Partner Article

New head of wayleave for telecoms law specialist

Telecoms law specialist Trenches Law has appointed a new head of wayleave as the firm gears up for further growth.

Georgina Rudak has been promoted into the role, having joined the team in 2019 with seven years’ industry experience, including wayleave officer, team leader and managerial roles with Virgin Media.

She has assumed responsibility for several projects with some of the telecommunication industry’s most notable brands, including toob, FibreNation and WightFibre.

Primarily responsible for liaising with freeholders, solicitors and managing agents, her goal is to ensure the smooth, efficient and cost-effective negotiation of wayleaves, to enable operators to install, maintain and replace telecoms infrastructures as swiftly as possible. She also has an active presence at industry meetings and conferences to ensure the team remains abreast with ever-changing wayleave legislation, protocol and best practice.

Elaborating on her new role, Georgina said: “Wayleaves remain an often tricky and misunderstood facet of the telecoms world, and unless managed effectively, then can prove a costly stall on projects large and small.

“UK demand for connectivity has never been so great, which means Trenches’ expertise is being increasingly relied upon. So, whether we’re helping a client with a specific matter, or providing a fully outsourced end-to-end managed wayleave service, we want to provide straight-talking, bespoke support, without the gobbledygook. I was impressed by this ethos, and the company’s commitment to employees – two of the main reasons I wanted to come on board.”

Keen to advance her skill set, Georgina is also studying for a LPC MSc postgraduate qualification in law and business.

Trenches Law was established in 2017 by experienced and commercially astute lawyer Sharon McDermott. Sharon has worked closely with the telecoms industry for around 30 years in roles including head of legal, and head of wayleave, statutory and partner compliance at Virgin Media.

Commenting on the timeliness of Georgina’s appointment, Sharon said: “Our cost-per-premise fee structure – combined with our specific knowledge of the often-complex telecoms space – means our proposition has proven extremely popular among UK telcos. We needed to recruit quickly to accommodate growing demand, without compromising on our promised level of service.

“To hire someone of Georgina’s calibre is a fantastic accomplishment for our business, and we look forward to the specialist experience and contacts she can bring to the team.”

Sharon predicts that the business will double in size by the end of 2020.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Katie Mallinson .