Legal Counsel in Welwyn Garden City

Reporting to the Head of Legal, Contracts and Commercial Legal Team, PayPoint group and part of an in-house team of 10, this is a role for a qualified solicitor to provide support to the PayPoint group on IT and general commercial contracts.

This role is based in our office in Welwyn Garden City 3 days a week with 2 days from home.

MAIN PURPOSE OF ROLE

Take a lead role in engaging with the IT and Procurement teams in order to build strong relationships with those key stakeholders, and therefore provide effective support by:

- reviewing, negotiating and drafting a range of IT and commercial contracts;

- providing legal advice

We are looking for a person who can run matters independently, drive delivery and has the ability to build relationships, and cooperate with a variety of stakeholders.

We have a close-knit team so we are looking for someone with strong team values and who likes to work with their team members.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Drafting, amending and negotiating IT and commercial agreements (with a focus on business to business services and preparation of legal responses to tenders, both private and public).
• To provide expert advice and guidance on a wide range of contract related matters. To lead matters and stakeholders to successful conclusion.
• Dealing with management of commercial contract disputes, where necessary.
• Dealing with general commercial and IT legal issues on an ad-hoc basis.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• Qualified solicitor (3-5 PQE).
• Experience of drafting and negotiating a range of contract types and structures, including SaaS and software licences, as well as a good understanding of key contractual terminology, clauses and concepts.
• Experience influencing and persuading stakeholders on legal advice, whilst also being prepared meld legal advice with acting in a commercially pragmatic manner. Ability to appreciate strategic aims of the organisation and deliver legal advice tailored to such aims.
• Data Protection experience.
• Curiosity to learn and act proactively to improve and better the functioning of a busy commercial organisation.

Desirable:

Exposure to an in-house environment.

Exposure to a financial services environment.

• Experience supporting dispute resolution within the context of a commercial in-house team.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:

Most of the role comprises drafting, reviewing, and providing comments on supplier and IT agreements and other manner of agreements depending on requirements within the PayPoint group and dealing with ad hoc contractual issues as and when required.

Being a point of contact for the Legal Team within the key stakeholders including dealing with pipeline meetings.

e-mail requests and telephone calls from internal customers, senior management, and lawyers, escalating where necessary.

Attending meetings and liaising with client account managers and others internally to establish client “go live” dates and prioritising of workload to ensure deadlines are met.

Supporting other members of the Legal team at PayPoint.

Assisting in the development of precedents along with related policies and process improvements.

Person Specification:

• A willingness to learn more about legal work and the organisation.
• A willingness to take responsibility for work at all times.
• Confident and astute with the ability to build strong working relationships within the company and with external contacts.
• Able to absorb new work environments and contracting practices at pace.
• Possess effective negotiating skills and a good commercial acumen.
• Highly motivated and organised with a good team-working ethic.
• Positive and driven with the ability to work well autonomously when required.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to articulate legal issues to non-legal staff.
• Excellent time management skills with the ability to prioritise, deal with and govern stakeholder expectations around high volume work demands efficiently.