Assistant Legal Counsel | M&A, Corporate Advisory

Greenfields Executive Recruitment & Search Pty Ltd; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Greenfields Executive Recruitment & Search is seeking an Assistant Legal Counsel for the Australian Investment Banking & Capital Markets team in Sydney. You will join a lean legal function, reporting to the Head of Legal, Australia, and serve as second-in-command for the Australian platform.

You will own ECM and M&A matters, instruct external counsel, and provide front office with timely, commercial guidance. A background in ECM funds or listed vehicles is highly valued.

Qualifications

• Admitted in Australia with 5–7 years PQE.
• Experience with ECM, funds, or M&A in-house or top firm.
• Ability to supervise external counsel and work with front office.
• Strong commercial judgement and deal speed.

Responsibilities

• Overseeing ECM transactions: IPOs, secondary raisings, placements and other equity offerings.
• Guiding public and private M&A, including takeover bids and schemes of arrangement.
• Reviewing and negotiating key transaction documentation; drafting handled externally.
• Advising Sales & Trading and Research on regulatory, market conduct and transactional issues.
• Coordinating with institutional clients and offshore stakeholders across APAC, US and EMEA.
• Spotting legal and regulatory issues early and offering solutions.

Skills

Equity capital markets

M&A exposure

Autonomy

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Admitted in Australia (Legal)

Job description

Assistant Legal Counsel | M&A, Corporate Advisory

Greenfields Executive Recruitment & Search – Sydney NSW

Assistant Legal Counsel | Investment Banking & Capital Markets | Open to Equity Capital Markets & Funds Lawyers & M&A Lawyers with Exposure to ECM.

Some in-house roles sit you three floors away from the deal. This one sits you inside it. Our client is a leading global, full-service investment banking and capital markets firm, operating across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The Australian business spans Investment Banking & Capital Markets, Sales & Trading and Research, and the legal function supporting it is deliberately lean. That structure is the opportunity. Reporting directly to the Head of Legal, Australia, you will be second-in-command for the entire Australian platform. Not a cog in a layered team. The person the bankers call.

Important: this is oversight, not execution

If you have spent years in the drafting trenches, read this part carefully. You will not be grinding out prospectuses and offer documents on the tools. That work sits with external counsel. Your job is to own the legal position. You will instruct, manage and supervise external counsel across jurisdictions, pressure-test their advice, make the judgement calls, and give the front office a clear commercial answer at deal speed. You bring the market knowledge to direct the work, challenge it, and know immediately when something is off. Someone else does the heavy drafting. For a lot of practitioners, that is precisely the move they have been waiting for.

You do not need to be a career ECM lawyer and can be an M&A lawyer who's had exposure to ECM matters

This is worth saying plainly because it is where most people count themselves out too early. Yes, we would love to hear from lawyers who have run ECM transactions directly. But we are equally interested in funds lawyers and M&A lawyers whose exposure to ECM has come through their practice. If you have worked on listed funds and listed investment vehicles, fund IPOs and raisings, unit and stapled structures, PDS and disclosure work, responsible entity and AFSL matters, or the M&A and capital raising activity of the funds you advise, you have been operating in this world already. What the client is looking for is a lawyer who understands how equity capital is raised, disclosed, and regulated in Australia. The route you took to that understanding is far less important than having it.

What the role covers

• Overseeing ECM transactions: IPOs, secondary raisings, placements and other equity offerings across Australia, APAC and global mandates
• Guiding public and private M&A, including takeover bids, schemes of arrangement and strategic advisory work
• Reviewing and negotiating key transaction documentation, with execution-level drafting handled externally
• Advising Sales & Trading and Research on regulatory, market conduct and transactional issues across equity products, distribution and research activity
• Applying the Corporations Act, ASX Listing Rules and Australian financial services regulation commercially, not academically
• Coordinating with institutional clients and offshore stakeholders across APAC, the US and EMEA
• Spotting legal and regulatory issues early and offering solutions, not just risk

Who we want to hear from

Admitted in Australia (or another common law jurisdiction with strong Australian market experience), with roughly 5 to 7 years PQE from a top-tier Australian or leading international firm, or a comparable in-house role in an investment bank. The door is open to Equity Capital Markets & Funds Lawyers from either direction: ECM practitioners, funds lawyers and M&A lawyers who have picked up genuine capital markets exposure along the way. Public or private M&A experience is a useful addition rather than a hard gate. What matters most is judgement. You will operate with real autonomy, engage credibly with senior front-office stakeholders and institutional clients, and run multiple complex matters at pace.

Why this one is different

A rare, high-visibility, second-in-command seat inside a global investment bank. Genuine responsibility, unusual breadth, and proximity to the people making the decisions. If you are commercially minded, intellectually curious, and would rather be directing the deal than drafting for it, this is a step up rather than a step sideways.

About Greenfields Executive Recruitment & Search

Greenfields is one of Sydney's most highly valued, top ranked executive search firms in legal, governance, risk, compliance and company secretarial appointments. We are frequently retained by ASX-listed companies, private and family-owned groups, not-for-profits and government to appoint Chief Legal Officers, General Counsel, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Heads of Legal, Heads of Legal, Governance, Risk and Compliance, Head of Governance and Company Secretary, Heads of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), and highly technical senior in-house counsel.

Interested?

This search is being led by Catherine Wolfe-Coote, Founder & Managing Director of Greenfields Executive Recruitment & Search. Apply in confidence or contact Catherine directly for a discreet conversation about the role.

Catherine Wolfe-Coote Founder & Managing Director Greenfields Executive Recruitment & Search ***email_hidden***