Regional Counsel, APAC

Role purpose

To be a highly effective business partner to the members of the leadership team based in APAC by providing strategic legal recommendations and implementation, using a solutions focused mindset to balance the management of risk and compliance with the requirement for a commercial and profitable business.

This will be achieved through legal independence, having the professional strength to influence, support and collaborate whilst maintaining strong legal ethics combined with a continued understanding of the business strategy and commercial drivers.

Responsible for advising the APAC business on a broad range of legal, risk and compliance matters including primary management of legal disputes or other legal requests, management of outside counsel, and supporting the commercial aspects of the business from a legal perspective.

Acting data protection officer for Singapore.

To support the Global General Counsel in the preparation of Group policies and procedures, general and specific terms and conditions of business and assist in the overall development of legal strategy on a global basis.

Role tasks and responsibilities

Support with contractual terms

 To serve the Group interests by evaluating the potential legal, reputational and commercial risks related to a task or a contract and to provide practical solutions to mitigate such risks, thereby enabling the business to achieve its commercial objectives.
 Negotiate contract terms with clients, effectively balancing the contractual exposure of the business with the need to maintain good working relationships with its clients. Contracts include the company’s standard terms and conditions, client-specific contracts, government contracts and vendor contracts, competitive tenders and associated documentation (such as guarantees, bid/performance bonds, NDAs and MOUs).
 Clearly articulate to business colleagues the risks attendant on particular contracts or contractual provisions, including subcontractors, advise and influence accordingly.

Management of Compliance risk for APAC

 Work closely with the leadership team based in APAC to proactively identify and mitigate legal and compliance risks in business plans and operations at an early stage (including data protection and anti-corruption and helping to identify licensing issues).
 Ensure consistent standards in the provision of legal advice, support and training, in the area of risk, insurance and compliance with law and regulation.

Legal Subject Matter Expert

 Work closely with the Global General Counsel, market / service line heads and others to identify key changes in law and regulation and to evaluate and advise on their likely impacts for Control Risks and its client relationships.
 Directly handle legal issues material to Control Risks, provide strategic and operational guidance with the goal of mitigating risk and ensuring sustained future business growth.
 Identify the need for external advice where appropriate; scope the advice required, obtain and negotiate fee estimates, negotiate engagement letters, manage budgets and ensure advice is delivered in a clear and actionable manner, shared as appropriate and is stored and accessible for future reference.
 Challenge external advice to deliver superior outcomes that balance the legal and risk issues with the commercial drivers for the advice sought.
 Primary manager for any litigation or contractual disputes involving legal entities in APAC.
 Create documents in support of a variety of legal matters such as IP licenses, professional advisers’ engagement letters, shareholder contracts / investment agreements, articles of association / incorporation, board and shareholder resolutions, tax-driven (e.g. transfer pricing) agreements, loan and facility agreements, loan notes, company policies and procedures, research and guidance notes, board memoranda, letters before action and a variety of other corporate and business documentation with both legal and non-legal impacts.
 Solve problems against a wide spectrum of issues and geographies

Support to wider legal community

 Directly support the Global General Counsel in providing legal advice, strategic and operational input into key global projects.
 Effective and substantial interaction required with both the business team and other members of the Legal, Risk & Compliance team.
 Play an active Partner role networking with colleagues, sharing and generating ideas and challenging where appropriate the status quo.
 Be a strong legal role model, leader of people and embracing the Control Risks collaborative culture
 Lead the APAC legal team providing clear direction on tasks that are aligned to the business strategy and adding commercial value
 Responsibility for motivation and engagement of the legal team to ensure they have all the tools they need to provide their best work

Requirements

Knowledge and experience

 Hands-on in-house corporate experience of managing complex legal issues in a multi-faceted and demanding business environment. Will be equally at home giving high level strategic advice and rolling up their sleeves on a straight contract negotiation.

 A generalist with broad experience (including experience with advising on data protection and corporate responsibility) who relishes the commercial and operational aspects of business.

 Solutions focused mindset, able to assess the risk and provide pragmatic options with appropriate mitigation to support a commercial output

 Experience advising senior executives on managing proprietary business risk

 Experience of mentoring and guiding more junior team members and intervening where escalation is requested or required.

 Exposure to international operations (with emphasis in APAC strongly preferred).

 Demonstrate ability to interact with all levels of a fascinating and highly complex business and understand its fundamental drivers, including different types of risks the business may face.

 Excellent writing skills, including an ability to explain legal concepts in plain English.

 Robust negotiator with the ability to persuade and convince and the facility to switch between commercial and technical arguments. Must be able to exploit and engage with arguments applicable to common law and civil code jurisdictions.

 Must display emotional intelligence and cultural sophistication: an ability to moderate tone and language to engender trust and display insight so as to engineer positive outcomes for the business in negotiations with international clients and other parties.

 Diligent and conscientious, with strong analytical skills and excellent attention to detail, while understanding the commercial context behind an assignment.

 Demonstrate an understanding of all categories of risk – prioritizing business imperatives without jeopardizing the integrity of the organization and its employees or putting it at legal risk. Must have practical grasp of / willingness to engage in all areas of law impacting the day-today operations of a global professional services business, including tax, employment, IP, data privacy etc

 Extensive previous experience in a similar position

Qualifications and specialist skills

 Extensive previous experience in a similar position

 Law degree or equivalent

 Member of Legal Profession

 Familiarity with international laws (with emphasis on APAC strongly preferred) in general

 Extensive experience and application of data protection laws, including personal data.