Chief Legal Counsel

Job description / Role

This is a key corporate role operating close to the Board and Executive Team and will be the principal advisor to the CEO. The thrust is to direct a professional team providing a comprehensive value-added legal service for the Company and its Affiliates, ensuring high level advice to senior management on the complete range of legal matters arising from governmental, commercial, financial, civil and corporate affairs, requiring a strategic and commercial minded professional.

Salient tasks are to:

• Lead and manage the Company legal service function, advising Directorates, Affiliates and Departments on all legal issues relating to the business, minimizing legal and commercial risk.
• Oversee the negotiations and enforcement of agreements, partnerships and contracts including the review, drafting and negotiation of a wide variety of contracts and commercial agreements, resolving contractual issues for business projects and other tasks.
• Ensure systems and processes in place to ensure legal compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and internal policies and Corporate Governance requirements.
• Manage representation of the company in all litigation and dispute resolution processes in court proceedings, including lawsuits in labor courts, employee grievances, contractual violations and financial settlements,.
• Participate with other Corporate Control functions in the continuous assessment of the vulnerability of the Company’s products and services to existing and future legal challenges, be aware of business priorities and devise mitigation strategies.
• Conduct pro-active legal research, offer awareness workshops and formulate advice across the whole gamut of legal questions referred from the CEO, VP’s, Divisions and Business Units.
• Plan, direct and performance manage the activities of a growing team of professional and other staff in the unit, providing mentoring and coaching with the aim to achieve the Company’s Saudization goals.

Requirements

This business critical role involves frequent contact with the VP Corporate Control and the most senior levels of management, Government Departments, regulatory bodies and external law firms.

A seasoned lawyer with strong professional pedigree and excellent business partnering and management skills is sought. Eligible candidates should have an excellent BA Honors Degree in Law together with a recognized professional legal qualification obtained through formal training with a recognized international law firm, possibly in the USA or UK. This should be combined with 15 years PQE in private practice and/or as an in-house corporate, with at least 5 years at a Senior Management level, ideally within a global multi-national or regional conglomerate in the Mining, Mining Engineering and Minerals Sectors. Prior experience of working in Saudi Arabia or the GCC will be a great advantage.

The ability to work in multi-functional and cross-cultural teams is important. Candidates should have a strong work ethic, a sense of urgency, combined with the aptitude to work effectively with multiple deadlines and be willing to travel and work internationally. Analytical skills and attention to detail is required. First class spoken and written English and Arabic is essential and preference will be given to Saudi nationals.

About the Company

Bespoke Professionals was established in the Kingdom of Bahrain in early 2012 and now has offices in Bahrain and Dubai. We are a specialist legal executive search firm who have placed lawyers and support staff in the leading law firms and multinational companies in the GCC and wider Middle East region.

We pride ourselves on delivering a value-added introduction service that achieves the goals of both client and candidate, and so take great care to absorb every last detail when learning about our clients and candidates, so as to ensure a mutually beneficial match.

The majority of our focus is in the Legal sector, working very closely with UK, US and local law firms in the Middle East and in the Asia Pacific region, on a contingent and retained basis. We also exclusively recruit and headhunt for a number of banks, telecoms, and energy firms on legal and compliance mandates.