Legal Counsel - Commercial - NQ-1PQE

Formula 1 is enjoying a golden era. The demand to participate in Formula 1 is at record high levels across all dimensions – amongst race goers, sponsors, broadcasters and host cities.

Commercial Legal Team

We are seeking a highly motivated newly qualified lawyer (0-1 PQE) to join the Commercial Legal Department, which is responsible for the legal work associated with supporting Formula 1’s revenue generating agreements with broadcasters, distributors of F1 TV, Global Partners & Official Sponsors, licensees (including consumer product, experiential and gaming partners), retail partners as well as key service providers and advising the wider business in relation to IP/brand protection, advertising standards, AI and data protection workstreams.

You will join a team of eight lawyers and two paralegals and will report into a senior lawyer within the team.

What you can expect to work on:

• Advising on, drafting and negotiating a range of types of commercial contracts, including:

• Sponsorship agreements with existing and prospective partners of Formula 1;
• Media rights agreements, in particular those relating to Formula 1, as well as those relating to Formula 1’s various support series F2, F3 and F1 Academy;
• Ancillary media rights agreements and original content projects, as well as digital media rights agreements relating to the distribution of Formula 1’s OTT service, F1 TV (including distribution agreements and syndication agreements);
• Licence agreements with licensees of F1-branded consumer products, game developers and operators of F1-themed experiential licensing ventures;
• Complex services agreements, such as those relating to website development or those relating to broadcast delivery.

You will also support on the following workstreams:

• Ad hoc advice and agreements supporting the Retail, Marketing, Esports, Advertising Sales and Digital teams;
• Supporting the Procurement team in relation to agreements for the provision of goods and services, including reviewing and negotiating F1’s and supplier standard terms and conditions as well as data processing addendums;
• Supporting relevant internal stakeholders in relation to data protection matters;
• Responding to day-to-day enquiries from internal clients and external counterparties and providing commercially-minded legal advice;
• Supporting commercial teams in their management of the above contracts (including acting as the Legal team point of contact on the matters you are working on);
• Preparing know how/research notes on relevant legal/contractual issues and contributing to department-wide training sessions to share know-how;
• Updating template documents and “playbooks” that aim to make workstreams more efficient.

Candidates will be able to demonstrate the following experience:

• Have trained and qualified as a lawyer at a leading law firm and benefited from a high quality training and supervision;
• Following qualification, have worked as a junior lawyer within a leading law firm or as part of an in-house legal team;
• Experience of working across a variety of commercial contracts, intellectual property and data protection workstreams and solid experience of legal drafting;
• Helpful if you’re able to demonstrate experience of working across media licensing and/or sponsorship agreements (although not a prerequisite);
• Able to demonstrate experience of negotiating and an able to appreciate which points are likely to be negotiation points in the context of different agreements;
• Strong knowledge and understanding of English law.

We would like to meet candidates who:

• Thrive in a fast-paced environment, are agile, and can manage multiple workstreams simultaneously and deliver results under pressure to a deadline;
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders;
• Prides themselves on having a high degree of attention to detail;
• Are team players and understand the importance of building relationships with internal clients, peers and external partners;
• Are enthusiastic, have a can-do attitude and a willingness to expand their skillset;
• Take responsibility for their own workstreams and are solution-orientated problem-solvers;
• Are prepared to invest in learning about the business of Formula 1 (recognising it will take time for new recruits to fully understand Formula 1’s various revenue streams and how Formula 1 contracts with its various partners).

To learn more about this opportunity, please submit your CV via the 'apply' button or contact Cameron McCammon or Susannah Spanton at Hydrogen Group for a confidential discussion.