Jobs at Absa

To develop tactical strategy and delivery plans, formulate associated practice/s and to ensure operational implementation and adoption i.t.o. legal methodology, governance and delivery objectives.

Job Description

Looking for a new challenge? An exciting opportunity has become available for the role of Senior Legal Counsel to join our Group Litigation team. The successful candidate will be a qualified Lawyer/attorney with 5 – 8 years post qualification experience and will be required to support our Retail Banking Business, dealing with litigation matters including: court cases, disputes, subpoenas.

You will be responsible for identifying and managing legal risk, providing pro-active legal advice on a day to day basis, support and risk management and a small team of Legal Specialist.

Additional responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Build relationships with key senior stakeholders within the legal and business functions across AGL and become a trusted advisor.
• Communicate and distil legal concepts to the business function, ensuring that lessons learned are communicated both within and outside the Legal fraternity.
• Ensure effective and appropriate verbal and written communication of the legal policies to internal clients.
• Provide legally sound solutions to business problems
• Manage, evaluate and prioritise tasks in accordance with business needs
• Proactive monitoring of compliance of the legal risk control framework
• Act on legal risks notified in the legal risk reports, by raising it with the business stakeholders and addressing it as far as possible in whatever way and means required to sufficiently mitigate risk
• Ensure that all risks are sufficiently addressed in agreements entered by the bank; understanding the requirements of business, legal issues and possible business risks and incorporating clauses in the agreements to address such risks and requirements
• Assist in structuring, negotiating & drafting legal agreements and documentation relating to standard agreements, transactions and new products
• Provide high quality support to the business as required by interacting with different legal and business stakeholders
• Coach and mentor junior team members on a daily basis on how to improve their own productivity and use of the bank’s processes and systems

Academic and professional qualifications:

• Law degree: B Juris or B Proc or LLB
• Admitted attorney or advocate in RSA or other similar jurisdiction
• Degree from a leading educational institution with good academic results

Skills and Experience:

• Understanding of the banking business and product offerings would be of benefit.
• Some in house financial services experience is preferred.
• Ability to advise at a senior business level and establish credibility very quickly
• Excellent negotiating and influencing skills
• 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