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   ![How I Made It: Catherine Johnson, General Counsel, LSEG](https://media.sheerluxe.com/_LXV6PNuBMwKT0jXBW_1HTSulrk=/800x0/smart/https%3A%2F%2Fsheerluxe.com%2Fsites%2Fsheerluxe%2Ffiles%2Farticles%2F2025%2F01%2Fsl-the-business-edition-290125-how-i-made-it-hero-thumb.jpg?itok=F0LL4uaM)

  

 

 



 

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[Careers](/life/careers)

 /  29 January 2025  

#  How I Made It: Catherine Johnson, General Counsel, LSEG  


Catherine Johnson knew early on that she was going to be a lawyer. A daughter of teachers, she studied law and economics at university before training in the City and joining LSEG – owner of the London Stock Exchange – as part of its regulatory department. In 2001, she took over as head of the legal team, since when she’s helped steer the business through many changes. We sat down with her to find out more about her working life, including the lessons she’s learned and the advice she’d give to her younger self.  


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**My parents were both teachers, so I was expected to take education seriously.** They weren’t tiger parents per se, but I was expected to do well. I was brought up in the north east, middle class, went to the local school, but I wanted to do more – and to see what I could do. I studied law and economics at university, although nobody at the time told me I didn’t need to do that, so I’d advise people now to study what they love. There’s time to be a lawyer later.

**The reason that I wanted to be a lawyer** was that I used to watch this American TV show about a defence attorney. I loved the idea that every week he'd be presented with a problem and work it out. That really appealed to me. I was lucky to have a lot of encouragement at home, and some great teachers and mentors along the way.

**My first job was with** [**Herbert Smith**](https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/)**.** That’s where I did my training contract. It was interesting because, based on that TV show, I thought I wanted to be a litigator but what I really loved was corporate law. I found it fascinating, and it was a challenge, so that’s the department I ended up qualifying into. I love being presented with a problem and having to find the right solution. Sometimes it was a complete slog, though, which is probably why I ended up moving to [LSEG](https://www.lseg.com/en) after a couple of years.

**LSEG called me and asked me to come and do a totally different job in the regulatory department.** I spent about five years doing different roles in that department – I found it very interesting – and then I took over the legal team. Back then it was a very different organisation from the one that we have now. All my regulatory experience paid off though, mainly because I really understood what we did as a business, which is critical when you’re looking for the right solution to a problem.

**I was given that job ultimately because of my boss.** He was great, a real mentor, and I think he saw that I was willing to adapt. He’d given me several different roles and I’d had three short maternity leaves during that time, so I think he saw I was prepared to do different things and that I adapted quite quickly. He probably would have called it grit – that resilience to keep going until you get to the right place.

 

 Back then it was a very different organisation from the one we have now – all my regulatory experience paid off though because I really understood what we did.  
 

 



 

 

**The whole business has changed so much.** It's been through many different phases, so I don't feel like I've been doing the same job for 20-odd years. I'm constantly having to think about different issues. When I joined, it really was just the London Stock Exchange. It was a mutual, which means it was owned by its members. But then it demutualised, then we listed to become a public company. We’ve grown both organically and inorganically. We've added businesses we’ve started ourselves and then done a lot of mergers and acquisitions (M&amp;A), which is one of the things I've enjoyed most. Today, we’re a global company that covers a significant part of the trading lifecycle – we've got a big data business, we sell analytics, and we sell indexes. We also have trading platforms spanning several assets and capabilities, and we’ve grown from about 3,000 to 25,000 employees.

**M&amp;A has changed the shape of the organisation.** But we’ve defended plenty of takeover bids too. Even so, I wouldn’t call myself an M&amp;A specialist. I’m a generalist – a partner to the business if you will. A lot of my general counsel role is about advising and delivering strategic input. You have to understand what it is the business is trying to achieve and find a way to do that. What’s the objective? What are the promises we’ve made to shareholders? There are always lots of angles to consider. Ultimately, it’s about finding the solution that achieves the desired end result.

**As a boss, I’d like to think my team see me as fair and inclusive.** One of the things I learned quite early on was you can't know everything. I like to bring people in and get their view to help me think through different issues. Hopefully, they think I'm fun sometimes and that I give them good guidance. I always try to encourage them to be solution oriented – try not to say no, understand the end objective, and think of a way that gets us as close to that as possible. However, I never want them to be afraid to come and ask for help. If you've got a problem and you don't know how to solve it, it's fine to talk about it.

**I know I don't have to be the best all the time.** I really don’t have any kind of ego. It’s a joy for me when one of my team moves into a different role – I often encourage it, not because I want them to leave, but because I think it will be great for them. And I’m often very clear that if they don't like it when they are done, I will want them back.

**It's a privilege to be able to say this, but I didn't really notice too much gender disparity as I was coming through.** What I mean is I didn't pay much attention to the fact that I was a woman. I do think it's changed and is continuing to change for the better, and it’s why I spend a lot of time doing quite a lot of EDI work at LSEG and elsewhere. I've got a very diverse team of my own. I do a lot of mentoring, some of it quite formal, and a lot of it very informal. It's nearly always women who approach me, so I do a lot of things to try and encourage them. We all have that doubtful voice in the back of our heads, but I want them to put that aside, remember they’re not alone and they don’t have to know everything all the time.

 

 I build strong teams, then I reach out to these strong networks so the right people are around the table to solve a problem.  
 

 



 

 

**The reason I’ve been able to progress is in part because I’ve had supportive bosses.** As women we go through lots of life changes – not least having children – but my boss encouraged me and taught me a lot. I’ve also had some tough love. We've just rolled out a new parental leave policy where we're giving equal leave to all new parents, so we're trying to create an environment where everybody can do their best.

**Careers are full of challenges.** There are daily challenges and then – particularly in law – certain periods of time or a certain deal which can feel more challenging. During those times I try to lean on the people around me. I build strong teams, then I reach out to these strong networks so the right people are around the table to solve a problem. I’m also not afraid to make a judgement – they rarely reflect a single view either. You gather information and balance it all to take the right approach. I've also had a supportive husband, which has been really important. He works full time too in a high-powered job, so we've done a lot of balancing to make it work. We’ve also raised three children together, so knowing how to compromise and talking stuff through is the key – in my head it's not that complicated, albeit maybe easier in theory than in practice.

**Being able to be a working mum comes down to how my husband and I work as a couple.** It’s been about how we've balanced the responsibilities. I’ve also found family life quite a useful tool when it comes to switching off. When I got home, there was no time to fret or worry over stuff because I had limited amount of time to spend with the children. That was actually helpful for me, particularly when I was younger.

**If I could give my 21-year-old self any advice, it would be: don't think you can't do it.** Try it and you'll surprise yourself. Put that nagging voice aside and give it a go. You’ll be amazed at what you really can do. That’s also what I’d tell women entering the legal field now.

**Looking back at my career, two things stand out to me.** First, I think I've built a really strong team and, when I do eventually stop, I hope whoever takes my role is somebody from my team. That would be great. Some of my people have stayed a very long time and I’ve nurtured that talent – so that’s something I’m proud of. The other funny little story is from my daughter. When she went off to university, she came back after her first term and she said, “I've been talking to my friends and they've spent lots of time getting a really great education and they're talking about just getting married, having children and not working.” She couldn’t understand why they were thinking like that**.** Then she said, “I think they just haven't had a role model like you.” It made me really proud.

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