Legal Counsel - Commercial Lawyer - Manager - Permanent - London

Ernst & Young Advisory Services Sdn Bhd; London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player seeks a Legal Counsel – Commercial Contract Lawyer to join their high-performing in-house legal team. This role involves providing pragmatic legal advice on a diverse range of contracts and supporting business transformation initiatives. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in commercial law, excellent negotiation skills, and a commitment to delivering results. Join a forward-thinking firm that values flexibility, career development, and a collaborative work environment, where your contributions will help shape the future of legal services.

Benefits

Flexible working arrangements

Career development opportunities

Comprehensive Total Rewards package

Coaching and feedback from colleagues

Qualifications

• 5+ years of post-qualification experience in a reputable law firm or in-house.
• Ability to provide practical legal advice in a fast-paced environment.

Responsibilities

• Drafting and negotiating complex contracts, including Master Services Agreements.
• Providing legal advice to various service lines and internal support functions.

Skills

Negotiation Skills

Communication Skills

Commercial Awareness

Teamwork

Problem Solving

Education

Post-qualification experience

Job description

Press Tab to Move to Skip to Content Link

Location: London

Other locations: Primary Location Only

Date: May 6, 2025

Requisition ID: 1602202

EY is a global network of professional services firms engaged in consulting, transaction,assurance and tax services with member firms in over 170 countries worldwide. The UK firm of Ernst & Young LLP has over 900 partners and 20,000 employees.

The UK Legal team is well established and highly regarded. Led by our General Counsel, Lisa Cameron, we are a team of 30+ lawyers supported by 4 paralegals. The UK Legal team also forms part of a Global legal function.

The opportunity
We have a vacancy for a Legal Counsel – Commercial Contract Lawyer within our high performing and ambitious in-house legal team. We respond to business transformation and innovation, enjoying a varied and challenging workload, and support the new EY All in Strategy by showing curiosity, intelligence and energy to deliver prompt, pragmatic, adaptable and commercial legal advice to all levels within our business.

Your key responsibilities
The work within the UK Legal team is highly varied and covers all legal issues arising from the running of a professional services business. Much of the legal work is at the cutting edge of business practice as the firm constantly finds innovative ways to help our clients’ businesses.

This in-house role includes:

• Advising on, drafting and negotiating contracts, such as Master Services Agreements and Global Framework Agreements with our clients as well as other complex contractual arrangements pursuant to which we provide an ever more diverse range ofservices. These include:
  • Subcontracts, where EY is either prime contractor or subcontractor;
  • Collaboration agreements;
  • Managed services and outsourcing agreements;
  • Software and Licensing agreements (including SaaS);
  • Government and public sector agreements;
  • Advising on tenders and RFP responses;
  • Secondment agreements;
  • Working on large complex commercial contracts; and
  • Advising on, drafting and negotiating contracts with suppliers.
• General: providing legal advice to the firm’s service lines and its other internal support functions such as real estate and facilities, procurement, finance, HR, IT, knowledge and marketing, providing training and guidance to service line colleagues on legal and contractual issues, developing contract templates, policies and guidance and the opportunity to be the legal lead on firm-wide projects.
  

Skills and attributes for success

• Strong team player with excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• Demonstrable commitment to the attributes of our highest performing teams – focus on results, accepting of accountability, committed, embraces healthy conflict, builds trust.
• Keeps calm and copes well with conflicting and ever-changing deadlines.
• Ability to lead, provide a view, take responsibility and ownership of issues, including an ability to take diƯicult decisions and provide substantiated arguments.
• Commercial awareness of the business issues facing us as we evolve, coupled with an active desire to get alongside our business, scanning the horizon for new service offerings to provide legal insight and support.

To qualify for the role you must have

• 5+ years of post-qualification experience.
• Significant experience gained either in a reputable City law firm (or equivalent) and/or inhouse
• Ability to provide practical legal advice and support with a high degree of professionalism in a fast-paced environment and to establish a high degree of credibility, respect and trust at all levels.

Ideally, you’ll also have

• Proven ability to establish a high degree of credibility, respect and trust at all levels, including with senior members of the firm, some of whom have a considerable understanding of the law.

What we look for

• A self-starter, adept at responding promptly/juggling deadlines who actively looks to build relationships based on trust and confidence.

What working at EY oƯers
We Offer a competitive remuneration package where you’ll be rewarded for your individual andteam performance. Our comprehensive Total Rewards package includes support for flexible working and career development, and with FlexEY you can select benefits that suit your needs,covering holidays, health and well-being, insurance, savings and a wide range of discounts, offers and promotions. Plus, we offer:

• Support, coaching and feedback from some of the most engaging colleagues around
• Opportunities to develop new skills and progress your career
• The freedom and flexibility to handle your role in a way that’s right for you

EY is committed to being an inclusive employer and we are happy to consider flexible working arrangements. We strive to achieve the right balance for our people, enabling us to deliver excellent client service whilst allowing you to build your career without sacrificing your personal priorities. While our client-facing professionals can be required to travel regularly, and at times be based at client sites, our flexible working arrangements can help you to achieve a lifestyle balance.

About EY
As a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, we’re using the finance products, expertise and systems we’ve developed to build a better working world. That starts with a culture that believes in giving you the training, opportunities and creative freedom to make things better. Whenever you join, however long you stay, the exceptional EY experience lasts a lifetime. And with a commitment to hiring and developing the most passionate people, we’ll make our ambition to be the best employer a reality.

If you can confidently demonstrate that you meet the criteria above, please contact us as soon as possible.

Join us in building a better working world

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.