RPC partner Eleanor Harley shares insights into her varied practice and the evolving needs of consumer brands and retail clients
From negotiating international expansion deals for major retailers to helping consumer brands navigate the challenges of AI, no two days are quite the same for RPC partner Eleanor Harley. Working in the firm’s commercial technology and outsourcing team, she advises clients on commercial contracts across the consumer brands and retail sector, alongside matters involving sport and entertainment. Her work spans everything from supply and distribution arrangements to complex international expansion projects, helping businesses balance their commercial ambitions with the legal risks involved.
Having been promoted to partner in 2025 while six months pregnant, Harley has recently returned from maternity leave to a practice that is evolving rapidly, particularly when it comes to technology. She sits down with Legal Cheek Careers to discuss the changing commercial landscape, her journey to partnership and what aspiring lawyers can do to stand out.
For Harley, one of the biggest attractions of commercial contracts work is the sheer variety. “I find it really interesting working with clients day in and day out and being part of their organisations,” she explains. Her clients range from major consumer brands with substantial in-house legal teams to smaller businesses that rely heavily on external counsel, meaning her team’s work can involve anything from drafting a non-disclosure agreement for a new partnership to negotiating a business-critical logistics network agreement. It is this breadth of work and the opportunity to get under the skin of different businesses that keeps things interesting.
While the work varies considerably, a recurring challenge is ensuring that businesses strike the right balance between commercial objectives and legal risk. Harley explains that clients may be well versed in contracting, but their internal processes do not always bring legal, procurement and commercial priorities together effectively. “People may be very focused on price or delivery timelines, but in that process, they forget to balance reward and risk,” she says. Getting the finer details right, particularly when it comes to liability caps and the types of loss a business might suffer, can make a significant difference further down the line.
And with the retail and consumer landscape evolving rapidly, the issues landing on Harley’s desk are becoming increasingly complex. “Digital transformation and AI are unavoidable because they are affecting all aspects of business,” she says, pointing to the growing number of questions businesses are grappling with as they integrate the technology into their operations.
While many organisations initially rushed to adopt AI, Harley is now seeing a more considered approach. Clients are thinking carefully about what data is being fed into AI tools, who owns the resulting intellectual property, and the potential privacy and reputational risks. “It is becoming much more of a focus in how we deal with this in commercial contracts and how we allocate risk between third parties,” she explains. For commercial lawyers, these questions are increasingly becoming part and parcel of the day job.
AI is also transforming the way lawyers themselves work. Since returning from maternity leave, Harley has noticed the growing role of technology in supporting the way lawyers work, particularly in helping teams review and manage contracts more efficiently. With the technology developing at pace, keeping up with the latest tools and understanding how best to use them is becoming an increasingly important part of legal practice.
And it is not just lawyers getting to grips with the technology. “Some clients feel a little bit at sea with how to use AI themselves,” Harley says. Her team has been helping businesses navigate the procurement of AI tools and develop their own AI offerings, adding another layer to an already varied practice.
Beyond technology, Harley points to employment law and ESG-related developments as key considerations for the consumer brands and retail sector. With businesses managing large workforces across shops and hospitality, alongside navigating requirements around packaging, fashion and recycling, there is no shortage of regulatory and commercial challenges to keep lawyers busy.
So, how did Harley find her way into this fast-moving area of law? Although she studied law at both A-level and university, becoming a solicitor was not always a foregone conclusion. At school, she enjoyed English, maths and art, and initially considered pursuing a career in architecture. “I like being creative but also quite precise,” she says, explaining that law ultimately appealed to her because it offered the opportunity to combine those interests with analytical thinking and a good dose of intellectual challenge.
Her legal career began just over a decade ago with a training contract at a US international law firm. After completing four seats and spending several years at the firm, Harley realised that she wanted to focus more closely on commercial contracts, particularly within the retail and consumer brands sectors. It was a decision that would eventually lead her to RPC, where she joined as an associate in 2021.
Harley subsequently progressed to senior associate before making partner in 2025, a milestone that was particularly meaningful on a personal level. “I was made partner last year while I was six months pregnant,” she recalls. “I was a partner for a couple of months and then I went on maternity leave and have just come back in the summer. From a personal perspective, I was very proud of that.” Having reached partnership shortly before welcoming a new addition to her family, Harley has since returned to the firm to continue building her practice.
On the professional side, another standout moment came shortly before her promotion, when Harley advised one of RPC’s major retail clients on an ambitious international expansion involving hundreds of new stores and numerous retail partners across different parts of the world. “I helped negotiate and work through all the different elements of the expansion,” she recalls, describing the experience as “really interesting”. The scale of the project offered a particularly memorable example of the international commercial work that first attracted her to the sector.
Having started her career at another firm, what was it about RPC that convinced Harley to make the move? For her, the opportunity to develop a practice of her own was a major draw. Her previous firm had a strong focus on private equity clients and transaction-based work, whereas Harley was keen to develop longer-term relationships with standalone clients. “It always felt to me like somewhere where there was room to grow and where that would be fostered,” she says of RPC, where she saw an opportunity to build the kind of practice she had in mind.
RPC’s commercial contracts practice is in Tier 1 (in both Legal500 and Chambers) and its reputation and impressive client base was a huge draw. The size of the commercial technology and outsourcing team was another important consideration. “That size offers the reassurance of talented people who know what they are doing without being lost in an enormous firm where I would not know everybody,” Harley explains. For her, the balance between having access to experienced colleagues and working in a close-knit team was an important part of the appeal.
RPC’s international model also caught her attention. Alongside its offices in Hong Kong and Singapore, the firm works with a network of trusted international law firms, allowing its lawyers to collaborate with specialists in other jurisdictions according to the needs of each client and matter. “We work with the best for our sectors,” Harley explains. She describes the flexibility to select lawyers with the most relevant expertise, rather than being tied to a particular international office, as “quite unique” (in a current climate of frequent law firm mergers), particularly when working with clients on complex cross-border matters.
With partnership now under her belt, what advice does Harley have for aspiring solicitors looking to make their mark? A strong analytical mind is high on her list, but she is quick to point out that being a good lawyer requires more than simply getting the technical details right. “Everyone says attention to detail is very important, but a trainee also has to be able to zoom out and think about what the client wants to achieve,” she says. “Particularly in commercial contracts work, understanding the bigger picture and the commercial objectives behind a matter is just as important as identifying the specific legal issues involved.”
Responsiveness and teamwork are equally important. “We all work hard in this industry, and if you feel like you have colleagues to lean on and people who want to get there with you, it makes a big difference,” Harley says. “For trainees, being someone that colleagues can rely on not only helps the team work more effectively but can also open the door to new experiences and opportunities.”
“The more people do that, the more you want to take them to interesting client meetings, sessions and events,” she adds. For aspiring solicitors hoping to get involved in the more exciting aspects of commercial practice, the message is clear: getting the detail right matters, but so does understanding the client, supporting your colleagues and showing that you are someone the team wants to have in the room.
Eleanor Harley will speaking at ‘Fashion & beauty: From concept to consumer — The legal lifecycle of a product — with RPC’, a virtual student event taking place Tuesday 29 September. Secure your place now.
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