Funds Lawyer – Legal & Compliance

BlackRock is one of the world’s preeminent asset management firms and a premier provider of global investment management, risk management and advisory services to institutional, intermediary and individual investors around the world. BlackRock offers a range of solutions — from rigorous fundamental and quantitative active management approaches aimed at maximising outperformance to highly efficient indexing strategies designed to gain broad exposure to the world’s capital markets.

Job Purpose/Background: The role is to provide legal support in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region as part of BlackRock’s Public Funds Legal team. The focus of this role will be in support of BlackRock’s funds and other exchange traded products (ETPs) in EMEA and their marketing, distribution, and partnership arrangements worldwide. The role will also include advising on the structuring of client solutions using such products as building blocks, supporting BlackRock’s distribution technology platforms and implementation of regulatory developments as these impact the businesses supported. General commercial legal work and specific project work across business areas will also be involved.

The candidate will work in a team of ~25 lawyers in London who form the Funds Legal Team within the broader EMEA Legal & Compliance department. The Funds Legal Team is a diverse team comprising lawyers qualified in a number of different countries, paralegals and administrative staff. The individual will be expected to work with a high degree of proactively and accountability and, recognising that the individual is also part of a broader team, communicate and escalate appropriately to senior managers. The candidate will be expected to take on a complete workload as soon as possible after joining and partner closely with the relevant businesses they support - training and support will be provided. Experience in at least some of the areas outlined below would be helpful. Candidates with other transferable expertise and experience will also be considered.

Key Responsibilities:

• Structure UCITS and AIF products in Ireland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and/or the Netherlands and listed exchange traded products and advise on their establishment and distribution;
• Draft and negotiate prospectuses, key information documents and service provider agreements for the types of products outlined above, which may be structured as mutual funds, exchange traded funds or special purpose vehicles issuing debt;
• Provide proactive legal support to the EMEA businesses supported (across client channels, product solutions, marketing etc.);
• Identify, address and manage legal risk arising within the respective businesses supported, the investment products managed by BlackRock, and BlackRock more generally;
• Interpret regulations to help the businesses navigate the changing regulatory environment and implement new regulations;
• Liaison with external legal counsel where appropriate on areas of law that impact the business concerned;
• Assisting on ad hoc projects (EMEA or firm-wide);
• Manage and document internal know-how and other materials for ease of access by colleagues and successors and for increasing scale;
• Develop and actively manage internal client relationships within the EMEA businesses supported, other internal stakeholders and with external advisors;
• Prepare memos and present to the boards of relevant management companies and fund companies from time to time on specific initiatives requiring board approval.

Development Value:

The candidate will gain extensive and significant knowledge and experience of a variety of product types across multiple jurisdictions, multiple business and other support areas, develop and enhance their skills in drafting, fund structuring, advising and stakeholder relationship management and work with a wide variety of subject matter experts in the businesses and other support functions in BlackRock.

Knowledge/Experience:

• Solicitor / lawyer qualified in England and Wales, Scotland or in a jurisdiction in the European Union.
• Relevant training gained in private practice or in-house in investment products in UK or rest of Europe.
• 1 to 2 years’ relevant post qualification experience.
• Technical expertise and experience would be helpful in at least some of the following: MiFID (including inducements rules), UCITS, AIFMD, SFDR, SDR, UK Consumer Duty, ESMA Fund Naming rules, Prospectus Regulations, Benchmark Regulations, debt capital markets, MiCA, and/or EMIR.
• Drafting proficiency in English is a must. Language proficiency in French or German would be a bonus but not required.

Competencies:

• Motivated, resilient and enjoys challenges;
• Commercial outlook, strong analytic skills and attention to detail;
• Ability to explain complex legal and regulatory concepts to non-lawyers;
• Ability to work as a team in a collaborative way and personable;
• Ability to work autonomously and manage own work-load and yet also provide updates and escalate issues whenever appropriate;
• Ability to actively manage internal and external client expectations;
• Ability to clarify tasks and requirements, organise time and manage workload to ensure deadlines are met;
• Ability to manage multiple tasks concurrently;
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the firm in verbal and written form;
• Seeks to understand the businesses, products and processes which are supported;
• Develops solutions to problems, checking where appropriate with senior lawyers;
• Takes ownership of problems/requirements and ensures they are resolved to meet objectives;
• Rejects shortcuts that could compromise quality of service and follows internal policies and procedures.