Senior Legal Counsel recruitment

THE COMPANY

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT), is the world’s leading provider of financial services to institutional investors, to which it provides: custody and management of their assets; accounting, daily pricing, and administration of their funds; the information and analytical tools that help them make investment decisions; and the foreign exchange, cash management, credit and electronic trading services that help them negotiate complex, global financial markets efficiently and effectively. Founded as a bank in 1792 in Boston, Massachusetts, State Street had $21.8 trillion in assets under custody and administration and $1.9 trillion in assets under management at March 31, 2012. State Street operates in 29 countries and more than 100 geographic markets and employs more than 29,000 people worldwide.

STATE STREET GLOBAL MARKETS

State Street Global Markets provides specialized research, multi-asset trading, securities lending and innovative portfolio strategies to owners and managers of institutional assets.  Our goal is to enhance and preserve portfolio values for our customers through original investment behaviour research, proprietary portfolio and risk management technologies, trading optimization and global trade connectivity.  Through our extensive global footprint, we provide diverse liquidity and crossing that support cost-effective solutions for our customers’ needs across a variety of business including   Equity Trading and Related Products (Including Commission Sharing and Research Products), Electronic Trading Solutions, Portfolio Solutions (Including Transition Management and Currency Management), Derivatives Clearing, Foreign Exchange trading, Futures, Proprietary Investment Behavior Research and Securities Lending.

The Global Market Legal Team is an expanding and business focused team, currently comprising nineteen lawyers in Boston, eight lawyers in London and three in Hong Kong. While the London Global Markets Legal Team reports to the Head of Global Markets Legal in Boston, it sits within the European Legal Department which has overall responsibility for the custody, asset management and global markets business of State Street in the EMEA region.

RESPONSIBILITIES

The candidate will perform the critical role of Legal Counsel and Vice President within the Global Markets London Legal Team and will focus primarily on legal support and advice for Equity Trading and Related Products, Portfolio Solutions, Electronic Trading Solutions, Derivatives Clearing, and Proprietary Investment Behavior Research. The candidate will also work with the current members of the Global Markets Legal Team covering Futures, Securities Lending and Foreign Exchange trading. The candidate will report to the Managing Counsel of Global Markets Legal, EMEA and will assume management responsibilities within Global Markets Legal, EMEA as delegated by the Managing Counsel. The candidate will review and analyze proposed legislation worldwide relating to these areas and provide sound advice and creative legal solutions to business partners. The role will also cover corporate support across the whole range of Global Markets, to provide both continuing support to existing businesses and enable State Street to meet its growth objectives in strategic new business areas throughout EMEA.

The candidate will have the following duties:

• Providing sound legal advice, guidance and judgement in relation to all legal issues pertaining to the business and in particular the contractual and regulatory issues;

• Negotiation and drafting of the contractual documentation in designated areas of responsibility, with ability to review, draft and negotiate template and bespoke documentation with clients;

• Participation in business development initiatives and local implementation of global initiatives as required; develop appropriate documentation and assist in the establishment of policies for new businesses;

• Ensure that existing and new documentation reflects best practice and reflects changes in law, regulation or practice;

• Ensure that local legal and regulatory requirements are well understood within the supported business areas and the Global Markets London Legal Team and that any differences are appropriately addressed.

• Communicating effectively and regularly with the Managing Counsel of Global Markets Legal, EMEA on all regulatory and contractual matters facing Global Markets, Europe;

• Responsibility for corporate support to Global Markets legal entities and involvement in corporate governance issues arising in connection with United Kingdom entities;

• Ensuring that corporate policy is complied with and any exception requests are dealt with efficiently and collaboratively;

• Active participation and liaison with colleagues within compliance, risk, operations and business teams as well as colleagues in the Global Markets Legal Team and, in relation to regulatory matters, the European Legal Department;

• Liaising with external advisors and ensuring that the use of external advisors is appropriate, cost effective and commercially focused.

QUALIFICATIONS / REQUIREMENTS/SKILLS

• UK or equivalent qualified solicitor with seven to ten (7-10) years post qualification experience gained, preferably in the capital markets and/or derivatives department of a major law firm, although in-house experience in a similar environment acceptable.

• Relevant experience in and command of issues relating to transactions and documentation in core areas of capital markets, an ability to keep abreast of current industry trends;

• Strong knowledge of regulatory environment in the United Kingdom and Europe (FSA, MiFID, etc.), with knowledge of regulations in the United States beneficial, but not required. 

• Excellent drafting and negotiating skills

• Excellent communication and presentation skills

• Results-oriented with strong project management and execution skills