In-house Legal Counsel (NQ-2 years PQE) in Portsmouth

This role provides the business with high-quality, practical legal advice and services across a broad range of areas, including commercial, regulatory, data protection, litigation and marketing. You will be working closely with internal stakeholders to manage contracts, provide commercially focused legal advice, and support compliance with legal requirements - all within a supportive environment that encourages professional growth. This role also offers the opportunity to gain exposure to other areas of the wider Toyota business, providing valuable commercial insights beyond the core legal function.

The Legal Team plays a pivotal role in providing practical, solution focused legal support to all internal departments across the business. We help the business stay within the law, manage legal and commercial risk, and meet its regulatory obligations by managing contracts, providing legal advice, resolving legal queries, and handling customer complaints. We also work closely with teams across the business to ensure customers receive a legally compliant experience, with appropriate redress offered where required. Our team is friendly and approachable, and we collaborate with departments across the business to solve problems together.

On an ordinary day, you will be a valued member of the Legal Team providing high-quality legal advice and legal services to the business, supporting various departments, and managing contracts. Here are some of the key responsibilities you’ll be handling:

• Providing timely, practical and proportionate legal advice to internal stakeholders, ensuring it aligns with the business’s risk appetite and policies, with appropriate escalation of higher risk matters.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating customer and supplier contracts, including managing the contract lifecycle from signature through to variation and renewal.
• Liaising with internal departments and external stakeholders (customers, suppliers, funders) to ensure legal queries are resolved efficiently, acting as a key point of contact and helping stakeholders understand legal risks and options in a clear, pragmatic way.
• Conducting legal research and staying up to date with legislative and regulatory changes.
• Overseeing the effective management of the Legal tracker and Legal Inbox, ensuring matters are triaged, monitored, prioritised, allocated and progressed appropriately, and flagging capacity or risk issues where necessary.
• Creating and maintaining template agreements, policies, legal procedures, and internal guidance materials, ensuring legal processes are followed.
• Supporting internal legal training, assisting with the preparation of training materials and the delivery of training sessions where appropriate.
• Supporting litigation work by preparing legal documents such as statements of case, witness statements, and court applications.
• Maintaining your SRA CPD record and reflecting on your learning experiences.

Experience

• Qualified Lawyer, Solicitor or Barrister entitled to practise in England and Wales.
• Previous experience working in an in-house legal team or a reputable law firm.
• Prior commercial and contract law experience.
• Outstanding analytical and written communication skills, with excellent attention to detail and the ability to ask questions and seek clarification when needed.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to build relationships at all levels.
• Strong commercial awareness and a developing business mindset, with the ability to balance legal risk with commercial objectives.
• Proactive, solutions-oriented approach, with the ability to manage a varied workload independently, whilst having the confidence to take ownership of matters and recognise when to seek input or escalate.
• Strong administrative skills and proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Highly organised with strong time management skills and the ability to prioritise effectively across multiple matters and meet deadlines.
• A positive, can-do attitude, demonstrating willingness to take on new challenges and adapt to changing priorities.

Attributes & Behaviours

We’re looking for someone who will thrive in a high-performing, collaborative team environment. You will work within a culture of continuous improvement and inclusivity, showing respect for people and working with integrity.

You’ll need to demonstrate:

• Self-motivation and enthusiasm to succeed and develop within KINTO UK Limited.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to build relationships at all levels.
• A proactive and resilient mindset, with the confidence to take initiative and remain calm and effective in a busy, fast paced environment.
• Curiosity and a willingness to learn, explore new ideas and ways to improve existing legal processes, and ask questions in order to develop and improve.
• A collaborative approach, contributing to a positive team culture whilst building trust and credibility with colleagues at all levels of the business.
• Strong integrity and independence of professional judgement, with the confidence to provide clear, objective legal advice and to prioritise legal and ethical obligations where these may conflict with commercial objectives, including where this involves challenging assumptions or highlighting concerns.

Company context

This position will be working for KINTO-UK Ltd which is a Mobility Brand owned by the Toyota Group, offices located in Portsmouth. KINTO-UK share their HR function with Toyota Financial Services (TFS) in the UK, however the job being advertised will not be working directly for Toyota Financial Services.

Benefits

• Competitive starting salary
• Bonus earning potential
• 25 days holiday + 8 days bank holiday
• Great pension scheme starting at employee (EE) contribution of 4% with an employer (ER) contribution of 11%. This can flex up to 6% EE contribution and 15% ER contribution
• Company Car Scheme following passing of probation
• Private Medical Cover
• Life assurance scheme
• Discounts on different retailers
• Wellbeing hour each month
• Discounts on Toyota & Lexus cars
• Volunteer Days
• Wellbeing events
• Employee assistance programmes
• Free fruit in the office
• Free onsite car parking

Working Hours

37.5 per week Monday - Friday Hybrid working policy 2 days from home each week should you want to.

EEO

KINTO UK is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from anyone who is excited by the opportunity of joining us and will thoroughly consider all applications without attention to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran, neurodiversity status or disability status.

Recruitment process

At KINTO we value everyone and are pleased to be recognised as a Disability Confident Employer, which is a national standard that ensures our processes are accessible to all. Everyone is unique, and that means what works for some may not work for everyone. When it comes to recruitment, please do let us know if we can adjust our process to be meet your accessibility needs.

Some examples of how we might be able to help are listed below:

• Providing a copy of interview questions before the interview
• Organising a time and location that best suits you
• Allowing additional time for the assessment and interview

We are happy to review any adjustment on a case-by-case basis, so please let us know how we can support you to be your best self. On the job training will be provided, we recognise we all learn differently, and we want to ensure that our training will suit your learning style. We are open to talking to you about how we can make learning your new role in the most positive way.