Legal Counsel - 12 Month FTC

The Vacancy

We are seeking a Legal Counsel to add to our busy in-house team. You will have had experience either in-house or in private practice dealing with legal matters, including commercial contracts. The role will involve drafting and negotiating contracts for our various business areas within the firm, generally with or supporting our pension, employer and financial services clients.

You will have relevant post qualified practice based and/or in-house experience. Experience in financial services or pensions or with a professional services firm would be an advantage as would experience with financial advisers/platforms/asset managers/insurers, in the retail financial market.

You will act as an internal consultant and as such, will have extensive dealings directly with the consultants in the firm, including our Partners. So, it’s important that you are confident and have the necessary expertise and ability to quickly gain credibility and work autonomously. It will require flexibility to enable support to often deadline driven work.

We would be happy for you to work in either our Edinburgh or Glasgow office and we support flexible/agile working (which includes working from home for part of your week and flexible start/end times subject to certain core business hours).

What will your role look like?

As part of our busy legal team, your day-to-day responsibilities will be to:

• Develop knowledge and understanding of key area’s propositions, core business and associated risks and work with that area to shape solutions that meet requirements. Our business areas include Actuarial, Defined Contribution Consulting, Investment, Insurance and Financial Services, Third Party Administration and Club Vita, alongside our newer areas of Discretionary Fund Management and Personal Wealth
• Draft, review, negotiate and advise on a wide variety of commercial contracts for our full range of professional services, consulting, online and data services, including tender responses, master services agreements, client contracts, licences, data protection agreements, non-reliance letters and supplier agreements
• Draft best practice notes on topical issues for use across the firm, develop and maintain processes, policies, guidance and templates and assist in training
• Support proposition and client-based projects with legal advice
• Support and help drive Legal team initiatives
• Positively contribute to the legal team, creating a professional, effective, high quality and approachable resource for the business
  
  

To enjoy and succeed in this role, you will have:

Knowledge And Skills

To succeed in the role, you will be/have:

• Pragmatic and solutions driven
• Flexible and adaptable
• Logical and organised
• Excellent communication, presentation and interpersonal skills
• Able to take on responsibility and to quickly gain credibility
• Able to use your initiative and work individually or as part of a team
• Able to take a pro-active approach and present new ideas and ways of working
• Motivated by working under pressure and to tight timescales
• Passionate about learning and personal development
  
  

Essential

Qualifications and Experience:

• A qualified Solicitor in Scotland or England with material experience in commercial contract drafting and negotiation
• Relevant practice based and/or in-house experience, ideally in an FCA regulated environment or financial services, pensions or professional services firm
• Proven ability to deliver on projects and initiatives and provide workable solutions
  
  

Preferred

• Exposure to the pensions or wider financial services industry
• Good working knowledge of IT systems, such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365 and Co-Pilot
  
  

We would also encourage applications from candidates who perhaps do not possess all the attributes and experience listed above but are competent with the majority and would be able to quickly develop the additional skills and experience required in post with our full support. We would also love to hear about other knowledge and experience you may have that is not listed but could be of interest.

In Addition To a Competitive Salary, We Offer

• A flexible selection of employee benefits, so you can choose a package that best matches your lifestyle and needs.
• A collaborative and encouraging work environment where your thinking and ideas are encouraged.
• On site mental health and wellbeing assistance.
• A commitment to helping you develop both personally and professionally, with mentoring opportunities and access to our award-winning learning portal, Aspire.
• Regular social activities, in addition to three days paid volunteering leave each year and a day’s leave to celebrate your birthday.

Hybrid working so you can enjoy the positive wellbeing of working from home as well as the benefits of meeting colleagues in our sociable, modern office environments – with the expectation of two ‘in-office’ days per week. 

A flexible working window, allowing colleagues the freedom to work flexibly between the hours of 7am and 7pm.

Please note, we recruit on a rolling basis so early applications are recommended to avoid disappointment.

About Us

Together, we’ve been building better futures for over 100 years. For our people, our clients and their people, our communities and the environment.

We thrive on tackling complex problems. And we believe those problems are best solved by diverse teams – diverse in skills, approaches and backgrounds. Our independence lets our people be themselves and think freely, while working in a collaborative, supportive environment. We love innovative, independent thinking and want everyone to share their ideas.

Working alongside employers, trustees and financial services institutions, we offer pensions, investments, benefits and risk consulting services, as well as data and technology solutions. With over 1000 employees and counting, we’re one of the leading consultancies in our field and are proud to be recognised by numerous industry awards.

We’re committed to developing our people and encourage everyone to carve out their own career path. We’ve many colleagues who

started out in one team in the business and have ended up somewhere completely different, having had the chance to develop new skills and explore new passions.

We are continually working to improve our inclusive culture and employ diverse talent. We therefore welcome applications from people from all backgrounds, which includes but isn’t limited to: age, disability, ethnic heritage, gender, marital or civil partnership status, neurodiversity, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background.

Our hybrid working model offers the best of both worlds – home working as well as a fun, collaborative office environment - meaning flexible working patterns to accommodate individual needs. Find out more about our careers here .

If you need any assistance in relation to a personal requirement, medical condition or neurological difference during our selection process then please let us know.

Together, we can make this the best job you’ll ever have.

We Offer

Our culture

We live and breathe our four values – friendly, confident, partnering and straightforward – and genuinely care about out people, clients, community and the environment.

Job satisfaction

Every employee can genuinely make a difference and contribute towards achieving our purpose – together, building better futures. Whether that’s helping our clients build more secure financial futures, using your 3 days volunteering o

r helping us reduce our carbon footprint.

Reward and wellbeing

We offer competitive salaries, a share of company profits and an award-winning benefits package. We also take your mental, physical, social and financial wellbeing seriously, both in and outside of work.

Flexible working

We trust our people to work in a pattern that suits their circumstances with a healthy balance of home and office working.

Latest technology

We use the most up-to-date technology and software to match our ground-breaking business solutions that make life easier for us and our clients.

Career development

There is no linear path – learning opportunities are plentiful and empower you to carve out your own career.