Senior Legal Counsel: Business Banking at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Description

Accountability:  Management of Legal Risks

• Proactive updating of templates and identification of clauses for continuous improvement. 
• Ensure effective and appropriate verbal and written communication of the legal policies to internal clients.
• Proactive monitoring of compliance of the legal risk control framework.
• Adhere to Absa frameworks, policies and procedures applicable to the role, demonstrating sound judgement and responsible risk management and when required highlight breaches and request dispensations & waivers on a timely basis.
• Report all risk events/incidents/issues immediately upon discovery and escalate significant events/incidents/issues using the defined process for the business area.
• Understand why risk events/incidents/issues happened and identify how to prevent them in future - focusing on fixing root causes and taking ownership of identified actions.
• Actively raise the profile of the legal function and improve on Legal Key Risks
• Manage and create awareness by embedding legal policies and control requirements in all areas of the business
• Provide appropriate challenge and equally be robust in the face of challenges
• Build strong risk partnerships with colleagues in other functions (especially key control areas)
• Fully understand the role of legal in Absa Group Limited and how it interacts with other functions and the business.
• Identify and escalate non legal and legal risk issues
• Contributes to the creation of policies and controls

Accountability:  Negotiate, draft and review Agreements

• Ensure agreements are drafted as quickly and efficiently as possible while protecting the Bank and mitigating risks.
• Attend to queries as quickly as possible.
• Successful conclusion of agreements, taken into account how certain clauses would impact the Bank' strategy.
• Consider, comment, negotiate and give advice on commercial agreements and schedules.
• Assist in structuring, negotiating and drafting commercial agreements and schedules relating to standard agreements, technology agreements and related transactions.
• Address all probable risks by seeing to it that they are sufficiently mitigated in the agreements drafted.
• Conduct legal due diligences on transactions.
• Represent Absa at Industry Forums such as but not limited to, Banking Association of South Africa.

Accountability:  Stakeholder Management

• Build relationships with key senior stakeholders within the legal and business functions across the Bank and become a trusted advisor.
• Timeous, appropriate and collegiate engagement and collaboration with Legal colleagues from other teams, particularly where matters are business facing or are related to another area of expertise (e.g. employment law).
• Timeous and proactive escalation of issues to manager (technical, stakeholder related and where matters have been open for more than 3 months), blocking out contract review time with manager sufficiently in advance so as to avoid urgency and delays.
• Timeous and accurate matters reporting, providing adequate detail and drafted in a manner that can be easily copied into a General Counsel report.
•  Explain legal concepts, clauses in agreements and risks to internal clients.
• Provide training that is beneficial / informative to internal clients by way of presentations, such as training on new legislation or recent legal precedents.
• Manage external counsel were applicable.
• Familiarisation with the Bank’ internal governance.
• Contribute to industry wide initiative and develop a good network amongst peer group externally.
• Proactively collaborate across different teams and geographies within Legal to break down silos.

Accountability: Leadership & Management

• Demonstrates strong relationship management skills with clients
• Plan and manage projects and matters through to completion, including resourcing
• Contribute to the development and implementation of team objectives and strategy and provide high quality support to the business as required by interacting with different legal and business stakeholders.
• Work independently with minimal supervision and demonstrate the ability to supervise where appropriate

Accountability: Commercial

• Demonstrate strong analytical skills and solve complex problems creatively and effectively
• Drives good cost control behaviour, especially around external spend and consistently deliver against a broad range of competing target
• Manage external counsel and represent AGL on relevant industry forums and professional bodies where required
• Add value in commercial as well as technical discussions, and provide training that is beneficial / informative to internal clients 

Accountability: Risk and Control

• Actively raise the profile of the legal function and improve on Legal Key Risks
• Manage and create awareness by embedding legal policies and control requirements in all areas of the business
• Provide appropriate challenge and equally be robust in the face of challenges
• Build strong risk partnerships with colleagues in other functions (especially key control areas)
• Fully understand the role of legal in AGL and how it interacts with other functions and the business.

Accountability: Teamwork:

• Proactively collaborates across different teams and geographies within Legal to break down silos
• Provide objective and constructive feedback and openly shares knowledge and expertise

Accountability:  Technical

• Acts as a trusted advisor to business and other infrastructure areas; understands market and legal developments and their impact on business
• Contribute to industry-wide initiatives and have a good network amongst peer group externally

Professional/technical experience

• At least 7years’ PQE in the field of commercial  law.
• Ability to advise at a senior business level and establish credibility with senior stakeholders.
• Experience in drafting and negotiating agreements is preferred.

Academic and professional qualifications

• Appropriate Law degree.
• Admitted attorney in RSA.
• Strong Commercial Law, Public Sector expertise, Renewable Energy, Transport and Logistics experience and Franchising and Manufacturing experience will be an added advantage.
• Degree from a leading educational institution with good academic results.