Client Profile: Pentland Brands
Pentland Brands is a UK-based global brand management company that owns and licenses a portfolio of sports, outdoor, and fashion brands including Speedo, Ellesse, Berghaus, Canterbury, and Endura. Founded in 1932 as a shoe manufacturer, the privately held family business has evolved into a major player in the athletic and lifestyle apparel industry.
The Challenge: Fast response to urgent needs
Pentland Brands is one of the world’s leading privately-owned sports, outdoor, and lifestyle companies, home to household names spanning footwear, apparel, and equipment. With a broad commercial portfolio and an in-house legal team under constant pressure, the business needed rapid, high-quality legal support — without the overhead of a traditional law firm.
When I first gave the instruction on this role, I definitely felt like I was being treated as a priority. Most important is that I feel like I am being paid attention to — like I am a priority — in instances where it actually is an urgent need.
Pentland required experienced legal cover across two separate engagements within a short timeframe. The first was a data protection specialist for a broad three-month role from early December, working four days a week — covering core DP work alongside e-commerce, IT and technology contracts (SaaS and outsourcing), international distribution and licensing agreements, and competition law. The second was a senior commercial lawyer to step in immediately on a full-time or four-day week basis for three to four months, covering a similarly wide remit, assumed inside IR35.
Both roles required someone who could hit the ground running at pace and integrate seamlessly — not just technically capable, but the right fit for a commercially sophisticated, high-performing environment.
The Obelisk Approach
From the first briefing call, Alastair Kilgour at Pentland felt the difference. Obelisk worked quickly to understand not just the technical requirements but the working culture of the business. Candidates were pre-filtered for professional and cultural fit, and options were turned around promptly — because when the need is urgent, speed and quality must go hand in hand.
In the short time we have worked together, I have found the service pretty agile and pretty on point.
The Lawyers
For the data protection and broader commercial role, Obelisk placed a commercially focused solicitor with over fifteen years’ experience across the financial services and technology sectors. With a proven track record of working closely with senior stakeholders to manage risk and secure the best contractual outcomes, she brought significant weight to the engagement — including experience renegotiating a multimillion-pound contract with the BBC, navigating complex EU tender processes, and delivering an £8bn fund outsource project. She had also built a legal function from scratch, giving her the breadth and adaptability a role of this kind demands.
For the second engagement, Obelisk placed a lawyer who had trained at a Magic Circle firm, qualifying into Capital Markets, before moving in-house to a major international securities business. There she led on corporate governance, regulatory implementation, and Board sub-committee support before transitioning into a broad generalist commercial role. Her experience spans reviewing, drafting, and negotiating MSAs, SaaS agreements, licensing agreements, consultancy agreements, and NDAs — precisely the profile Pentland needed.
hours of support
The Outcome
Obelisk placed lawyers into both roles, delivering a combined 744.75 hours of high-quality legal support across the two engagements. The service was agile, the candidates were strong, and the process was smooth from instruction to invoice.
The billing was quick and always accurate. I genuinely do not recall any issues — it was just so problem-free, actually.
Must Reads
British Business Bank: Nine years of legal resource support, one relationship
Client ProfileBritish Business Bank is the UK's government-owned economic development bank, its mission is to drive economic growth by helping smaller businesses get the finance they need to start, scale and stay in the UK. It does this through a range of products and...
A1X Trading Limited: building legal foundations at FinTech speed
Client ProfileA1X Trading Limited is a fast-growth proprietary trading platform operating in digital asset derivatives. As a business working in the cryptocurrency field, A1X sits within a new and evolving FCA regulatory regime, alongside the usual demands of a...
Battersea Arts Centre: Certainty and continuity for a charity
Client ProfileBattersea Arts Centre (BAC) is one of the UK's leading independent theatre and community arts venues. Its historic building was rebuilt by its own community after a major fire in 2015. Today it hosts a theatre and artist development programme alongside a...
Which? Four years on, and still trusted with the hard problems
Client ProfileWhich? is the UK's consumer champion: testing products, reviewing services and campaigning for people to get a fair deal in the marketplace. It is a large, complex organisation with a legal team sitting at the centre of everything the organisation does,...