Legal Counsel

OVERVIEW

The purpose of the Legal Counsel role is to assist with the operational aspects of the business’ lending activities across all products (asset finance, bridging finance and invoice finance) and assist the General Counsel with legal operation matters.  There will also be the opportunity to work on matters relating to the overall Group function including commercial law, property, banking and finance arrangements, IP and employment.

This role is highly visible within the business and you would be expected to deal with a wide range of business stakeholders. We expect you to demonstrate our core values of Decency, Enterprise and Brilliance at all times.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Assisting with and maintaining client contractual templates across all products.
• Advising on any amendments to standard security documents to reflect client circumstances, including negotiating deeds of priority with third parties such as other lenders and their legal advisers.
• Providing advice to key stakeholders regarding transactions and security structures.
• Assisting with putting property legal charges in place and dealing with registrations at HMLR and Companies House as appropriate.
• Leading on legal operational matters such as embedding new practices and processes into the business.
• Working with the business to develop appropriate contractual and commercial arrangements for new products.
• Reviewing and advising on the legal implications of general commercial relationships and contracts across the business (i.e. contracts for services, NDAs etc).
• Liaising with external professional advisers (including legal and insolvency practitioners).

CHARACTERISTICS & BEHAVIOURS:

The key behaviours required for this role are:

• Personable and an excellent communicator.
• Ability to problem solve and proactively find solutions.
• Good time management skills and be able to prioritise effectively.
• Team player both within the team and company-wide, to improve the effectiveness of the team.
• Understand and demonstrate the company values.
• Very organised and able to work unsupervised.
• Keen attention to detail.
• Strong work ethic.
• Fully take part in the appraisal system for yourself and the team.
• Take part in a structured and progressive training programme as required by the Group.
• Keen and competent adopter of technology to simplify and continually improve processes.

REQUIRED KEY SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE:

• Qualified solicitor.
• Minimum of 4 PQE in banking and finance or real estate finance, with experience of acting on behalf of lenders.
• Must be comfortable dealing with a wide variety of matters and have a can-do attitude.
• Excellent communicator and proven ability to distill complex issues into straightforward advice to the business.
• Happy to work autonomously and able to demonstrate ability to prioritise workloads particularly when under pressure.
• An appetite to do things differently and challenge processes where necessary. 
• Excellent team player
• Willingness to learn about new areas of law.

DESIRABLE SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE

• In house experience is preferable, whether in a previous role or from secondment opportunities.
• Knowledge of asset based lending and specifically invoice finance.
• Experience of working on business process projects. In particular, working to deliver changes which affect legal process in the business, with emphasis on technology led projects.
• Experience of managing others.
• Delivering training on relevant legal topics.