Legal Counsel

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Job Summary

• Provide quality, effective and timely legal advice and/or legal opinions to all Business Units (including but not limited to Personal & Private Banking (PPB) and Corporate & Investment Banking (CIB), Human Capital, Compliance, Sourcing and Procurement contracts, dispute and litigations, which opinions clearly identify legal risks, are commercial in nature, demonstrate an understanding of the needs of Business Units and add value to Business Units.
• Undertake and apply comprehensive and accurate legal research in providing legal advice and/or opinions.
• Clearly and concisely explain legal risks, concepts and clauses in agreements to Business Units.
• Draft, review and negotiate customer agreements, facility and security documentation, third-party/vendor contracts
• Support transactional, contractual and project-related workstreams.
• Provide legal input on employment and Human Capital-related matters where required.
• Provide legal support to Business Units at meetings with other banks and/or clients.
• Ensure that legal advice and/or opinions are current and correct by remaining up to date with the latest legal developments.
• Provide comments on existing agreements and/or agreements drafted by other banks, clients or their attorneys.
• Ensure that legal agreements, security documents and other documents contain adequate provisions to manage and mitigate legal risks.
• Ensure effective and appropriate verbal and written communication of the legal risk control framework policies to Business Units.
• Escalate complex, specialised or high-risk matters to the Head of Legal (Indian Ocean) and the Managing Director / Chief Risk Officer (Absa Bank Seychelles).
• Instruct and liaise with external counsel in terms of legal advice, opinions and cost management.

• Support the management of litigation and contentious matters involving the Bank.
• Liaise with external counsel and assist with review of pleadings, case strategy, monitoring of matter progress
• Ensure accurate internal reporting and tracking of litigation matters.
• Contribute to early identification and mitigation of dispute-related risks.

• Monitor compliance of the legal risk control framework.
• Immediately report any breach of the legal risk control framework to the Head of Legal (Indian Ocean) and Chief Risk Officer and accurately record legal risks on the legal risk reporting forms.
• Act on legal risks notified in the legal risk reports to ensure the successful mitigation of the risks.
• Provide legal input on draft bills, regulatory documents and regulations issued by governmental departments and/or regulatory body.
• Identify and meet management information requirements for the measurement of legal risk exposure, key legal issues and trends.
• Provide input into legal risk report submissions.
• Provide input on litigation exposure, contractual risk trends and emerging legal risks across PPB, CIB and support functions, including Human Capital.

• Ensure that all activities and duties are conducted in full compliance with regulatory requirements, Enterprise Wide Risk Management Framework and internal Absa Policies and Policy Standards. Understand and proactively manage risks and risk events (incidents) relevant to the role.

• Participate in the development of training on legal risk issues for key stakeholders and business units.
• Provide training to Business Units on legal documentation, developments and issues including the production of legal bulletins and seminars.
• Maintain up to date knowledge of relevant Absa governance requirements and policies.
• Ensure that any changes to the legal or regulatory environment are correctly reflected in the documents contained in the Standard Legal Documents Databases for Seychelles and in all other agreements drafted.
• Sharing  know-how and experience with  the business  team and within the Absa Legal function.

• Law Degree with at least 7 years’ Post Qualified legal work experience in a law firm or in house banking Team.

Essential

• Qualified Lawyer - Admitted Attorney or Barrister
• At least 7 years' post qualified experience as an in-house legal counsel in a financial institution or at least 7 years working experience in a reputable law firm
• Knowledge of Banking and Finance law, Commercial law, Contract law, Employment law, Data Protection Act
• Experience in litigation and dispute resolution and management of litigious matters

• Expert working knowledge of  banking and relevant documentation
• Strong knowledge of Banking Regulation
• Experience in managing projects
• Sound knowledge of financial services legislation

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• High resilience and ability to perform under pressure
• Strong digital proficiency
• Highly developed interpersonal skills and stakeholder management
• Demonstrated coaching ability
• Advanced negotiation skills
• Strong analytical capability
• Effective presentation skills
• Sound risk management capability

Education