Legal Counsel - #186067

We are currently recruiting for a Legal Counsel to join the Inhouse Legal team at Poundland. The role is based from our Customer Support Centre Head Office and offers flexibility for hybrid working.

Reporting to the Senior Legal Counsel, you will be a trusted advisor in a wide range of matters which include high value commercial contracts, commercial disputes, regulatory and intellectual property matters, corporate compliance and data protection.

As part of the Legal team, you will be responsible for providing essential legal advice and and compliance support to the business, ensuring, amongst other things, that all colleagues across the organisation are working to the same guidelines and contracts. In the team you will be a key partnering support to all areas of the business to ensure we achieve maximum organisational performance.

Your Impact and Responsibilities

As Legal Counsel, you will:

• Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial contracts including Sale of Goods/Services Agreements, Statements of Work, SaaS Agreements, IT Service Agreements, Consultancy Agreements, Logistics Agreements, Equipment Supply Agreements, Data Processing Agreements, Intellectual Property Licences and Confidentiality Agreements.
• Provide timely, practical, high quality and commercially focussed legal advice and solutions to internal stakeholders across departments such as Trading, Marketing, Retail Operations, Customer Relations, Finance, Distribution and Supply Chain.
• Assist in managing legal queries from the business relating to consumer rights, trading regulations, promotions, pricing and advertising standards.
• Advise on legal risks and ensure appropriate legal safeguards are in place across business operations.
• Provide legal input on marketing, data protection (GDPR), IP, procurement and commercial projects.
• Contribute to the development and maintenance of legal templates, guidance notes and contract management tools.
• Monitor change in legislation and retail regulations and help ensure internal policies are kept up to date.
• Manage commercial disputes from inception to resolution, including issuing court proceedings (and management of the matter throughout the Court process) through to settlement, working with external counsel where necessary.
• Manage and maintain the Intellectual Property portfolio and maintain brand protection, working with key members of the Trading, Design and Marketing teams to handle and advise on IP disputes.
• Assist and respond to regulatory bodies with any additional ad-hoc queries that may arise, quickly and effectively.

Skills and Knowledge

• Experienced Qualified solicitor in England & Wales (or equivalent jurisdiction) is preferred. We will consider candidates qualified by experience.
• Previous in-house experience is essential – retail sector experience is highly desirable.
• Strong experience in drafting and negotiating complex commercial agreements.
• Experience in advising on risk management, governance and compliance.
• Experience in managing investigations conducted by/ corresponding with regulatory
• bodies, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Data Protection Commission (DPC),
• Trading Standards, and Environmental Health Officers is beneficial.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain legal concepts clearly to non-legal stakeholders.
• Good commercial awareness and ability to apply legal advice in a pragmatic, business-friendly way. Ability to work in a high volume, fast paced environment and the ability to work flexibly to manage changing priorities.
• Strong analytical skills.
• High attention to detail and strong organisational skills.
• Able to understand and clearly communicate on complex issues and advise promptly, able
• to prioritise action plans to resolve.
• Strong interpersonal skills to build relationships at all levels and the ability to adapt style and approach when dealing with potential conflict / difficult situations.

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