SOFINA FOODS EUROPE: IN-HOUSE LEGAL COUNSEL (RE-TRAIN CONSIDERED)

IN-HOUSE LEGAL COUNSEL (RE-TRAIN CONSIDERED)

SOFINA FOODS EUROPE

MALTON, NORTH YORKSHIRE OR GRIMSBY, LINCOLNSHIRE

UP TO £70,000 PLUS CAR ALLOWANCE & EXCELLENT BENEFITS

Haggerty Jaques is delighted to be exclusively retained by Sofina Foods Europe to recruit a Legal Counsel.

About Sofina:

Sofina Foods Europe (Sofina Foods Ltd) is one of the leading suppliers of fish, pork and related food products in the UK and Ireland through Young’s Seafood and Karro Food Group, and of coated fish products within the EU through Greenland Seafood. One of the largest food industry players headquartered in Yorkshire, it has a turnover of around £1.9bn and employs circa 8,000 people across the UK and Europe.  It is owned by Sofina Foods Inc, a privately-held Canadian multinational that globally operates 44 sites and has over 13,000 employees.   Ambitious and growing, the company aims to be the most successful food business in the world, mindful of its future impact and with core values of Integrity, Respect and Accountability.

About the role:

This is a great opportunity to work with experienced in-house lawyers in a happy and well-liked team, within a business that is investing for long term growth.  It is an exciting time to be joining Sofina Foods Europe, with a very wide range of work on offer across its UK and Irish operations.   It is never a dull day, and there is plenty of opportunity to learn about how your food reaches your plate, in addition to developing new legal skills and growing professionally within a supported and friendly environment.

You will provide high quality legal support to the business within a small legal team, that has to cover the full range of legal issues that can arise across a large food manufacturing group. Occasionally you will need to manage external advisors from the business legal panel on specialist topics.

Key responsibilities:

• Providing pragmatic and high-quality legal advice to the business across a range of legal topics, both within your personal areas of legal specialism (e.g. commercial, corporate, employment, data protection, regulatory, IP) and more widely as you learn new legal areas from colleagues in the legal team to develop as a well-rounded in-house lawyer
• Supporting the business with its trading arrangements, but if you are not a commercial contracts specialist, don’t worry, the team will be happy to share their knowledge and help you get up to speed
• There is also the opportunity to get involved in data protection; intellectual property; employment; corporate and company secretarial work, and to become a good in-house all-rounder
• Building positive relationships based on trust with colleagues within the business, with a “can do”, “everything is fixable”, creative and solutions led, approach
• Acting as a facilitator, negotiator, mediator, whatever is necessary to help the business deliver, not being scared to step outside of your comfort zone
• Ability to prioritise and re-prioritise work based on commercial need, be flexible and move between legal areas quickly, as well as being able to step back and see the bigger picture, keep calm and cool-headed within a fast paced, dynamic environment
• Working with external legal counsel to ensure that any specialist legal work which needs to be outsourced is delivered in an effective and efficient way, on budget, on time and in a way that is really useful to the business. Often this will involve acting as “translator” / intermediary between external advisors and the business
• Delivering training on legal and compliance matters to the business and to colleagues in the legal team
• Sharing your technical legal knowledge with legal team colleagues, and being open and keen to learn new areas from them, so that the team may grow new skill sets and develop synergies
• Being a team player who looks out for, supports, and promotes the legal team and colleagues within the business as a whole

About you:

The team are happy to consider solicitors at all levels of post qualified experience (PQE), for them the right attitude, approach and team fit are more important than your time on the clock in any particular area of law.  As well as in-house lawyers being welcome, this could be a great and rare opportunity for a private practice business lawyer who wants a change of outlook to move in-house, and to really get under the skin of a business. This is a key strategic appointment, and the team are looking for a “keeper”.

Essential experience:

• Law degree
• Qualified English solicitor
• Must be on the Law Society roll with a clean SRA practising certificate
• Either UK in-house experience, or at a UK law firm in a business-related legal specialism
• Able to demonstrate strong technical legal skills
• Positivity, creativity and spark – flexible and quick thinking
• A positive and commercially pragmatic approach to legal advice
• Desire to learn and grow as a professional, and to help develop team colleagues
• Team player
• Must be comfortable with regular change (as the business grows and develops)

Preferable experience (but not required):

• Trained at a good quality law firm, or in-house in a respected team
• Work experience in-house or with close client relationships in a relevant sector (food industry / manufacturing, or non-food manufacturing, or food retail / FMCG)
• Specialisms that would be welcome: Commercial Contracts; Corporate / M&A; Employment; Litigation; Regulatory but will consider others, particularly if the skills are transferable
• If you are dual-qualified as a Scottish solicitor or an Irish solicitor, that would be an unexpected bonus

Additional:

The role, which is full time can be based at either the organisation’s Malton headquarters or at the Young’s Grimsby site. There is hybrid homeworking in place.  The business understands everyone needs some flexibility and will look at candidates needs accordingly. The role may involve occasional travel to other sites within the UK, Scotland and Ireland, or Europe. There is a relocation package on offer for those who are considering a move.

Benefits include:

• Competitive salary
• Car allowance
• Health Insurance
• 25 days holiday per year plus bank holidays
• Competitive contributory pension
• Life Assurance Scheme
• Relocation package on offer for candidates wishing to relocate

Haggerty Jaques is exclusively retained by the business and any third-party agency applications or enquiries will be forwarded to Haggerty Jaques for consideration.