LONDON – Andrew Roberts, who spent almost a decade overseeing corporate relations at Burberry, is joining the global law firm Linklaters as chief communications and corporate affairs officer.
Roberts joined the firm earlier this month, and is based at its London offices. His role is a new one and he’ll be responsible for leading Linklaters’ communications and corporate affairs teams around the world.
He reports to the firm’s senior partner and chair, Aedamar Comiskey, and firm-wide managing partner, Paul Lewis.
Comiskey said Roberts’ “expertise in strategic communications and corporate affairs will be invaluable in driving the delivery of our strategy and strengthening our profile as one of the world’s leading global law firms.”
Roberts, who joined Burberry in 2016, served as senior vice president of corporate relations and engagement at the British brand until last month.
He had a lively tenure there, working behind the scenes on internal communications and corporate policy, and supporting the management team’s interactions with the press, the wider public and the markets. In those nine years he worked with four chief executive officers – Christopher Bailey, Marco Gobbetti, Jonathan Akeroyd and Josh Schulman, who joined Burberry last year.
His years were filled with myriad HR and strategy changes as well as the challenges of COVID-19, when Burberry was mass manufacturing PPE for Britain’s National Health Service. Then there were the changes brought about by Brexit, and the cancellation of tax-free shopping in the U.K., which hit Burberry and other fashion and luxury companies here hard.
Roberts also helped to manage protocol at Burberry following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. As a Royal Warrant holder, Burberry had a number of specific rules to follow and would eventually postpone its spring 2023 fashion show due to the monarch’s mourning period and funeral.
He arrived at Burberry well-prepared for those crisis moments. Prior to joining the British brand, Roberts was a reporter at Bloomberg in Paris, where he led global coverage of the luxury industry, including the major French beauty and retail companies.
Before moving to Paris he reported on fashion and luxury as a member of WWD’s Milan bureau. He also worked for the Associated Press in Milan and Rome. A graduate of the University of Oxford, Roberts started his career at WPP in London.