Legal Counsel Europe and Africa As member of Group Legal & Compliance ("GLC") to ensure the prompt delivery of accurate legal advice in the fields of corporate, contract and general commercial law as well as on compliance and litigation related matters.
Job Characteristics Key responsibilities Together with the Senior Legal Counsel Europe and Africa and other members of the GLC Europe and Africa team, a key contact for the drafting and review of the group's sale contracts in Europe and Africa.
To manage the corporate housekeeping of the group's subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and to ensure their overall compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements, acting as the Company Secretary for relevant subsidiaries.
To provide legal advice to the business in relation to general legal matters, including claims and litigation, for the group's subsidiaries in the concerned jurisdictions that the position is responsible for.
Most important result areas Overall objective: continuous control of the costs for legal function/external counsels and continuous improvement of the quality of the legal advice rendered by GLC; General legal advice for the group's subsidiaries in the concerned jurisdictions that the position is responsible for; Implementation and continuous improvement of the group's core legal principles in all sales agreements in Europe and Africa, including assisting in the preparation and review of global framework agreements and continuous improvement of general terms and conditions of sale; Ongoing training to the European and African sales teams of the group on contract law and the group's contract policy; Management of litigation and support in claims handling in the concerned jurisdictions and supervising external counsel; Legal advice in support of specific projects including financing and mergers and acquisitions as well as the set up and closure of plants.
Nature and size of the job area; The job requires a generalist who is an expert in contract law but who can provide legal advice in various jurisdictions on different fields of law.
The position requires someone who has (or can develop) a sound understanding of the packaging industry.
The position reports to the Senior Legal Counsel Europe and Africa, working as part of the GLC Europe and Africa team headed by the General Counsel Europe and Africa; Similar positions are other Legal Counsel within the GLC Europe and Africa team; The position will closely coordinate with the other members of the GLC Europe and Africa team and members of GLC in Brazil and the US on sales contract and general legal matters.
Assessment standards Continuous control of the overall costs for legal function; Satisfaction of colleagues with a focus on the sales teams with quality and timely legal advice; General compliance of all concerned subsidiaries with legal and regulatory requirements.
Business contacts UK management including Finance Director; Operational and commercial teams in the concerned jurisdictions that the position is responsible for; Members of the group's treasury and tax departments; External lawyers in concerned jurisdictions; Representatives of customers and their in-house lawyers and external advisers.
Flexibility and decision making; On contractual and general commercial matters, the position takes decisions after coordination with the involved sales and operational personnel and the Senior Legal Counsel Europe and Africa.
On corporate matters, the position submits proposals to the General Counsel Europe and Africa to get final sign off for implementation.
Knowledge / Skills / Experience Competencies Education/ Training English law degree; additional experience in another common law/ continental European legal system (as the case may be) would be a plus; Experience At least 6 years of relevant professional work experience, ideally with experience working in an international environment; Competencies Legal generalist with capacity to adapt quickly to new fields of law/jurisdictions; Expert knowledge in English contract law; Additional language skills are a distinct plus; Team player with the ability to interact with a team of lawyers from different jurisdictions; Strong communication skills to interact with team members and commercial and operational teams.
Special skills/competencies; reliable, transparent, discreet, persistent, rigorous, sense of humour and can-do attitude.
The job will require some travelling including occasional overseas travel.