General Counsel

JOB TITLE: General Counsel
PQE REQUIRED: 8+
LOCATION: Buckinghamshire
SALARY: £100K

THE ROLE: Reporting to the University Secretary, the General Counsel is an important strategic position for an experienced practising lawyer who will advise the University on all matters which may have significant legal implications, legal risk, compliance and policy.

The role holder will:

• Lead and advise on all legal matters arising from the activities of the University and its group, including but not limited to governance, commercial, contracting, research, employment, and student matters.
• Be responsible for supporting the University Council, University Secretary and the University's senior executive from a legal perspective on significant issues and business that arise in the running of a University.
• Lead and manage the in house Legal Services Team, inspiring high performance to ensure the provision of effective and efficient legal support across a wide range of law operating in a complex organisation.
• Be responsible for the supervision of members of the Legal Services Team and ensuring compliance with appropriate Solicitors Regulation Authority and Bar Council requirements.
• Be responsible for the procurement and management of external legal services when required, ensuring quality and value is achieved.
• Management of the legal budget and resources within the roles responsibility.

THE CANDIDATE:

• Qualified Solicitor holding a current SRA Practicing Certificate.
• Demonstratable recent post qualification experience with a minimum of 5 years at a senior level. This experience may have been gained outside of the Higher Education sector in the regulatory, commercial, or public sector or in private practice.
• Possessing outstanding technical legal skills and experience in one or more of the following- commercial, corporate, and Intellectual property law, with a good understanding of data protection law.
• Excellent written and oral communication and relationship building skills with the ability to listen and understand the needs of university stakeholders and to communicate complex legal matters to a range of lay audiences in an understandable way.

Desirable:

• An understanding of charity law and broad expertise across regulatory matters which may impact a University, such as student complaints and discipline and charitable donations.

HOW TO APPLY:
Contact Pasquale Agatiello at eNL on 0121 454 1004 or email Pasquale.agatiello@enllegal.co.uk with your CV, or simply call for a confidential discussion. eNL will never share your CV with a third party without your express permission. As part of our candidate care process, we aim to respond to all applications in 7 days. If you have not been contacted within this timescale, your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please note our advertisements use PQE/salary levels purely as a guide.

At eNL we value diversity and inclusion. We want to attract people at all levels and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates whatever your ethnicity, religion, age, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristics protected by law in the jurisdictions in which we operate.