Legal Officer at Absa

The role will primarily focus on providing legal support and advice to the business generally including taking responsibility by providing specific advice and preparing responses to, inter alia, court documents, subpoenas, reckless lending complaints etc. To mitigate the legal risk implicit therein and provide advice in respect of certain legal work and legal administrative matters or other court documents/subpoenas/reckless lending complaints received Group-wide.

Duties will entail:

• Receive legal queries and complaints from group wide stakeholders (the various Business Units- Retail, Corporate & Business Banking etc.) and external bodies (NCR, Banking Ombudsman etc.) to record, respond to the queries or complaints.
• Categorise and evaluate queries and complaints in terms of complexity, urgency, risk and priority level.
• Preparing letters or responses to queries and complaints.
• Ensure the bank’s legal position is managed effectively in all situations in which disputes arise, at all times safeguarding Absa’s reputation.
• Attend necessary training sessions to ensure commerciality and continued legal professional development.
• Provide advice in respect of issues arising in respect of any court documents /reckless lending complaint etc.
• Ensure that an accurate and comprehensive database of information is precisely maintained, from which a variety of reports may be extracted.
• Identify, interpret and explain emerging trends, and where appropriate provide early warning of potential vulnerabilities.
• Liaise (written & verbal) with external parties, including hostile legal practitioners, various Court Officials, members of the South African Police Services, National Credit Regulator, South African Revenue Services, SA Reserve Bank, and a variety of other Regulatory bodies, in relation to any court orders/ reckless lending complaints.
• Communicate (written & verbal) with internal stakeholders and manage the on-going relationship, in respect of the physical production of documentation and preparing the necessary responses to any court document/ reckless lending complaint.
• Assist legal counsel in the feedback to stakeholders by regular interaction with the stakeholders in order to discuss legal developments and matters with them.
• Distil and communicate legal concepts in a simple, concise way that is easily understood by business stakeholders.
• Evaluate, manage and prioritise tasks in accordance with business need
• Extract information from the Litigation Management Tools to measure and report on legal activity levels and trends in respect of court documents /subpoenas/reckless credit complaints.

Education And Experience Required

• NQF Level 5: National Diploma or Higher Certificate
• ParaLegal Certification (Essential)
• Qualifications Required (Preferred)
• Additional courses in legal subjects or legal risk management (Preferred)
• LLB Degree (preferred)
• Four (4) years relevant paralegal experience preferably within a litigation environment.
• Exposure to a corporate environment, preferably within the banking industry.

Competencies:

• Ability to work as part of a team
• Very strong interpersonal skills, especially communication skills
• Well organized and efficient
• Excellent negotiating and influencing skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• Integrity and reliability
• Business awareness, prioritisation of risk and strong commercial focus
• Ability to take a commercial view within legal constraints
• Ability to manage a large (and often fluid) workload with effective prioritisation as well as deliver under pressure and at speed