Commercial Litigation 10+ - 18 Mth Contract - London/Birmingham

Leading Financial Services Company that is a key player within the life insurance sector has a critical urgent hiring requirement. Reporting to the General Counsel, a decision has been made to have the expertise in-house during this critical period - hence the need for a senior chimerical litigator who is available at short notice. If the selected candidates wishes to be based in London, then 2 days a week will need to be spent in Birmingham.

The key criteria are detailed below:

• To lead the commercial litigation strategy and act as the principal litigator for the Life Companies and the Service Company.
• To lead the identification and management of litigation risk arising within the operations of the Life Companies and the Service Company and to oversee the provision of appropriate legal advice to these companies, boards and their management.
• To provide effective and timely litigation services to all the key operational and regulatory functions that in turn support the Life Companies.
• To support the Head of Life Operations to ensure compliance by the Company and its staff with all relevant legal obligations.
• To contribute to the development of the business strategy the Company.
• To provide insights on litigation strategy for key business decision makers.

Key Accountabilities (These are the key deliverables and outcomes of the role)

• To ensure the effective management of all pre-litigation disputes and court proceedings issued against the Life Companies and the Service Company.
• Take all reasonable actions to identify and mitigate commercial disputes which could result in litigation claims be brought against the Life Companies and the Service Company.
• To provide for the proper engagement and management of external lawyers as appropriate; including cost control within the allocated budget.
• To act as the primary point of contact for commercial dispute resolution, providing advice and guidance to the Management Board and senior management and acting as the "conscience" of the Life Companies and the Service Company.
• To support the Head of Life Legal Operations to ensure that the members of the Management Board are aware of and understand their legal responsibilities under all relevant legislation, codes of conduct and equivalent guidance that applies to the life companies and service companies.
• To support the General Counsel and Head of Life Legal Operations to keep under review all legislative, regulatory and corporate governance developments that might affect the operations of the Life Companies and the Service Company.
• To have overall accountability for the provision of legal advice on material customer complaints whether direct or via the OSPs.
• Represent the Life Companies and Service Company and demonstrate Group values internally and externally.
• Adhere to Group values in your own behaviour and your team's, in particular demonstrating 'fairness' which links directly to Treating Customers Fairly.
• To manage the Senior Legal Advisor for Litigation; ensuring effective career development and succession planning.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience (Please do not provide number of years experience)

• Seasoned litigator and manager with a commercial approach and extensive legal knowledge of the laws applicable to a financial services business.
• Accustomed to operating within a highly regulated environment and practiced at dealing with regulatory bodies in conjunction with other members of the management team.
• Ideally, in-depth technical knowledge of the statutory and regulatory framework applicable to the life and pensions sector.
• Experience of running multi-party settlement negotiations
• Ability to anticipate litigation risks and mitigate with focused commercial solutions
• Ability to see big picture without losing sight of the detail.
• Ability to think ahead and anticipate potential issues.
• Gives reality checks on litigation and shows commercial perspective.
• Able to advise on alternative strategies to resolve litigation.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to convey complex legal concepts in commercial terms to a range of senior stakeholders including at Board level including using metrics.
• Proven ability to run complex work streams in parallel and at pace
• Excellent negotiator

For additional information, please contact Brian Littleton at Chadwick Nott.

Chadwick Nott Ltd is acting as an Employment Business in relation to this vacancy.