Case Study: Marks and Spencer streamlines property legal queries with Orbital Witness

How M&S manage their large retail estate portfolio

Marks and Spencer, a major British multinational retailer, faced challenges in managing the legal aspects of its vast and complex UK store estate. The property legal team was inundated with a high volume of varied queries from colleagues, which were amplified by rapidly changing consumer demands and pandemic-related restrictions. Traditionally, answering these questions required trawling through sporadic data sources and official documents or instructing external counsel, which was time-consuming and incurred significant fees. The vendor, Orbital Witness, provided its service to help address these inefficiencies.

By implementing the Orbital service, the legal team could instantly dive into property details to provide quick, real-time answers. This empowered colleagues to self-serve on early-stage proposals and allowed the legal team to answer complex questions on the spot during meetings. The results for Marks and Spencer included handling more work with a smaller in-house team, significantly reducing needless external counsel fees, and steering the company at a faster, more nimble pace. Orbital Witness enabled the entire estate management team to self-serve and virtually explore sites, transforming them into a digital-first property legal team.

Marks and Spencer

Carolyn Lock

Head of Property Legal