Legal Counsel

First Recruitment Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

First Recruitment Group seeks a Legal Counsel for a major Energy Transition project in South West London. The role targets candidates with 2–4 years PQE and experience in CCS or renewables, with preference for private practice background.

Responsibilities include drafting and negotiating a wide range of agreements, supporting financing, acquisitions, and regulatory compliance. Hybrid work arrangement: 8 days/month from home.

Qualifications

• Law degree with strong academic results.
• Qualified solicitor or barrister.
• Strong knowledge of CCS, energy/regulatory law.
• Experience in UK oil & gas, energy transition or infrastructure projects.
• Excellent drafting and negotiation skills.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal support across the Energy Transition project and related agreements.
• Draft/ negotiate real estate, planning, and commercial agreements; EPC and project contracts.
• Advise on financing, acquisitions/divestments, and governance matters.
• Support secretarial activities and compliance within the project scope.
• Assist with dispute resolution including litigation, arbitration and mediation.

Skills

Drafting

Negotiation

Regulatory knowledge

English fluency

Energy transition/ CCS knowledge

Education

Law degree

Qualified solicitor/barrister

Job description

South West London – 8 days per month working from home

A Legal Counsel is required to work for a large Energy business in their offices in South West London. This role would be ideal for a candidate with 2 – 4 years of PQE experience.

This role will be specifically supporting a large Energy Transition project and the ideal candidate will have some exposure to renewables/ sustainability/ CCS areas but experience within pipelines, utilities, infrastructure or hydrocarbons would also be considered

Candidates from either in-house or private practice will be considered, however there is a preference for private practice experience.

Role summary

• As the Legal Counsel, you will be responsible for providing legal support across a broad range of matters related to the Energy Transition (Carbon Capture Storage) project.

Main responsibilities:

• Support the legal function in providing high-quality, proactive and commercially focused legal advice and support, in connection with its operations, its Regulated Entity Status and all aspects of the Project, including the Economic Licence and related agreements, CCS Network Code, regulatory compliance, structuring, financing, real estate, consenting, regulators, project build (engineering, contracting etc.), partners, emitters.
• As the Legal Counsel, you will support the legal function in providing legal advice and assistance to CCS Activities in the UK. This will include work on drafting/negotiating/amending (where appropriate with external advice and support from relevant group functions) real estate and planning agreements and documentation, commercial agreements, construction and engineering agreements (e.g. EPC), agreements with government, CO2 emitters and any other party required to enable the development of transportation and storage activities, financing, investment and divestment agreements, decommissioning security agreements, intra-group service agreements confidentiality agreements and transfer/novation agreements.
• Support the legal function in providing legal advice and assistance relating to financing and acquisition and divestiture activities related to CCS Activities in the UK and, on a case-by-case basis and, subject to projects Regulated Entity Status, the wider group.
• As the Legal Counsel, you will support, when necessary, activities related to financing, acquisition and divestiture, international projects & transactions, and shared legal services to affiliated business units / departments
• Support the legal function with legal advice and assistance related to company secretarial activities of the project, and subject to the projects Regulated Entity Status, the wider group.
• Support the legal function during dispute resolution including litigation, arbitration, mediation and expert determination.
• As the Legal Counsel, you will subject to the projects Regulated Entity Status, support the legal function in providing English law advice for CCS affiliates within the wider group.
• Foster internal compliance with respect to the internal policies, procedures and guidelines including matters related to HS&E, Anti-Corruption Compliance Guidelines, Law 231, Claims Reporting, Sarbanes-Oxley, etc.
• As the Legal Counsel, you will develop, manage and operate document/information management systems to support the provision of effective legal advice to the Project.
• Comply fully with company Code of Ethics and the Compliance Model (or equivalent internal policies and procedures).

Skills and experience required:

• Degree in Law with strong academic results.
• As the Legal Counsel, you will be a qualified solicitor/barrister or equivalent.
• Strong working knowledge of and relevant experience in some of the following: the UKCS upstream oil and gas industry, CCS, renewable energy development projects, and/or large infrastructure projects
• Strong legal knowledge, particularly in the areas of CCS, commercial law, regulatory law and/or energy & environmental law.
• Good understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with transitioning from an oil and gas industry to a low carbon future.
• Strong drafting, negotiation, and analytical skills.
• As the Legal Counsel, you will have strong written and verbal communication skills, able to liaise effectively with all stakeholders across the business.
• Fluent level of English. Knowledge of any other language would be a plus.

As part of putting people first, we strive to be an equal opportunities employer and we are always looking to increase the diversity of our workforce, working closely with our clients to ensure everyone is included.

Sector: Commercial, Admin & Office Support