Junior Legal Counsel (Disputes, Insurance, Pensions, Professional Indemnity) in Belfast

An exciting opportunity has come up for a junior lawyer looking to develop their career within a leading professional services firm. You would work closely with our businesses and the Marsh Legal team on day-to-day legal and strategic matters. You would need to be a self-starter with the ability to quickly grasp the risks, issues and opportunities faced by the organisation. A particular interest in financial services, insurance or pensions would be a positive but we are open to considering candidates with an interest in developing skills outside of their existing areas of expertise. This role will be based in Belfast and is a hybrid role, with a requirement of working at least three days a week in the office.

What can you expect? You will be a member of the Marsh Legal team in Belfast, working closely with the Marsh Risk and Mercer businesses across the UK and the joint Marsh Risk and Mercer Legal team in London to provide a high quality, commercially focused, legal service. A broad role for a junior level lawyer focusing primarily on disputes (including professional indemnity, insurance and pensions issues) but with scope to become involved in broader commercial matters, the provision of general legal advice to business teams, and strategic projects. You will manage a dedicated caseload of contentious matters relating to the Marsh Risk and/or Mercer businesses in the UK. You will also have the opportunity to provide support for complex risk, business or product focussed, commercial, or strategic matters. You will be joining a team of friendly, highly skilled, collaborative professionals based in Belfast and London and have the opportunity for excellent long-term career development.

We will count on you to:

• Actively manage own caseload of complex disputes (litigated and non-litigated).
• Work closely with Complaints colleagues on FOS eligible complaints where there is also an errors or omissions exposure.
• Provide strategic legal advice on business issues and business projects as needed.
• Effectively identify risk issues and elevate upwards, as appropriate.
• Provide reporting and advice on risk and litigation matters to senior stakeholders.
• Support on template development and process improvement.
• Deliver Legal training to business colleagues.
• Support the business’ innovation and manage risks of new products and services.
• Advise on legal issues, legal developments, risk management and policy setting.
• Deliver clear, pragmatic solutions to business colleagues.
• Take the initiative; identify issues that go beyond the specific project requested by the internal client.
• Effectively prioritise work by understanding competing priorities and make appropriate judgments regarding relative importance.
• Be enthusiastic and keen to develop a long-term career in-house.

What you need to have:

• 2 years post-qualification experience (or 1 year post-qualification experience coupled with extensive paralegal experience).
• Relevant experience in a professional services firm, financial services or law firm.
• A current Solicitors Practicing Certificate for England and Wales or fully admitted to the English Bar or hold a Scottish or foreign jurisdiction equivalent.
• Effective communication and influencing skills, with the ability to support and adapt to change and to be comfortable in areas of ambiguity, and to manage expectations well.
• Previous experience working in a fast-paced environment, managing multiple deadlines and tasks.
• An understanding of the risks, issues and opportunities faced by a financial services firm.

What makes you stand out:

• Experience working for a professional services, insurance, pensions or financial services company.
• Insurance litigation, pensions litigation or professional negligence experience.
• UK financial services regulatory experience.

Why join our team: We help you be your best through professional development opportunities, interesting work and supportive leaders. We foster a vibrant and inclusive culture where you can work with talented colleagues to create new solutions and have impact for colleagues, clients and communities. Our scale enables us to provide a range of career opportunities, as well as benefits and rewards to enhance your well-being.

Marsh is committed to embracing a diverse, inclusive and flexible work environment. We aim to attract and retain the best people and embrace diversity of age background, civil partnership status, disability, ethnic origin, family duties, gender orientation or expression, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, parental status, personal or social status, political affiliation, race, religion and beliefs, sex/gender, sexual orientation or expression, skin color, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments in accordance with applicable law to any candidate with a disability to allow them to fully participate in the recruitment process. If you have a disability that may require reasonable adjustments, please contact us.

Marsh is committed to hybrid work, which includes the flexibility of working remotely and the collaboration, connections and professional development benefits of working together in the office. All Marsh colleagues are expected to be in their local office or working onsite with clients at least three days per week. Office-based teams will identify at least one “anchor day” per week on which their full team will be together in person.