Legal Counsel

Costain Group PLC; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A strategic legal firm in the UK is looking for a legal professional to provide advice on construction contracts and ensure compliance with regulations. Candidates should possess a law degree and relevant post-qualification experience (PQE) with strong skills in drafting contracts and managing risks. This role promotes collaboration and efficiency within a high-performing team aiming for excellence. The firm values members who can work independently as well as part of a team, with effective communication skills and a proactive approach.

Qualifications

• Experience of PQE.
• Transactional contract experience across demand and supply sides.
• Ability to present complex matters clearly.
• Experience in navigating compliance and regulatory issues.

Responsibilities

• Review, draft and advise on construction contracts.
• Oversee external legal support on projects.
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Support risk identification and management.
• Enhance team performance using new technologies.

Skills

Contract drafting & negotiation

Commercial awareness

Strong communication skills

Proactive self-starter

Technical skills

Compliance/regulatory understanding

Education

Law degree

Job description

You will be a member of the Legal & Company Secretarial team which provides strategic legal advice, governance support and compliance expertise to the Group. This role involves reviewing, drafting and advising on construction contracts (NEC focus) as well as JV agreements, consultancy contracts, variations, settlement agreements, heads of terms, collaboration agreements, and ancillary contract documents. It will also include overseeing external legal support on projects, ensuring procedures and processes are in place to meet all applicable laws and regulations, supporting the business to identify risk and manage it, and contributing to the team’s ambition to be high‑performing through new technologies and processes to improve efficiency. You will be expected to be independent or part of a team, and should bring clarity, focus, and inclusion to all work.

Responsibilities

1. Review, draft and advise on construction contracts (NEC focus) as well as JV agreements, consultancy contracts, variations, settlement agreements, heads of terms, collaboration agreements, and ancillary contract documents.
2. Oversee external legal support on projects, where required.
3. Work with the wider legal team and the business to ensure procedures and processes are in place to ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
4. Support the business to identify risk and manage or mitigate that risk.
5. Support the team's ambition to be high‑performing, including identifying and implementing new technologies and processes to improve efficiency.
6. Have an ambition for Costain by delivering your part in ensuring Costain is a success and realises its potential to become a leader across our fields of expertise.
7. Use inclusion to encourage collaboration and work together to deliver our work as a close‑knit community built on trust, equity and positive approaches.
8. Bring clarity and focus to what we do, challenging ourselves to remain clear and focused to ensure we land our work in the most effective, consistent ways possible.
9. Can work independently as well as part of a team.

Qualifications

• Experience of PQE.
• Transactional contract experience ideally both demand and supply side.
• Strong technical skills in contract drafting & negotiation.
• Commercial awareness with strong business acumen and a desire to support business objectives.
• Ability to present key messages/complex matters in a clear, concise and engaging manner. Strong communication (written and verbal) skills.
• Proactive self‑starter who is highly organised and able to handle many ongoing and changing priorities without impact on outputs.
• Experience in helping to navigate and train business teams on compliance/regulatory issues (ESG, ABC, competition).
• Experience of standard form construction and/or consulting contracts (e.g. NEC, FIDIC, JCT).
• Demonstrable construction sector experience (contentious and/or non‑contentious).
• Prior exposure to IP/Software/Consultancy agreements.
• Prior experience in an in‑house legal team (or on secondment).
• Able to demonstrate behaviours of a high‑performing team: 1) Acting as owners – feeling and acting empowered to drive our work forward and make the best decisions for our future; 2) Using curiosity to grow our business – being excited, connected and integral to growing and developing what we offer and how we deliver it.
• Law degree.
• Ability to hold a practising certificate in England & Wales (or other UK area).