Head: Competition Law & Regulatory Risk Advisory at Nedbank

Job Purpose

To formulate the Legal Risk Management strategy and set the legal parameters to control; manage and direct the legal function across Nedbank Group to ensure that Competition Law & Regulatory Risk are mitigated.

Job Responsibilities

Engage with stakeholders strategically to become a trusted operational and tactical advisor within Group Litigation and Dispute. Create a climate of teamwork and enable up skilling of Group Legal staff, improving results for the organisation by encouraging cross functional co-operation and by supporting career progression across Cluster legal teams. Highlight and escalate legal risks across Nedbank. Build and maintain long term relationships with Cluster Heads and Chief Risk Officers. Ensure a relationship of trust is built and maintained and achieve functional objectives. Act and respond with authority on litigation and dispute risks that impact the industry. Ensure adequate budget for delivery of strategy of Group Legal within timelines. Meet changing environment/business needs and targets. Ensure delivery of assignments per business parameters by drafting attorney policy for Group Litigation and Disputes. Ensure appropriate risks are reported and escalated and that legal risks across Nedbank are accurately measured and accounted for. Track legal fees across Nedbank through accurate reporting to manage legal costs and by ensuring that informed decisions about capacity and outsourcing of Legal work are made. Build internal litigation and dispute capacity across Clusters. Ensure optimum benefits from insurance cover are realised and manage insurance claims. Provide legal advice on claims and defence actions, regulatory investigations, complaints or alternative dispute resolution process through application of professional and industry knowledge and expertise, and by ensuring that the best practice advice and opinions are implemented. Provide litigation and dispute counsel (including labour disputes) across Nedbank Group by conducting due diligence, attending court hearings, regulatory hearings and briefing attorneys and advocates. Establish and maintain a Group Litigation and Dispute Centre of Excellence (COE) by building and maintaining a legal opinion database and by reducing costs of outsourcing and managing internal credibility. Ensure national legal standards and benchmarks are set by serving on professional bodies. Enhance the credibility of Group Litigation and Dispute by providing commercially sound legal counsel to stakeholders and by adequately managing legal risks, while adding value to the business. Ensure outcome of decisions gives Nedbank a competitive advantage. Maximise insurance pay-out. Provide oversight over the implementation of Group Litigation and Dispute strategy. Draft and maintain litigation and dispute and supporting policies and frameworks. Ensure service excellence by Group Litigation and Dispute. Minimise litigation and dispute risks through ensuring that all decision-making, opinions, documentation and learnings comply with the framework and standards and are captured on system tool. Support Group Human Resources in dealing with labour and industrial relations matters by providing advice and, where necessary, obtaining external legal advice.  Implement in-house counsel barometer benchmarks and metrics by adopting and applying international best practice benchmarks in support of business goals. Set and review policy/framework for attorney panel selection by determining relevant expertise.

Accountability

The Group Legal Head: Litigation, is accountable to the Group Chief Legal Counsel

Essential Qualification

• Relevant legal degree (e.g. B Proc, LLB)

• Masters and post graduate qualification in law or business (i.e. MBA) is highly advantageous

Essential Certifications

• Admitted Attorney

Type of Exposure

• Managing a team of managers

• Identifying/select talent

• Managing business risks

• Communicating complex information in writing and verbally

• Negotiating settlements

• Litigating

• Managing legal risks

• Making financial decisions/

• Representing the company in Industry related forums

• Establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with peers / managers

Minimum Experience Level

• Admitted Attorney with a minimum 10-15 years commercial legal experience (preferably corporate in-house or commercial law firm.)

• Experience in or exposure to dealing at senior level.

• High level knowledge of corporate and legal operating environments, and a commercially and business minded person operating at a senior level in a business/commercial environment.

• Strong working knowledge of regulatory environments applicable to banking and financial regulation, corporate and commercial law, competition and anti-trust law and data protection and privacy laws.

• Proven experience building and managing large teams with a demonstrable track record of effective performance

• Worked in a law firm or practiced as an advocate.

• Practical financial services experience in working on corporate and commercial law related matters with demonstrated deep specialisation in this area of law.

• Ability to apply corporate and commercial law in a banking and/or insurance organisation.

Technical / Professional Knowledge

• Capacity planning

• Change management

• Communication Strategies

• Diversity management

• Governance, Risk and Controls

• Legal Risk and practice management

• Legal Risk Methodology

• Litigation and dispute practice

• Relevant regulatory knowledge

• Reputational risk management

• Management information and reporting principles, tools and mechanisms

Behavioural Competencies

• Building Partnerships

• Earning Trust

• Communication

• Continuous Learning

• Customer Focus

• Building talent