Senior Legal Counsel, South Africa/Africa at DSV

Main purpose of the role

• To partner business by ensuring the delivery of seamless, value-added support to the various business units within DSV in South Africa and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• This entails delivering a legal service to the business, which includes, but is not limited to, furnishing and implementing legal advice to management and the business in respect of a wide variety of commercial and corporate law matters, working with external professional advisors, the negotiation and drafting of commercial contracts .

Qualifications

• Degree in Law: LLB
• Intermediate computer literacy in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Contract management systems

Job Requirements

• 5 Post Qualification years relevant industry experience in a Senior Position.
• Holistic knowledge of laws relating to transport and logistics, including Contract, Corporate, Civil, Interpretation of statutes and contracts.
• Admission as an Attorney (2-year practice experience).
• Experience in Drafting, Reviewing, and Negotiating Commercial Agreements, locally and internationally (Sub-Saharan Africa).
• Technical knowledge of legal structures and agreements within transport and logistics industry.
• Strong analytical skills and demonstrated ability to understand complex legal concepts.
• Knowledge and experience of applicable Laws and Regulations with the ability to provide training to key stakeholders.
• Experience in steering External Legal Counsel for litigious matters.
• Excellent fluency in English.
• Leadership Skills.
• Problem Solving skills.
• Excellent Communication skills.
• Must be able to self-manage tasks (includes effectively communicating with stakeholders).
• Proven track record of dealing with people at all levels within the organization.
• Effective time management.

Added Advantages for this role

• LLM, MBA preferred.
• Transport and Logistics Industry knowledge.
• Strong personality with an ability to get the necessary messages across.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Draft/vet and review a variety of corporate legal contracts (supplier & customer).
• Keeping abreast of new/changed legislation and informing the business to ensure understanding of risks and commercial implications.
• Protecting the company’s interest, risk management and compliance with corporate governance, guidelines and procedures.
• Negotiation on behalf of the business in order to attain value.
• Negotiation with third parties to ensure appropriate contractual relationships and minimise risks.
• Identify matters requiring specialist legal input and instruct and liaise with appropriate external counsel.
• Liaise with external attorneys and prepare comprehensive brief to attorneys where necessary.
• Co-ordinating and managing litigation matters with external attorneys and counsel and interpreting or proposing recommendations for the business.
• Drafting legal opinions.
• Conduct legal research of significant legal issues.
• Keep abreast of company policies

Other Duties

• Timely and comprehensive response of assigned tasks.
• Execution of projects and day-to-day tasks.
• Focus on performance and deadlines.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders.