Legal Counsel

Job Title: Legal Counsel

Location: Portsmouth. We offer a range of hybrid and flexible working arrangements – please speak to your recruiter about the options for this particular role

Salary: Circa £70,000 commensurate with skills and experience

What you’ll be doing:

• Provide in depth, professional, timely and pro-active legal support and advice to all functions within the Maritime Services business
• Work to ensure, in conjunction with colleagues in the relevant business/specialist legal team, that the Maritime Services business is consistently compliant with applicable legal and business policy requirements including health and safety, procurement law, product safety, compliance, export control and ethical business conduct
• Drafting, negotiating, agreeing and managing a wide range of contractual arrangements with customers, suppliers and industry partners
• Assist in the identification and development of legal solutions to assist in the execution of business plans
• Participate from an early stage in disputes and to assist in developing appropriate strategies for their effective resolution
• Managing and ensuring the efficient use of external counsel and providing training on matters of law, know-how and policy
• Liaising with Legal colleagues in other BAE Systems businesses and internal BAE Systems Group Legal specialists in matters such as intellectual property, data protection and employment law
• Provide training on matters of law and policy to various functional and business areas
• Contribute to the wider BAE Systems legal function as a member of the global legal community and leveraging/sharing knowledge and capability accordingly including engaging in effective collaboration across the function and business

Your skills and experiences:

Essential:

• Qualified solicitor or barrister with relevant commercial or corporate law experience at a leading law firm and/or in-house experience
• Can provide expert, pragmatic, commercial Legal advice
• Knowledgeably, thoroughly but succinctly drafts standard legal documents in plain English
• Applies subject matter knowledge to commercial and business problems and issues

Desirable:

• Commercial understanding of government contracting processes
• Some knowledge of competition law, intellectual property and software licencing would be advantageous

Benefits:

You’ll receive benefits including a competitive pension scheme, enhanced annual leave allowance and a Company contributed Share Incentive Plan. You’ll also have access to additional benefits such as flexible working, an employee assistance programme, Cycle2work and employee discounts – you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.

The Legal Team:

Would you like to work within an interesting and challenging in-house legal role, supporting our Maritime Services business? We currently have a vacancy for a Legal Counsel at our site in Portsmouth, with flexible/hybrid working, subject to business needs.

In this role you will grow to understand the needs of our business and provide legal solutions that enhance and protect the business and support its objectives. You will provide generalist and, over time, specialist legal advice, managing a broad range of legal risk and opportunity.

You will be able to work closely with key stakeholders, developing strong business relationships and working as a true business partner involved with transactions through their whole lifecycle. You will be joining a business that is both interesting and diverse and which plays a key role in the UK’s defence sector and has customers world-wide.

The Flexible Working Statement:

As the world has evolved, so has the way we work. Our working approach, will enable you to have flexibility with your working hours, depending on your role and location. This could include accruing hours as well as flexibility around start and finish times, ensuring you can balance life at work, on site and life at home.

Why BAE Systems?

This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and particularly from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our industry, including women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ individuals.

We also want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where applicants must typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks.

Closing Date: 6th January 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

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