Post Office’s General Counsel

Dear Post Office Limited,

In his letter to the BEIS Select Committee of 16th June 2020, POL CEO Nick Read stated:

‘Our General Counsel, Ben Foat, was appointed in May 2019, a number of years after the start of the High Court proceedings and had no previous involvement in the Group Litigation’(p6).

https://committees.parliament.uk/publica...

Ben Foat’s employment at POL predates the Litigation, dating from 2015. Prior to becoming its General Counsel his responsibilities as Legal Director included legal risk management and drafting legal strategy.
https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/Topics/In-...

i) Did Ben Foat as Legal Director attend any meetings of the POL Board GLO Subcommittee between March 2018 and his appointment as GC in May 2019? Please can you provide relevant minutes.

ii) Was Ben Foat as Legal Director personally involved in generating reports for the Board GLO Subcommittee, or for the Group Director of Legal, Risk and Governance with regards to the Group Litigation? Please can you supply relevant documents.

Did Ben Foat as Legal Director have direct communications with POL lawyers Womble Bond Dickinson or with lawyers representing BEIS with regards to the Group Litigation prior to May 2019? Please supply relevant documents.

Yours faithfully,

Eleanor Shaikh