Senior Legal Counsel in Oxford

Flexible – Herdus House, West Cumbria, Hinton House, Warrington; London or Harwell, Oxfordshire Hybrid working is available with 40% of time in an NDA office, CA24 3HU

Legal Counsel in the NDA Legal team support the management of legal risk associated with the business’ activities .

They are responsible for the delivery of legal advice and support relating to the NDA’s and it’s group’s activities which is appropriate, timely and enables the NDA group to deliver its mission with minimal legal risk .

The NDA legal team comprises the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary (GC) , Group Head of Legal Operations, two Associate General Counsels

• (AGCs) , one each for Strategic Transactions
• (ST) and Enterprise Risk

(ER) , and several Senior Legal Counsel, along with a Legal Operations Manager and Legal Operations Advisor.

• What you’ll do
• Responsible to AGC for ER on allocated legal matters.

Supporting on employment law and HR advice is a key area, alongside other areas of Enterprise Risk accountability, including: litigation, regulatory, health, safety; environment (including carbon and energy), contaminated land, licensing and permitting, environmental indemnities / warranties, insurance, vires and state aid, information governance, intellectual property and ethics and compliance legal support including in relation to anti-bribery and corruption.

• Other responsibilities may include support to strategic transactional work if needed, such as project support, advising on public procurement and commercial contracting, construction, realestate and nuclear law, along with general legal advice and assistance of an in-house nature.
• Ensure ongoing engagement and business partnering by ER team with other relevant functions.
• Deliver GC and Head of Legal vision for team / group legal, including actively engaging in and encouraging team participation in working groups with peers across the wider NDA group.
• All Legal Counsel in the wider legal team are expected to be adaptable and therefore a willingness to support strategic transactional work as required, is expected.
• Act as a role model with the aim of creating a resilient, constructive and collaborative working environment for the Legal Team.
• Adopt a business partner approach and work closely, and develop good relations, with NDA functions, business leads and teams in areas of the Legal Counsel’s responsibility to understand their legal advice needs and priorities, to encourage staff to work closely and proactively with the Legal Team and ensure they receive appropriate and timely advice.
• Provide legal advice to the NDA sanctions, governance and assurance processes in relation to projects, transactions and other enterprise activities within the NDA group.
• Provide legal advice to the NDA business and in relation to wider group operations as required on a range of matters including programmes, projects and ad hoc.
• Develop and maintain relationships with Legal Counsel across the NDA group and work collaboratively with them.
• Seek continuous improvement in all areas of responsibility and develop and recommend changes where required
• Knowledge, Skills and Experience required
• Shares and demonstrates the NDA values of, Respect, Openness, Collaboration, Performance and Creativity.
• Adaptable, resilient and solutions focused.
• Some experience of business lawyering is desirable, willing to be adaptable, technically strong, commercially aware, with a pragmatic approach and the ability to deliver complex legal advice in business-friendly language clearly and concisely to a variety of audiences.
• Excellent written and oral communicator.
• Excellent listening skills with the ability to relate to all levels in an environment where the ability to be discreet and maintain confidentiality is always essential.
• A team player who is also capable of working on their own initiative.
• Will need to work on areas of law outside of specialisms and be prepared to develop new skills and experience.
• Technically strong, commercially aware, with a pragmatic approach.
• Effective budget and supply chain management.

Other knowledge and qualifications include

• Qualified Solicitor/Barrister – min. 5 years PQE
• Strong private practice experience and/or significant in-house experience as a legal business partner in a comparable environment.
• Demonstrable experience in some legal specialisms relevant to ER.
• Experience of instructing/managing external legal services providers (desirable).

We value the unique differences that each of our colleagues bring to work every day and are committed to creating an environment where everyone feels respected, included and able to perform at their best.

At NDA, we are committed to creating a workplace that is diverse and inclusive.

We value the diversity of our people and actively seek to have a workforce that represents the rich diversity of the communities we support.

Currently, we are underrepresented in some areas, and would particularly welcome applicants from Women, Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities, LGBTQ+ and candidates who have a disability.

NDA is a member of the disability confident scheme, when requested we will make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process and we guarantee to interview all candidates who have a disability who meet all of the essential criteria for the vacancy .

We are happy to discuss flexible working.

We will also make workplace adjustments for disabled employees if these are needed to help them perform at their best in the role, and we are happy to discuss this once a job offer has been made .

• Salary
• £73,185 - £86,100 dependent on skills and experience
• Job Category
• Legal & General Counsel
• Location

Flexible – Herdus House, West Cumbria, Hinton House, Warrington; London or Harwell, Oxfordshire Hybrid working is available with 40% of time in an NDA office

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