Head of Legal

Head of Legal 

Head Office

We are looking for an experienced, certified and knowledgeable Head of Legal to oversee the contractual and legal requirements across the DMC Healthcare Group. We are a trusted provider of services to the NHS and deliver Primary Care services on behalf of the NHS, Community Services and Radiology Reporting across the UK. Our skilled and compassionate staff have helped us develop a brilliant reputation among clinicians, patients, commissioners and communities alike.

The Role

Working on a full-time basis at our Head Office in South London, you must offer a flexible working attitude as the duties outlined below are a provisional requirement and may adapt as the role and candidate develops into an integral part of the business. You will be working closely with existing employees and business areas across Dermatology, Primary Care, Radiology Reporting, Bid Support and Head Office to ensure all documentation, contracts and supporting corporate documents meet and exceed the required legal standards within the healthcare industry.

As Head of Legal, you will review existing documents and create new documents to support business need across the whole of the DMC Healthcare group. You will be responsible for maintaining all organisational legal matters, including but not limited to:

Service

• Lead non-finance elements of the contract process, liaising closely and managing relationships with commissioners through being the main point of contact and ensuring an effective working relationships based on a partnership approach
• Deliver legal contracting expertise to the business by leading on the legal negotiation, agreement and completion of legally-binding contracts with commissioners and sub-contractors
• Provide in-house legal/contractual expertise on how DMC’s interests can be safeguarded in commissioned contracts and partnerships with other organisations, and how those safeguards can be documented
• Manage a portfolio of contracts, supporting clinical and operational teams with their understanding of contract terms and parameters
• Be involved in managing the required relationships with external legal advisors to ensure best value and consistent levels of quality and service. Appropriately liaising with them as and where required
• Drafting, reviewing, revising and negotiating complex agreements and standard agreements e.g. confidentiality agreements, NDAs, PPA’s, PPC’s, contract variations and extensions
• Drafting, reviewing and revising purchase and sales agreements; including but not limited to suppliers, new business and property
• In the matter of property, developing, issuing and maintaining lease agreements. Supporting and leading on property transactions
• Preparing and maintaining contract templates
• Taking ownership of and managing queries, legal disputes, prioritising and escalating where necessary
• Providing advice and assistance to other colleagues as required for business purposes
• Providing both commercial and medical Legal advice (relating to general matters, terms and conditions) proposed by internal and external parties
• Preparation of documents, correspondence, forms and checklists, including providing marked up red line, clean and comparison documents, maintaining version control and drafts, proof reading
• File management, including the opening, collating, closing, archiving and retrieval of legal and contract files in accordance with the appropriate procedures

Quality

• Lead all legal department practice management initiatives aimed at achieving increased operational efficiency and improving service excellence
• Delivering legal department training
• Demonstrate excellent communication, interpersonal, organisational and presentation skills, as well as strong research skills

Assurance

• Keeping a tracker in place for all contracts so that expiration dates can be proactively highlighted. Create and maintain a contract dashboard
• Lead and advise for all legal matters 
• Regularly report back to the Board and other Senior Team Members at appropriate meetings. Providing data and information as part of the reporting pack

The Candidate

• We expect you will have a minimum of 4 years’ experience in a similar Head of Legal role 
• Experience in drafting, reviewing, revising commercial contracts 
• Experience in the review and provision of advice relating to commercial contracts  

Your Skills

• Law Degree and relevant experience
• Excellent organisational skills 
• Superior verbal, written and interpersonal communication skills 
• Expertise in using Microsoft packages with good presentation skills 
• Strong healthcare background and able to prioritise workload accordingly 
• In-depth knowledge of legal terminology and principles with the ability to work autonomously 
• Commitment to personal and professional growth 
• Ability and willingness to seek and receive feedback constructively  

About us:

DMC Healthcare are a successful and trusted provider of NHS services across England and Scotland. We have grown rapidly in the past decade from a single Dulwich practice to a team of over 400 employees dedicated to giving patients the very best in care. The Head of Legal post is based at our Head Office in South London (SE15). As part of the benefits package you will be entitled to 25 days annual leave with additional leave entitlement with duration of DMC employment, plus the standard 8 Bank Holidays.