Job Introduction
Job Title Legal Counsel (Commercial)
Department Legal
Location Home and office based
Additional details The role is a hybrid role with the successful candidate required to attend BPP Offices (London Portsoken Street or Manchester) two to three days a week, and any additional days as reasonably required.
Travel requirements (if applicable)
Contract type Full time and permanent
Hours of work BPP’s core hours for most full time staff are Monday-Friday, 9am-5:30pm (37.5 hours per week)
Reporting lines Reporting to Head of Commercial Law
Job Purpose
The objective of this role is to assist in providing commercial legal advice services to the entire BPP Education Group (both in the UK and internationally), particularly in relation to the following core areas: client contracts (with an emphasis on apprenticeship and other education and training contracts); supplier contracts (with a focus on IT contracts and licences), bids and tenders (including public procurement), consumer law matters (including standard terms and conditions and small claims), intellectual property and marketing.
Key Responsibilities
Picking up new work assigned from the Legal inbox (covering a wide range of commercial topics) and providing appropriate legal advice to the business within the Team’s SLAs. Assisting with supervision and mentoring of junior team members.
Skills, experience & qualifications required - Essential
- Be a qualified solicitor in England and Wales (this role would suit an NQ to 3 years PQE solicitor, though applications from any PQE will be considered).
- Have demonstrable experience in advising on commercial contracts, both as a supplier and recipient of services.
- Be comfortable answering a wide range of queries on various commercial topics from the business, clients and students via our Legal inbox.
- Possess exceptional drafting, negotiation, problem-solving, team, communication and client management skills.
- Have strong interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate complex legal concepts into a clear and understandable format both orally and in writing to a multi-disciplinary team.
- Manage their own workload and clients.
- Demonstrate a keen interest in working in-house.
Skills, experience & qualifications required - Desirable
- Have a can do, positive attitude and be prepared to hit the ground running in a business that is continually evolving.
- Experience with bids, tenders, consumer law or intellectual property law will be an added advantage.
- Commercial litigation experience will be an added advantage.
- Previous in-house experience would be beneficial.
- Be interested in the Education sector, and the regulation governing Higher Education in particular. While experience in Education would be beneficial, it is not essential.