Senior Legal Counsel

THE ROLE

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Legal Counsel within the Legal Department at Head Office. The successful candidate will support the Head of Legal to ensure that the Group is provided with first class legal advice and support in all areas and is legally compliant at all times. This role is accountable for managing a team to provide legal advice on all aspects of third party issues, contracts and disputes, including the negotiation and compilation of all third party contracts.  In addition this role will also have responsibility (with the support of external counsel specialists as required) for a wide range of commercial matters such as intellectual property, data protection, litigation, competition law, real property and corporate matters. The post holder must ensure that our business interests are protected; providing advice, addressing disputes, supporting negotiations and managing litigation where required.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Commercial Third Party Contracts and Disputes:

• Contracts - provide legal support (including giving legal advice and drafting appropriate documentation) to all heads of departments relating to third party commercial relationships: from supplier selection through to set up of arrangement, management during term and closing down of the relationship (where appropriate) in order to mitigate the legal business risk.
• Disputes - provide legal support (including giving legal advice and preparing appropriate documentation) to all heads of departments relating to third party disputes and litigation (including intellectual property disputes) in order to mitigate the legal business risk, and advise upon the development of mitigation strategies to reduce the risk of disputes and litigation arising.
• Contract management – provide legal support (including giving legal advice and preparing appropriate documentation) to all heads of departments relating to ongoing contract management.
• Build and develop the current bank of legal precedents, standard documentation and guidance notes for use throughout the business, ensuring that these are fit for purpose and meeting business need.

• Present third party contracts and leases for signing by the CFO, detailing the specific risks and business benefits of terms within.
• Ensure all appropriate systems and controls exist to manage contractual risk in all third party relationships.  Ensure prioritisation of resources to meet key needs of business.

• Build and develop effective relationships with key advisors at external law firms, utilising these for support with specialism’s and additional workloads and directing the workflow as required.

Legal Advice and Training:

• Proactively provide legal advice and/or training on applicable legislation relating to Wilko’s contractual relationships with suppliers and continually seek to raise awareness of legal issues throughout the business.
• Assess the potential impact of new and changed laws and regulations which impact upon Wilko’s third party relationships and provide the business areas with advice and recommendations.

Other Responsibilities:

• From time to time, support the Head of Legal to provide (or source and manage external law firms) legal advice on a broad range of legal matters affecting the Group  including regulatory, commercial property, competition, anti-bribery, marketing, e-commerce, data protection, customer services, HR, trading standards, corporate, intellectual property, international law and special projects.

• Look for opportunities for continuously improving processes and minimising costs within the Legal Department. 

• To source and implement a matter management system for the Legal department’s internal use to ensure intra-department consistency in and accessibility of advice and know how management.  Ensuring a system fit for Wilko’s purposes and responsible for the introduction and communication of that system to the Legal Department.
• To partner with Procurement to introduce improvements to remediate issues with the current practices of management reporting on all third party contracts. Ensuring a system fit for Wilko’s purposes and responsible for the introduction and communication of that system to all users across Wilko.
• Support the Head of Legal with the operational management of the Legal Department, including compliance by the team with all HR policies, performance management timetables, etc., and sourcing legal tools e.g. new software, know how libraries, precedents etc.

People:

• Responsible for managing the other solicitors in the Legal contracts team.

THE PERSON

• Qualified solicitor/barrister. Minimum 8 years PQE.
• Commercial in house experience preferred.
• Experience in retail environment desirable.
• Significant experience of commercial contract law is required.
• Working knowledge of broad range of legal matters which may affect the Group, including health and safety, data protection, intellectual property, competition law, and commercial property desirable.
• Ability, in a fast changing environment, to make decisions, prioritise competing priorities and self manage multiple tasks.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, both verbal and written, in order to effectively engage and influence a wide range of stakeholders at all levels within the Group.
• Strong commercial awareness, negotiation and problem-solving skills, with adaptability and perseverance to ensure any issues are resolved.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications without secretarial support.

Closing Date 27 October 2016