Legal Advisor

Sanlam; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 700 000 - 900 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading investment firm in Sandton seeks a legal attorney to provide risk management and legal advice. The role involves drafting and negotiating contracts, managing stakeholder relationships, and ensuring effective legal processes. Ideal candidates will have an LLB degree and at least 5 years of experience in corporate legal departments focusing on banking and finance. Opportunities for professional growth are available in a supportive environment.

Qualifications

• Admitted attorney of the High Court with 5+ years of related experience.
• Experience in a corporate legal department or legal practice focused on banking and finance contracts.
• Familiar with fund finance and mergers and acquisitions.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional legal advice and risk management services.
• Draft, review, and negotiate corporate and finance documentation.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with stakeholders.
• Manage legal processes and maintain legal templates.

Skills

Risk Management

Legal documentation

Stakeholder management

Communication Skills

Negotiation Skills

Education

LLB degree

Job description

Who are we?

Sanlam Investment Group
The Sanlam Investment Group is uniquely equipped and positioned to deliver on its purpose of empowering generations to be financially confident, secure and prosperous. Through our vast in-house expertise and strategic partner networks, we can access all asset classes across the globe, private and public, actively and passively managed, to develop investment solutions that are in our clients’ best interests and have a positive impact on society. Backed by the Sanlam Group’s balance sheet, the Sanlam Investment Group has a true competitive advantage in its ability to invest alongside clients, particularly in private markets where impact investing drives the agenda.

Sanlam Alternative Investments (SAI)

The purpose Sanlam Alternative Investments (SAI) business is to help build the African continent and make a real sustainable difference in the emerging economies in which we operate in, aligning to the Sanlam Group’s mission of financial inclusion. The SAI business has a broad range of capabilities that include Private Equity, Specialised Finance, Property, Infrastructure and Partnerships. Sanlam is the biggest non-banking financial institution on the continent, operating in Africa for over 100 years.

What will you do?

To perform the role of a banking and finance / general corporate / private equity and fund attorney in a legal team, providing professional legal advice and risk management services to internal clients to mitigate Sanlam Alternative Investments’ (“SAI”) legal risks.

What will make you successful in this role?

Providing legal advice:

• Participating in the relevant committees and reporting on legal or reputational risks.
• Structuring, negotiation, documentation, and on-going management of legal aspects of transactions within a risk framework acceptable to SAI and Committee’s conditions.
• Provide commercially viable solutions to technical issues.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating corporate, banking, security and finance documentation across the debt, properties, empowerment, and equities sectors such as - committed bilateral and syndicated loans, risk/funded participation agreements, guarantees and indemnities, letters of credit secondary debt trading documentation.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating on transactions related to project finance, equity-based investments, private equity, fund finance, empowerment funding and venture capital.
• Reviewing and negotiating cross-border and international transactions.
• Advising on distressed debt and restructurings.
• Advising on insolvency and litigation issues.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating non-core business documentation.
• Preparation and updating precedent and know-how systems.
• Providing training to the business on topical areas of law.

Manage stakeholder relationships

Build and maintain effective relationships with relevant stakeholders and users.

• Build and maintain effective relationships with relevant stakeholders and users.
• Develop trusting professional internal relationships by keeping relevant stakeholders and users informed of any new changes to the law which may impact their business.
• Develop and manage professional relationships with external clients, external legal counsel and external legal advisors representing client interests.

Manage internal processes

Maintaining and updating legal templates.

• Maintaining and updating legal templates.
• Ensuring sound and efficient legal processes.
• Drafting of high-quality legal agreements.
• Ensuring company’s risk is adequately identified, mitigated and/or managed.
• Providing guidance to SAI lender / financing representative and operations on financial close processes.
• Regular reporting to the SAI Head of Legal on workload, turnaround times and skills development.
• Proactively identifying areas for business and legal improvement.
• Project managing plans identified for improving legal efficiencies.
• Management of appointing, briefing, and monitoring of outside legal counsel whilst containing costs.

Managed Transformation and Change:

• Contribute to a culture conducive to the achievement of transformation goals.
• Participate in the development and implement action plans to address issues raised in culture surveys to improve results.
• Participate in and support corporate responsibility initiatives.
• Achieve operational excellence by supporting the implementation of business optimisation improvement through team engagement.
• Encourage team to generate innovative ideas and share knowledge.

Technical / Professional Knowledge

• Banking knowledge
• Diversity management
• Governance, risk, and controls
• Legal risk and practice management
• Reg and legal principles
• Research and development
• Stakeholder management
• Business writing skills
• anagement information and reporting principles, tools, and mechanisms

Behavioural Competencies

• Good communication skills
• Continuous learning attitude
• Decision making ability
• Managing workload
• Technical / professional knowledge and skills
• Ability to operate independently
• Proactive approach
• To develop innovative and practical solutions and derive risk-based assessments of elements of the transaction
• Team orientated approach
• Ability to work under pressure
• Attention to detail
• Motivated, self-starter
• Deadline orientated
• Accessible
• Responsive

Qualification and Experience

• LLB degree.
• Admitted attorney of the High Court with 5 or more years related experience, post articles.
• Experience as a legal advisor in a corporate legal department or attorney in a legal practice, with a focus on drafting and negotiating banking. finance and corporate contracts.
• LMA drafting and structuring.
• Experience of fund finance, project finance and mergers and acquisitions.
• Dual UK (or other) and RSA qualified attorney preferred but not required.

Knowledge and Skills

Risk Management Compliance and legal projects management Legal advice and documentation reviews Coordinates legal action that may require external legal assistance Utilises negotiation and communication skills and related, risk, financial and legal expertise in the management of the client relationships.

Personal Attributes

Business insight - Contributing through others Builds networks - Contributing through others Manages complexity - Contributing through others Persuades - Contributing through others

Build a successful career with us

We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth. Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.

Core Competencies

Being resilient - Contributing through others Collaborates - Contributing through others Cultivates innovation - Contributing through others Customer focus - Contributing through others Drives results - Contributing through others

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers.

Our commitment to transformation

The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embracesdiversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensure a thriving and sustainable business inSouth Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.