The Role: Legal Counsel – Hybrid
Sector: Hospitality
Location: Milton Keynes
Salary: £75,000 - £85,000pa
Our client is a household name when it comes to home delivery! They have tireless ambition and very exciting plans for the future. To support their expansion and corporate development, we are looking for their first in-house Legal Counsel to join the UK team. The company culture is supportive, yet offers autonomy. They trust individuals to fulfil their roles and work collaboratively to bring company objectives to fruition.
We are looking for a fully qualified lawyer with extensive knowledge of commercial contracts, including leasing and franchise agreements. Experience across Data Privacy, Employment Law and Compliance would also be beneficial.
All About you as Legal Counsel
You will thrive in a fast-paced environment and be able to build and manage relationships with both internal and external stakeholders. You will be comfortable working in a global group, with reporting lines that stretch to the USA. You will have experience managing external counsel, particularly on litigation, mediation and settlement issues, as well as managing outside counsel budgets and legal spend. You will be comfortable supporting the senior leadership team and happy to work autonomously as required. You will be resilient and flexible and able to hit the ground running.
Exposure to the world of hospitality / foodservice / restaurants / real estate would be a real bonus.
About the role:
1. Act as the primary in-house counsel for day-to-day legal support of the UK business on employment issues, real estate, franchising, and other general corporate matters.
2. Coordinate and communicate with internal stakeholders and outside counsel on legal matters as directed.
3. Draft, revise and review business contracts, amendments, LOIs, NDA’s, renewals, and other routine agreements.
4. Provide legal team oversight to manage business contracts within the Company’s contract management system.
5. Monitor contract expiration and renewal dates, process renewal agreements, prepare renewal franchise agreements and leases.
6. Work closely with human resources team to provide legal advice on employee matters, investigations, benefits and other issues.
7. Work closely with the development and operations teams to draft and edit franchise documents, including franchise agreements, development agreements, leases and other documents.
8. Draft, manage and monitor franchise correspondence, including default and termination notices, and manage internal notification of such matters.
9. Assist with franchise legal and regulatory compliance information.
10. Research and answer internal and external legal questions regarding UK legal issues.
11. Provide other support as directed by the US legal team, including but not limited to, legal advice regarding data privacy compliance, marketing, supply chain, operations, and other functional areas of the UK business.
What you need to succeed
12. Law degree and equivalent experience as a qualified solicitor in the UK.
13. Experience with the restaurant and/or franchising industry preferred.
14. Exposure to and understanding of UK GDPR and data privacy issues desired.
15. Advanced Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, Adobe and Outlook skills
16. Experience with contract management systems and/or IronClad
17. Thorough knowledge of franchising, development and contract issues
18. Legal knowledge of real estate, leasing and transactions
19. Understanding of UK employment law and issues
You must be able to live and work in the UK without restriction.