Legal Counsel - Infrastructure Company - London

You should have a high degree of initiative taking; good organisational and administrative skills; attention to detail; an extensive knowledge of Microsoft Office (including word document formatting, indexing, macros, multi-level numbering excel spreadsheets and power point presentation; a good flexible attitude, good communication and ability to work under pressure.

You will primarily support the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel in the negotiation and completion of supplier contracts. Youwill have trained at a good law firm and must be prepared to be thrown in at the deep end and assist on matters as they arise.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Work in an expanding legal function, and focus primarily on acting as counsel to commercial and procurement divisions
• Draft, negotiate and review commercial agreements for the supply of services and products at a Group level and assisting the operating companies in this area
• Assist the procurement division with the structure of their commercial contracts
• Support the commercial sales teams and negotiate customer agreements in conjunction with sales
• Draft standard terms and conditions and develop recommendations to minimize potential risk to the business
• Identify risks and opportunities in agreements and pro-actively find ways to mitigate or remove risks
• Support various projects within the business and assist with wider process optimization within the group
• Provide legal support to HR, IT, and finance divisions and advise key departments on ad-hoc contractual questions
• Liaise with the legal department of the operating companies in Africa

Skills and Experience

• Candidate must be able to demonstrate excellent technical skills gained from private practice (and ideally in house), sound commercial acumen and a pragmatic approach to the law.
• Strong attention to detail. Accuracy is imperative.
• Excellent command of English language.
• Desire to progress issues on his/her own initiative ensuring that no surprises are met by more senior members of the legal team.
• Strong communication skills - an ability to summarise issues clearly and succinctly.
• Sound judgement paired with assertiveness where necessary - knowing when to push back internally, possessing the ability to do so and knowing when to escalate issues.
• Excellent administrative skills.
• French language skills highly desirable - role would suit bilingual candidate/candidate who has worked or qualified in French speaking country.
• Ideally a degree from Russell Group university (or overseas equivalent) and training in top 30 firm.
• Prior in-house experience (including on secondment) is preferred.
• Experience of drafting and negotiating supplier contracts (especially in the telecom or technology sector) is preferred.
• Minimum of 2 years PQE.

Personal qualities

• Proactive
• Confident manner when in fast-paced environment
• Flexible and adaptable in a changing environment
• A can-do attitude