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CONTRACTS LAWYER – 4-7 YEARS PQE – BIRMINGHAM OR GLASGOW

Brief

We are currently looking to recruit a Contracts Lawyer who will ideally have 4-7 years’ PQE. The role can be based in Birmingham or Glasgow. Whilst it is a full-time position, applicants wishing to work part time (4 days per week) are also encouraged to apply.

Background

The Central Procurement and Contracts (" CPC ") team combines procurement and legal contract expertise working together to support the firm in its sourcing, contracting and management of 3rd party suppliers, both in the UK and other jurisdictions where the firm has a presence. On the contracts side, the team currently comprises a Legal Director, two Senior Contracts Lawyers, two Contracts Lawyers, and two Paralegals, all permanent roles.

On the procurement side CPC has a Head of Procurement, three Category Managers and a data analyst. The team is also supported by a dedicated administrative coordinator.

The team operates a centre of excellence approach working with representatives across the various business functions (referred to as the 'buying community') using established policies, procedures and work practices to provide a 'best practice' approach to sourcing, contracting and supply management.

The role of the Contracts Lawyer is generally to draft, review, negotiate and advise on a wide range of commercial contracts in support of the procurement, contracting and supplier management activities undertaken by CPC and the buying community. The business functions provided with procurement and contract support by CPC are IT, Info Sec, Vario, facilities, HR and learning, business development, communications, knowledge, finance and risk, compliance and legal services. CPC also assists fee earners with procurement and contracting activities, to the extent that practice groups have sourcing requirements.

The Candidate Required

• Strong academic background
• 4-7 years PQE in a general commercial or IT role is preferable, either in-house or private practice in a substantial, well established organisation, but we will consider those with less or more experience if otherwise ideally suited for the role
• We are particularly keen to hear from individuals from a diverse background.
  

Key skills and abilities:

• Technical excellence in contract drafting and amending and ability to apply skills to a wide range of commercial contracts for services and equipment
• Experience dealing with all legal aspects of commercial agreements. In particular, experience of IT, IP and data protection related aspects highly desirable
• Ability to formulate and draft service requirements and service level agreements based on input from the wider business
• Commercial awareness and ability to prioritise and make sound judgements on contract issues and level of acceptable risk
• Enthusiastic and proactive
• Solution driven - ability to solve problems creatively and effectively
• Ability to take responsibility and act autonomously – with appropriate supervision
• 'Team player' with strong (internal) client focussed approach
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral
• Ability to plan, organise and prioritise tasks and projects
• Confident in dealing with senior and junior staff alike
• Ability to remain calm, controlled and resilient in a demanding environment
• Strong Word skills

Good Excel and/or e-procurement/contract database skills advantageous

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Contracts

• Review, draft, amend and negotiate contracts from low to high value for all the business operations that CPC supports (as indicated above) handling the legal aspects in an autonomous fashion and seeking input from the senior lawyers in the team where required
• Apply a pragmatic, commercial and, in some cases, risk management approach to all contract work, often against tight deadlines
• Work with members of CPC and the buying community to understand and reflect business and commercial requirements into contracts and recognise key issues and priorities
  

Procurement

• Support sourcing activities and projects undertaken by CPC and/or the buying community in relation to contract work eg drafting term sheets and/or contracts for inclusion in Requests for Proposals issued to suppliers, and evaluating suppliers responses
• Work as a member of project teams established for larger sourcing projects to provide contract support (as above) and advice
• Assist with reports required from CPC eg monthly update report to Business Operations Directors
  

Supplier Management

• Assist with contract and commercial queries raised by CPC and buying community members and provide ad hoc contract advice as required
• Input to supplier exit strategies
• Provide contract advice and guidance to assist with resolution of supplier issues
  

Process and Administration

• Be familiar with and proactively guide members of the buying community on use of the firm's procurement gateway and e-procurement tool and compliance with procurement policy
• Work with other members of CPC and the buying community to ensure that the supplier contract database is kept up to date, and all new contracts are recorded in the database
• Get involved in the promotion of CPC and its processes and tools within the firm, and the development and maintenance of templates, tools and precedents for, and the provision of contract training to, the firm’s ‘buyers’
• Dealing with supplier aspects of client tender submissions and client audit questionnaires
• Working with CPC team on CPC annual and quarterly objectives aligned with firmwide strategy
  

What will we offer you?

• We are a dynamic, friendly team who work together to produce outstanding results for our internal clients
• We invest in our team and have access to first class training and third party on-line resources (the same as are available to the fee earning lawyers)
• We provide regular legal check-ins, wellbeing discussions and appraisals.
• A fast-paced environment with a wide range of commercial work, a unique opportunity to work directly with procurement specialists as part of the same team, the buyers and technical experts
• Early responsibility and opportunities to develop internal client relationships.
  

Awards

Pinsent Masons has achieved more tier 1 rankings in The Legal 500 UK guide than any other firm, won the "Law Firm of the Year Award 2021 – Legal Business" and is recognised among the most innovative law firms in Europe by the Financial Times. Please click here to view full list of our global awards and nominations - www.pinsentmasons.com/accolades

Please note we only accept applications made via our recruitment portal. Should you require further details, please contact our in-house Lateral Recruitment Advisor Steffy Lam who can discuss the role and requirements.

Contact details:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steffy-lam-715241238/

[email protected]

At Pinsent Masons we value diversity and inclusion. We are committed to creating a better workplace where all our talent can succeed and feel like they belong. We want to attract, retain and develop people at all levels and encourage applications from all suitably qualified candidates whatever your ethnicity, religion, age, physical or mental disability/ long term condition, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or any other characteristics protected by local law in the jurisdictions in which we operate.

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