Corporate Governance Lawyer

Leading offshore law firm are looking to hire an Associate/ Senior Associate to work as part of their Corporate Governance team. This role can be based in Jersey with hybrid-working arrangements- alternatively, candidates seeking a fully remote-working role are also invited to apply.

Role Profile:

You will lead on the provision of first-class internal corporate governance support to the various companies, partnerships and trusts forming part of the firm across all its locations, working closely with the Chief Governance Officer and senior management.

This role is focused on providing governance support to the firm, consulting business and Business Services teams and will include:

Board & Committee Support

• Act as the lead day-to-day governance representative and shareholder point of contact. Become company secretary for various internal boards and committees.
• Organise and attend meetings and maintain the annual meeting schedule.
• Draft structured and coherent agendas and proactively forward plan for meetings so that all meeting packs are published on a timely basis with the right people in attendance.
• Draft accurate and detailed minutes and circulate promptly after meetings.
• Maintain constitutional documents and committee terms of reference and advise partners and senior management on their requirements.
• Maintain director and officer responsibility lists.
• Record, follow up on and proactively encourage progress from stakeholders on their action points and keep board and committee action point trackers up to date.
• Organise the annual general meeting including the preparation and issue of the notice of meeting and proxy forms.
• Co-ordinate the preparation and internal publication of the first annual report.
• Maintain and ensure compliance. Lead the annual in-house board effectiveness review process, analyse and report on officer feedback, present findings to boards and manage associated outcomes and actions.

Entity Management & Compliance

• Prepare and submit annual and event-driven filings and notifications with relevant company registries, regulators and law societies.
• Maintain statutory books and registers.
• Maintain non-statutory registers including registers of contracts entered into, conflicts of interest and directorships held.
• Respond to due diligence requests and questionnaires from clients, intermediaries and third parties and create and maintain a global due diligence request register.
• Arrange execution and approval or ratification of relevant documents (for example, tax returns and financial statements).
• Draft and execute the governance documentation required for key corporate actions such as distributions, dividends, capitalisations and buybacks.
• Prepare and deliver tailored inductions for new directors.
• Ensure correct procedures are followed especially in relation to voting and notification requirements under various constitutional documents.
• Provide governance support for the annual audit.

Projects

• Assist with the design and implementation of an enhanced internal governance framework across the law firm and Business Services.
• This framework will be based in part on the voluntary adoption of relevant parts of the UK Corporate Governance Code.
• Lead on governance projects including entity formations, corporate restructures, strike-offs, liquidations and implementation of delegated authority arrangements.
• Assist with managing the integration of new jurisdictions and legal entities.
• Assist with the ongoing development of a suite of global checklists and guidance notes for recurring company secretarial tasks and governance lifecycle events.
• Review the adequacy and global consistency of board reporting arrangements.
• Lead on the introduction of a new process to review the effectiveness of our committees. Contribute to the creation of a Governance Manual covering all Mourant entities.

Additional Duties

• Draft the documentation required for ordinary course partner level joiners and leavers based on approved templates.
• Prepare and send internal notifications required under constitutional documents.
• Ensure correct procedures are followed especially in relation to voting and notification requirements under various constitutional documents.
• Assist with the maintenance of various shareholder level policies and procedures.
• Maintain the global structure chart and circulate to relevant stakeholders.
• Maintain the corporate governance and regulatory calendar which tracks key global deadlines.
• Maintain the governance record which summarises relevant corporate information for our in-house companies.
• Ensure the group\’s trademark registrations are kept in good standing including submitting periodic trademark renewals and assisting with registration of new trademarks.

Candidate Requirements:

• The ideal candidate is a current or former UK qualified corporate lawyer (Associate or Senior Associate level) who is keen to pursue an in-house career specialising in corporate governance.
• Strong practical knowledge of company law is essential.
• Prior experience of working in a company secretarial or in-house governance role within a regulated professional services environment is advantageous.
• Being a Chartered Secretary or Chartered Governance Professional is advantageous, however, the company will fund and support you to complete the Chartered Governance Institute\’s Chartered Governance Qualifying Programme if you have not already done this.
• Working knowledge of Viewpoint, Document Management Systems (Worksite) and Board Intelligence or equivalent systems and platforms is advantageous.
• Highly organised, proactive and diligent and able to manage a diverse and complex workload in a fast-paced working environment.
• Sensitive to the requirements of working in a law firm environment and able to maintain high levels of confidentiality and discretion and demonstrate good judgement.
• Enthusiastic and approachable with a calm and confident manner.
• Task oriented nature with exceptional completer-finisher skills.
• Proactively identifies opportunities for continuous improvement and process efficiency including increasing our usage of AI and tech solutions for governance tasks.
• Curious and inquisitive and able to identify and investigate potential issues and solve them. Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

On Offer:

On offer is a competitive salary and benefits package and a company that offers excellent work/life balance with both hybrid and remote-working options available.

To Apply:

For a confidential discussion about this position, to request the full job description or to apply, please contact:

David Thomson- Director

Edinburgh: +44 (0) 131 450 7164

Glasgow: +44 (0) 141 244 0260

London: +44 (0) 203 174 2482

Dublin: +353 (0) 1 699 1360

Email: david@thomsonlrc.com