Commercial Lawyer

BT Group; London Colney; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a skilled commercial lawyer to join their dynamic team. This role involves providing legal advice and support for key supplier and customer contracts, helping to drive the company's ambitious fibre expansion strategy across the UK. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in commercial contracts law and telecoms regulations, along with excellent stakeholder management skills. You'll work collaboratively with a diverse team, contributing to best practices and developing training initiatives. This is a fantastic opportunity to make a significant impact in a forward-thinking organization committed to inclusivity and growth.

Benefits

10% on target bonus

Equal family leave

Enhanced women’s health support

25 days annual leave

24/7 private virtual GP appointments

2 weeks carer’s leave

World-class training and development

BT Shares Saving schemes

Qualifications

• Expert in commercial contracts law with telecoms regulatory knowledge.
• 5+ years PQE in a legal or commercial environment.

Responsibilities

• Deliver and shape the ID Legal Team strategy.
• Provide legal and litigation advice to key stakeholders.

Skills

Commercial Contracts Law

Telecoms Regulatory Framework

Stakeholder Management

Time Management

Self-Motivation

Education

Qualified Solicitor or Barrister

5+ Years PQE

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

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Posting Date: 1 May 2025

Function: Legal and Governance

Unit: Openreach

Location:

Gracechurch St (4964), London, United Kingdom

Locations - London, Belfast and Sheffield

About Openreach

Openreach Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of BT Group. We look after the copper wires and fibre cables that connect homes and businesses to phone and broadband. Our customers are the 650+ communications providers who sell phone and broadband services to these households and businesses.

Reporting to the Senior Commercial Lawyer Infrastructure Development, the commercial lawyer will help join the challenge of Openreach’s big, bold ambitions to expand our full fibre coverage across the UK through providing commercial legal advice, risk assessments, drafting and solutions for:

Our key supplier management clients who work with key manufacturer and civils suppliers underpinning our fibre network build/services; and our key strategic customer clients who work with both public and private sector customers/partners involved in our fibre network build.

We are a key enable in helping Openreach to achieve our fibre build ambitions. The Infrastructure Development (ID) Legal Team covers all areas relating to supply and customer agreements concerning network build. These include providing legal support on our key supplier arrangements for services and equipment, public sector customer contracts and also private sector agreements ranging from funding agreements with local bodies to help expand our fibre footprint with the help of government subsidy (over £1.5bn secured to date for superfast coverage and nearly 800m to date secured linked to the Government’s Gigabit full fibre programme), delivery of fibre build to enable public/private sector sites (including specialist site customers) with fibre network solutions. We also support our teams to get wayleaves in place at scale with portfolio owners/suppliers with fibre networks in multi dwelling units, work with the developers to enable our fibre to go to new development sites.

What you’ll be doing

• Accountable for helping to deliver and shaping the ID Legal Team strategy to enable the achievement of the Team goals with specific focus on supply side key stakeholder activities.
• Provide additional support to other ID Legal areas such as complex customer contract activities.
• Support key stakeholders in the provision of general legal and litigation advice
• Act as a collaborative team member independently delivering on own commitments, escalating and seeking support from more experienced lawyers, commercial and regulatory specialists as appropriate
• Where appropriate advise BT on commercial legal matters and disputes; have an active role in the BT CRLT, inputting into and supporting the implementation of BT CRLT strategy and knowledge sharing / best practice development
• Contribute to the development of the Openreach and commercial strategy and policies, proactively identifying relevant issues and business improvements, and implement these in respect of specific matters
• Design and deliver training, education & awareness activities for LRE, Openreach and the broader BT community and develop and contribute to best practice documents e.g. legal privilege, disclosure, TCC and Code litigation process
• Proactively raising relevant issues and business improvements to the SLT and develop a plan to implement these in respect of specific matters

The skills you'll need

• Be an expert in the field of commercial contracts law and a developing expertise in the Openreach telecoms regulatory framework
• Qualified solicitor or barrister with good knowledge and relevant experience in a legal or commercial environment
• 5 years+ PQE
• Have experience supporting major commercial and/or contentious matters.
• Understand the commercial legal aspects of a wide range of matters, with an ability to manage multiple stakeholders and projects working to tight deadline
• Excellent telephone and computer skills
• Excellent self-motivation and time management skills
• Ability to handle and prioritise workloads
• 10% on target bonus
• From January 2025, equal family leave: receive 18 weeks at full pay, 8 weeks at half pay and 26 weeks at the statutory rate. It’s for all parents, no matter how your family is made up.
• Enhanced women’s health support: including help with menopause symptoms, cancer screenings, period care and more.
• 25 days annual leave (not including bank holidays), increasing with service
• 24/7 private virtual GP appointments for UK colleagues
• 2 weeks carer’s leave
• World-class training and development opportunities
• Option to join BT Shares Saving schemes.

Looking in:
Leading inclusively and Safely
I inspire and build trust through self-awareness, honesty and integrity.
Owning outcomes
I take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation.

Looking out:
Delivering for the customer
I execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business.
Commercially savvy
I demonstrate strong commercial focus, bringing an external perspective to decision-making.

Looking to the future:
Growth mindset
I experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation.
Building for the future
I build diverse future-ready teams where all individuals can be at their best.

About Openreach
We employ more than 35,091 people who install, support and maintain the wiring, fibres and connections which link tens of millions of homes and businesses in the UK to our customers’ networks.

Although these roles are listed as full-time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

We will also offer reasonable adjustments for the selection process if required, so please do not hesitate to inform us.

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.