the team and the business on the journey with her and the strategy paid off, particularly in light of the pandemic.

Holford’s foresight, determination and ability to transform the mundane into industry-best practices are all the more remarkable given that she is just a little over three years qualified.