Legal Counsel

Excellent new role for a commercial lawyer to join the innovative in-house legal team of a leading UK financial institution. Role will be based in Edinburgh but flexible/hybrid working arrangements are also available. 

Role Profile:

Identify and manage legal risk in delivering targeted, commercially focused legal advice on corporate, commercial and regulatory legal matters. This will include:

• Support and advice on retail banking products and their development;
• Negotiating and advising upon third party service;
• Data and software contracts and debt and other asset sale arrangements; 
• Advising on general commercial, regulatory and litigation legal queries.

Responsibilities:

• Providing practical commercial legal advice to all business areas in relation to: (i) new contractual arrangements, including negotiation, reviewing and drafting contracts; (ii) existing contractual arrangements, including managing contractual relationships and disputes; and (iii) compliance with the law and new legal developments.
• Acting as a trusted advisor to develop a good understanding of business objectives and customer outcomes and provide appropriate commercial and customer-centric expertise and advice, which aligns with key strategic goals and adds value to the business.
• Pro-actively identifying legal risks, advising on appropriate mitigation strategies and ensuring these risks are effectively managed and escalated.   
• Conducting horizon scanning and advising on legal and regulatory change.
• Being proactive, adaptable and working in an agile and collaborative way with colleagues and stakeholders to ensure products and business processes work for customers.
• Responding to operational, complaint and process queries as they arise.
• Supporting good governance by understanding risk appetite, escalating high risk or complex matters and providing input to approval and briefing documentation.
• Balancing and prioritising workload, dealing with a number of competing matters at any one time.
• Identifying opportunities for business improvement across the business.
• Supporting compliance with the Legal Policies and provision of relevant training to colleagues.

Candidate Requirements:

• Fully Qualified Solicitor with circa 4+ PQE.
• Significant commercial legal experience either in-house or in private practice; 
• Track record of delivering pragmatic risk-based legal advice;
• Experience of strong relationship management (both internal and external stakeholders);
• Experience in the finance or technology sectors would be advantageous and desirable but not essential. This may include: advising on retail financial services products, Consumer Credit matters and regulation;
• Sound legal, analytical, drafting and writing skills;
• High level of integrated thinking to solve problems;
• Proactive and highly organised; 
• Customer orientated with excellent communication and presentation skills;
• Flexibility to be able to deal with a range of legal issues;
• Capability to work with the business at all levels; 
• Ability to balance and prioritise workload and deal with a number of competing projects at any one time.

On Offer:

On offer is a highly competitive salary and benefits package including flexible working, pension and bonus. 

To Apply:

For a confidential discussion about this position or to apply, please click on the Apply Button to get in touch.