Senior Legal Counsel

Role Accountabilities

Commercial guidance and contract reviews

• Undertaking contract reviews, obtaining instructions from stakeholders and supporting contract negotiations
• Supporting the implementation and uptake of contract management platform (for example through implementation, training and business guidance)
• Advising business on contract negotiations
• Developing best practice contract templates and checklists
• Escalation of complex/material contracts to Head of Legal as required
• Providing commercial and pragmatic legal advice in response to all legal support queries
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of applicable laws, regulations as they apply to the business
• Demonstrating a clear understanding of consumer law protections as they relate to marketing claims, product quality issues and management of same

Privacy

• Primary responsibility to complete privacy impact assessments and privacy threshold assessments, including assessment of privacy risks and advice on formation of mitigation plans
• Advising the business on privacy queries raised and providing training and education to support the development of the organisation's privacy maturity
• Leading the implementation of privacy by design/privacy by default

Intellectual Property

• Supporting the management of Intellectual Property portfolio
• Providing advice on copyright and intellectual property issues
• Improving and delivering the trademark and copyright training program

Compliance

• Building relationships with key stakeholders in product, marketing, sourcing, IT, buying, commercial and compliance to encourage a compliance mindset (consumer law, cartel, privacy, contracts, pricing compliance)
• Identifying areas for improvement and growth through the development of policies and preparation and delivery of training on compliance matters
• Embedding privacy by design and ESG values through all contract and project reviews

International

• Understanding at a high level the legal regimes applying across jurisdictions in which the organization operates
• Providing support on regional legal questions (including through engagement of external counsel)

Management of paralegals and interns

• Managing the work of paralegals, including delegation of work to paralegals, identifying areas for growth and improvement, mentoring
• Completing performance reviews for paralegals
• Engaging with third party universities around the engagement of interns, onboarding through IT, introduction of interns to the business, coordination for work from Legal and other teams, provision of formal and informal feedback as required for coursework, offboarding
• Other duties are undertaken as may be requested by the Executive, or Head of Legal from time to time

Essential Qualities

• Between 6-10 years' legal experience with a focus on:

• Negotiating and drafting commercial contracts (SaaS, services agreements, contractor agreements, event sponsorship, marketing etc)

• Understanding and applying commercial risk appetites to provide pragmatic legal advice

• Application of privacy law (Australia, New Zealand knowledge of GDPR)

• Experience in mentoring or managing early career practitioners and paralegals

• Ability to work autonomously to fast-moving deadlines and prioritise and delegate workloads accordingly
• Experience in building strong relationships with a range of business owners across brands and regions and customizing legal advice to fit
• Identification of matters that require escalation to the Head of Legal and/or external counsel
• Clear and concise drafting skills
• Sound judgement and analytical skills
• Commitment to ongoing professional development

• Bonus for previous experience in:

• Consumer Law compliance (marketing and product claims, consumer guarantees)

• Brand protection (Intellectual Property)

Qualification & Experience Requirements

What is the typical background required to competently perform the responsibilities of the job?

Required

• Qualification: LLB or higher
• Experience: between 6-10 years post-qualification experience (PQE) in private practice or in-house (or combination of the two)

Preferred Qualifications / Nice to Have:

• Familiarity with Australian legal frameworks
• Prior experience working with Australian clients or handling cross-border legal matters
• Experience in cross-border legal matters, particularly involving Australia
• Familiarity with Australian corporate governance, contracts, and compliance requirements