Commercial Lawyer (Newly Qualified) recruitment
Organisational overview
The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) is a brand new workplace pension scheme. It’s been designed around the needs of employers and workers and offers a low-cost, easy to use way to save for retirement.
We champion:
• Easy online access
• Clear communications
• High quality governance.
• Award winning investment strategy
NEST Corporation is the Trustee of the scheme and is a non-departmental public body independent of government but accountable to Parliament through the Department of Work and Pensions.
We work with the best outsourcing partners to deliver the scheme. Our employees are highly experienced coming from both public sector private enterprise and combine a wealth of relevant commercial experience with a passion to bring a bold new vision to workplace pensions.
Departmental and role overview
The legal team report to the General Counsel, who is also responsible for Policy within the organisation. The legal team currently comprises four Pensions Lawyers, two Commercial Lawyers, a Paralegal and a Records Management Data Protection Officer. The business now has a need to expand its commercial law team to meet the requirements for legal advice. The Lawyers are responsible for providing accurate and timely advice to the business in their respective areas, for highlighting potential legal risk and for managing external legal advisers where appropriate.
The legal issues which arise are very varied and often require a commercial and pragmatic approach whilst ensuring that the business continues to operate within the confines of the law and within the parameters of its remit. Due to the high volume of requests for legal advice from within the business as well responding to legal risk, the successful candidate must be willing to take a hands-on approach and be proactive as well as responsive to requests for advice from all areas of the business.
Role Overview
This role requires someone who has had some experience of commercial law, in particular data protection and IP law. The successful candidate will report to the Head of Commercial Law and ultimately to General Counsel. He/she will be expected to be able to operate in a fast-paced environment, to take the initiative in managing their responsibilities and to prioritise effectively.
As is typical in an in-house environment, there may be demands for the role holder to assist with areas of law in which they have limited experience including issues specific to public sector bodies such as the Freedom of Information Act, obligations of transparency and the public procurement regime as well as understanding the interaction between commercial law and pensions law. The successful candidate will be expected to assist the Head of Commercial law in managing the challenge of meeting varied requirements, often with short deadlines.
The role holder will also be expected to comply with all relevant policies and procedures of the organisation. The job description set out below is not exhaustive and the successful candidate may be required to undertake other responsibilities commensurate with the grade of the post. The job description will be subject to regular review and may be altered in the light of changing business priorities.
Role deliverables
The successful candidate will have responsibility for the following activities:
• assisting the legal team in ensuring that NEST Corporation complies with its legal obligations as an NDPB;
• providing clear and concise legal advice to all areas of the business including advising at trustee level;
• proactively identifying legal risks to the business and developing strategies to mitigate them;
• analysing, researching and summarising legal information and ensuring that such information is relevant taking into account the nature of the business;
• assisting with the management of the legal advice database, keeping records of advice up to date and managing external legal advisers;
• preparing briefings and internal communications;
• internal client liaison;
• assisting and directing the paralegal in managing legal precedents, collating appropriate know-how and managing non-disclosure agreements with third parties.
Candidate requirements
Experience requiredPersonal attributes required
The successful candidate will have the following skills:
• confidence in analysing and presenting legal risk to individuals at Executive level and a solution-orientated approach to legal issues;
• an understanding of when to seek assistance and input from more senior lawyers and when to work independently;
• delivery-focussed;
• an ability to see the wider issues affecting the organisation and identify and pre-empt problems;
• an understanding of how to manage their workload, when to outsource and how to manage external legal advisers and control costs;
• the ability and confidence to challenge different parts of the business and an understanding of when to push back and when to escalate matters;
• the ability to make effective decisions quickly sometimes with limited information whilst understanding the need to be able to objectively justify the reasons for those decisions;
• an aptitude for reviewing complex legislation, legal texts and case law and summarising the content accurately and concisely;
• the ability to learn new areas of law quickly and to appreciate the wider concerns of the organisation as a public body;
• the capacity to balance strict legal analysis with commercial imperatives and to structure advice in a pragmatic manner;
• strong time management skills and the ability to manage a high volume of work;
• a creative approach to problem solving;
• excellent attention to detail and organisational skills.
Education/qualification requirements
Essential
• 0-2 years PQE;
• strong academics;
• some experience of IP law, data protection law and general commercial law;
• some understanding of public law.
Desirable
• previous experience in an in-house environment.
Conclusion
This role offers an opportunity for the right applicant to join the organisation at a very exciting time and to have a tangible impact on how legal services are provided to the organisation. Expectations for delivery in this role are high and the environment is fast-paced and high profile.
If you are ready for a rewarding role in an organisation that is set to assist NEST Corporation in transforming the pensions landscape we look forward to hearing from you. If you're looking to work in dynamic start up environment, which is intellectually challenging and will enable you to build a senior level business network, please visit our careers page to view the full job description and apply.
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