Assistant In-House Commercial Counsel

Ward Hadaway; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 82,000; Full time

Job summary

Ward Hadaway is seeking a qualified commercial lawyer to join the General Counsel Team in Newcastle or Leeds. The role requires 2–3 years’ experience working on commercial, legal and regulatory matters, including data protection and emerging technologies such as AI.

You will partner with stakeholders to protect and enable the Firm's strategic objectives. Based in a busy in-house team, you will advise on commercial contracts, risk, compliance and data privacy, while supporting firm-wide projects

Qualifications

• 2–3 years' experience as a commercial lawyer in private practice or in-house.
• Experience across commercial, legal and regulatory matters.
• Strong ability to advise on data protection and AI use.
• Ability to engage with senior stakeholders and Partners.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Review commercial documents to identify legal and commercial risk, including negotiations and drafting.
• Assist with data protection compliance, review policies, DPIAs and data sharing agreements.
• Promote healthy risk culture and provide advice to Partners and staff.
• Provide support on the use of AI across the firm.
• Draft internal policies and procedures with the GC team.
• Build strong relationships across fee earners and business service departments.
• Identify and implement proactive legal solutions to minimise risk.
• Act as a focal point for commercial/legal queries across the Firm.

Skills

Commercial law

Contract drafting

Data protection

Regulatory compliance

AI knowledge

Education

Solicitor qualification

Job description

This is a Permanent , Full Time vacancy that will close in 11 days at 23:59 GMT .

The Vacancy

Join our established General Counsel Team in Newcastle or Leeds and play a key role in supporting the Firm's commercial and risk management activities.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with ideally 2-3 years' experience of working as a commercial lawyer either in private practice or in-house to work across a broad range of commercial, legal, and regulatory matters. You will partner with stakeholders across the business to protect and enable the Firm's strategic objectives.

Working as part of a busy and collaborative in-house team, you will advise on a variety of legal and regulatory topics, including commercial contracts, risk, compliance, data protection, and emerging technologies such as AI. You'll also have the opportunity to contribute to Firm-wide projects and initiatives, building relationships with senior stakeholders across both legal and business services functions as a trusted legal adviser.

You will drive a positive risk culture by delivering commercial legal advice, managing legal and regulatory challenges, and provide practical solutions as a key contact within the Firm.

What will I be doing?

• Reviewing of commercial documents (including supplier agreements, software licences, framework agreements, engagement terms) to identify and highlight legal and commercial risk to the Firm, to include negotiations where necessary and occasional drafting.
• Assisting with data protection compliance and application across the Firm, to include review of current policies and procedures as well as data sharing agreements, and also breach management and advising internal stakeholders on DPIAs in conjunction with Information Security Management (this responsibility is desirable).
• Working with the In-House legal team to promote and embed a healthy risk culture Firm-wide, supporting the Firm's risk management culture and providing advice to Partners and employees relating to commercial agreements and risk matters.
• Providing support and handling queries on use of AI across the firm.
• Assisting in drafting internal policies and procedures falling within the responsibility of the General Counsel Team in conjunction with the Policies & Procedures Committee.
• Building strong relationships across all fee earner and business service departments.
• Anticipating and mitigating risks to the Firm and producing related guidance and procedures where appropriate.
• Identifying and implementing proactive legal solutions that minimise risk across the business.
• Assisting the team in being a focal point for commercial/agreement related legal queries across the Firm.

You'll have

• Qualified legal experience
• Excellent knowledge of commercial/contract law
• High level of attention to detail
• Ideally 2-3 years' experience of working as a commercial lawyer either in private practice or in-house
• Strong relationship building skills across all levels
• Ability to balance a pragmatic and commercial approach with working in a highly regulated sector
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Desirable skills and attributes

• Strong interest in data protection compliance and AI
• Proven experience of reviewing and advising on data provisions within contracts and also dealing reactively with queries around data, including DPIA's and data breaches
• Good understanding of tendering processes for framework and call off agreements
• Strong knowledge of SRA regulation

About us

We're proud to be an independent, full-service law firm providing exceptional legal expertise to businesses, the built environment, healthcare, the public and third sectors, and private individuals. With several office locations around the UK we're one of the UK's Top 100 law firms. When you join us you’ll be part of a team of over 500 passionate and talented individuals who take pride in offering an exciting and supportive environment allowing you to thrive.

We're passionate about promoting wellbeing and equality, diversity and inclusion, with dedicated committees to support ongoing efforts. We recognise that a healthy and thriving Firm filled with individuality and differences strengthens our teams, our clients and our communities.

What we can offer you

We’re committed to being a firm focused on support, development, wellbeing and inclusion and we’re always striving to improve. Our commitment to this has been recognised by our achievement of our Gold Investors in People award and by our Hive HR Employee Voice certification.

We reward our people with a whole range of benefits, some core and some flexible, designed to shape a reward package that’s right for you – now and in the future. Our core benefits include:

• An enhanced pension scheme with employer matched contributions of up to 6%.
• 25 days' annual leave + bank holidays (increasing to 28 days with length of service). There is also the option to purchase up to 5 additional days.
• Life assurance cover of 4 times basic salary, with the option to purchase additional cover.
• A range of health and wellbeing benefits.
• Hybrid working with a minimum requirement of 2 days per week working from one of our offices.
• We also have a flexible benefits programme where you can purchase a wide range of additional benefits.

The Company

Ward Hadaway is a full-service, UK Top 100 law firm providing exceptional legal expertise to businesses, public and third sectors, and individuals.

From our offices in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Teesside, we combine regional strength with national influence to deliver high-quality, tailored solutions that drive success for our clients.

We remove ambiguity and provide a clear direction and certainty. We build trust with each other and our clients through honest, transparent interactions.

• Respectful

We succeed together. We build and maintain an inclusive firm in which difference is recognised, valued and harnessed.

• Ambitious

We constantly strive and innovate to be the best we can be for ourselves, our teams and the firm.