Senior Legal Counsel (Fixed-term contract) in London

We are currently seeking a Senior Legal Counsel with a proven record of customer service and a practical, problem-solving approach to providing commercial legal services in a technology-enabled, data-driven corporate legal department for a fixed-term, maternity cover contract. The successful candidate needs to be a hands-on commercial lawyer with exceptional communication skills, capable of providing sound legal and business advice to sales professionals, product management, and other internal customers. The successful candidate will be responsible for identifying and analysing legal issues, drafting and negotiating documents, presenting commercially viable recommendations, and assuring legal compliance. When dealing with internal or external customers, the successful candidate will seek to enhance the customer experience and simplify the customer's interaction with the legal function.

This opportunity is with Thomson Reuters based in London. The role sits within the Customers & Commercial team of the Thomson Reuters General Counsel Office, a highly collaborative team focused on enabling business growth and mitigating risk for the customer-centric commercial group. To be successful in this role you should have the experience and capability to handle a broad range of legal and compliance matters.

About the Role

• Review, draft, and negotiate a wide range of customer facing and partner agreements, primarily complex software (including SaaS) and information licensing agreements, data protection and security, hosting, content acquisition, consulting and professional services agreements, non-disclosure agreements and other commercial agreements relating to sales of Thomson Reuters products and services.
• Work within the Customers & Commercial team identifying legal, regulatory and compliance requirements and risks associated with various business initiatives and developing and implementing appropriate mitigation strategies. Work with members of the General Counsel Office on enterprise-wide legal issues and projects.
• Research and respond to general legal inquiries from Thomson Reuters internal customers that relate to corporate, commercial, intellectual property and compliance matters, including privacy-related matters, and advise business on appropriate legal action to be taken.

About You

• 5 years' minimum post qualification experience in private practice and/or as in-house legal counsel advising on the sell rather than the buy side.
• Excellent written/verbal English language communication skills.
• Excellent technical legal knowledge in contract and commercial law, particularly with SaaS products and solutions.
• Excellent negotiation and drafting skills.
• Ability to think strategically and creatively, to identify and resolve legal issues.
• Authorisation to practice law.
• Candidates will need to have a commercial focus and real interest in developing their privacy, data protection and cybersecurity knowledge and applying to our customer contracting.
• You will have had experience negotiating and drafting clauses & agreements relating to data processing, data protection and cybersecurity with GDPR, data transfers and data sharing; knowledge of US privacy laws would also be an advantage.

What's in it For You?

• Hybrid Work Model: We've adopted a flexible hybrid working environment (2-3 days a week in the office depending on the role) for our office-based roles while delivering a seamless experience that is digitally and physically connected.
• Flexibility & Work-Life Balance: Flex My Way is a set of supportive workplace policies designed to help manage personal and professional responsibilities, whether caring for family, giving back to the community, or finding time to refresh and reset. This builds upon our flexible work arrangements, including work from anywhere for up to 8 weeks per year, empowering employees to achieve a better work-life balance.
• Career Development and Growth: By fostering a culture of continuous learning and skill development, we prepare our talent to tackle tomorrow's challenges and deliver real-world solutions. Our Grow My Way programming and skills-first approach ensures you have the tools and knowledge to grow, lead, and thrive in an AI-enabled future.
• Industry Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive benefit plans to include flexible vacation, two company-wide Mental Health Days off, access to the Headspace app, retirement savings, tuition reimbursement, employee incentive programs, and resources for mental, physical, and financial wellbeing.
• Culture: Globally recognized, award-winning reputation for inclusion and belonging, flexibility, work-life balance, and more. We live by our values: Obsess over our Customers, Compete to Win, Challenge (Y)our Thinking, Act Fast / Learn Fast, and Stronger Together.
• Social Impact: Make an impact in your community with our Social Impact Institute. We offer employees two paid volunteer days off annually and opportunities to get involved with pro-bono consulting projects and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives.
• Making a Real-World Impact: We are one of the few companies globally that helps its customers pursue justice, truth, and transparency. Together, with the professionals and institutions we serve, we help uphold the rule of law, turn the wheels of commerce, catch bad actors, report the facts, and provide trusted, unbiased information to people all over the world.

About Us

Thomson Reuters informs the way forward by bringing together the trusted content and technology that people and organizations need to make the right decisions. We serve professionals across legal, tax, accounting, compliance, government, and media. Our products combine highly specialized software and insights to empower professionals with the data, intelligence, and solutions needed to make informed decisions, and to help institutions in their pursuit of justice, truth, and transparency. Reuters, part of Thomson Reuters, is a world leading provider of trusted journalism and news.

We are powered by the talents of 26,000 employees across more than 70 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness, and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

As a global business, we rely on the unique backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences of all employees to deliver on our business goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.