In-House Counsel (Mid-Level) - Client's Terms

Bird & Bird; London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Bird & Bird is seeking a Mid-Level In-House Counsel to join its Office of the General Counsel team. This role involves advising on contract terms, managing client engagement agreements, and supervising junior legal staff in a dynamic environment. Candidates should have substantial legal experience, particularly in commercial matters, alongside strong problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.

Qualifications

• Private practice experience preferred.
• Proven experience in commercial matters and client terms work.
• Ability to handle complex workflow with effective prioritization.

Responsibilities

• Advise on client engagement terms and maintain the firm's own terms.
• Supervise junior team members and provide training.
• Manage risk queries and present to stakeholders.

Skills

Team player

Diplomatic communication

Problem solving

Stakeholder management

Attention to detail

Education

Qualified Solicitor (or overseas equivalent)

4+ years post qualification experience

Tools

Outlook

Word

Excel

Document management

AI for enhancing outputs

Job description

In-House Counsel (Mid-Level) - Client's Terms

Join to apply for the In-House Counsel (Mid-Level) - Client's Terms role at Bird & Bird

In-House Counsel (Mid-Level) - Client's Terms

Join to apply for the In-House Counsel (Mid-Level) - Client's Terms role at Bird & Bird

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An excellent opportunity has arisen for an in-house professional to join the central Office of the General Counsel (OGC) team as a Commercial (Client’s terms) specialist.

The position would be ideally suited to an individual with experience of working within the in-house team of a comparable business or someone looking for their first in-house legal role.

The team

The OGC team is the firm’s in-house legal team, which reports to the General Counsel, working alongside the Risk and Compliance team. The OGC at Bird & Bird is committed to providing a consistently high level of service for the firm and its partners and staff. Under the leadership of the team’s Legal Director, it is aligned with and supports the firm's strategy, always promoting a One Firm culture.

The function currently comprises a central team in London, with a team of 8 staff, consisting of a mixture of lawyers and non-lawyers.

The team deals with a variety of issues, from advising on, drafting and negotiating the terms in which the firm engages with its clients, its suppliers and other third parties, advising on commercial business decisions, legal tech, innovation, ESG, privacy, the Firm’s corporate affairs, and other areas of operational risk management. As such it plays a key role in protecting the Bird & Bird brand and promoting the commercial interests of the Firm. We are looking for candidates with a keen interest in the client’s terms area of work, and a pragmatic and commercial approach, who are looking to develop their skills.

What you'll do

Reporting to the Legal Director of the OGC, the role will join an existing team of lawyers and non-lawyers supporting the Firm on its legal relationship with its clients, with an opportunity to contribute more broadly to the remainder of the team’s activities. In particular, the successful candidate will:

• Advise on Clients own engagement terms (e.g. Framework Agreements, Outside Counsel Guidelines amendments to the Firm’s own terms), RFP’s, Engagement Terms with professional third parties and associated queries and other related documents;
• Maintain the firm’s own Engagement terms (globally) and dealing with client and internal queries in relation to these;
• Advise on, draft and negotiate secondment arrangements, agreements with third parties and alternative business offerings;
• Supervise the work of more junior members of the OGC team working in the above workstream;
• Draw together input from subject matter experts, including on information security, conflicts, SRA regulations, insurance, tax and privacy;
• Deal with ad hoc risk queries, being a trusted advisor on a wide range of risk issues.
• Work with the Client Engagement workstream lead, to develop and run any appropriate training for internal stakeholders and upskill more junior team members;
• Present to stakeholder groups, to promote the team and position it as trusted advisor to the Firm; and
• Initiate change where appropriate, build internal and external networks to expand and improve the service offered to the Firm by the team, and raise team profile.

About you

Your skills and attributes

• Excellent team player
• Private practice experience preferred
• A confident yet diplomatic manner – someone adept at explaining new concepts to a group of people and tactfully challenging the status quo, both orally and in writing
• Ability and enthusiasm to handle complex workflow and team pressures by prioritising work effectively and identifying level of detail needed for each task
• Conscientious and methodical approach to problem solving
• Respecting need for discretion
• Excellent persuasive and reasoning skills and the ability to recognise when to escalate an issue and to whom
• Knowledge of key areas of the law by providing clear, precise, practical advice
• The ability to use initiative and a confidence built upon solid success and achievements
• The ability to liaise effectively with internal stakeholders as required
• Delegation and supervisory skills where appropriate
• A commitment regularly to update your own technical expertise and to achieve continuous improvement and development

Qualifications and experience

• Qualified Solicitor (or overseas equivalent) with at least 4 years post qualification experience
• Proven prior experience in working with commercial matters is essential
• Proven experience in clients terms (or industry equivalent) work
• A clear understanding of the importance of high standards of client care and attention to detail
• Essential applications experience: Outlook, Word, Excel and document management, with an understanding and wiliness to work with AI to enhance team outputs
• Experience in working with AI preferred

The main responsibilities of this role are outlined above; however, this description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time to ensure the smooth running of the department. The role may require some working outside our normal working hours of 9:30am- 5:30pm.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Legal

• Industries

  Law Practice

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