Kennedys is currently recruiting a General Counsel for its Asia Pacific region (“ APAC ”). The General Counsel will be responsible for providing strategic legal advice, managing legal affairs, and ensuring compliance with applicable law and regulations in APAC.
This is a newly created role and will provide legal counsel to the firm's global management group in relation to the geographical region of APAC. The firm's management group includes the Executive Group and the Governance Group, together with the Business Services Leadership Team, Global and APAC Product Group Heads, Local Managing Partners and Regional Managing Partners.
Team:
The role reports to the Chief Risk Officer and sits in the Risk and Compliance Department.
Key Responsibilities:
1. Provide strategic legal advice to the firm's management group, partners and employees in relation to Kennedys' APAC offices (Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong)
2. Provide expert guidance and counsel on a wide range of legal issues which seek to limit the firm's risk exposure
3. Advise on risk management strategies and develop proactive measures to mitigate legal risks particularly in connection with the Data Risk, New Business Risk and Quality & Audit Risk teams
4. Identify proactive legal solutions to the business that will mitigate risk to the firm including responsibility for the purchase of appropriate insurance cover both within the region and globally
5. Provide internal training and guidance on legal issues and best practice as required, including risk management induction to new Partners
6. Manage and oversee the resolution of any required legal disputes, including litigation, arbitration, and alternative dispute resolution processes and represent the firm in any such proceedings where necessary
7. Collaborate with external legal counsel, as required, in relation to specific legal matters
8. Act as a key member of the Risk and Compliance Leadership team, and collaborate with the wider function to deliver a best in class approach to managing risk across the firm
9. Develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations, standards and industry best practice
10. Manage the renewal of and compliance with all regulatory licences, consents, approvals and practising certificates
11. Set internal governance policies and regularly review to ensure they are fit for purpose and take into consideration relevant changes as required
12. Stay informed about industry trends and developments to anticipate potential legal issues and opportunities
13. Act at all times with the highest integrity
Required Skills & Experience:
14. Qualified lawyer with 10 plus years' experience - litigation experience desirable but not essential
15. Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, confident presenter, able to engage at all levels
16. Ideally has experience of and spent time in some or all of the APAC locations – Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore
17. Strategic acumen and excellent problem-solving capabilities
18. Demonstrable professionalism, ethics, and integrity
19. Ability to anticipate legal issues and potential risk
20. Strong strategic thinker and influencer
21. Builds and manages relationships across a global network with senior leadership, including effectively managing within a global organisation
22. Deals with difficult conversations with senior leaders to jointly come to the right outcome for the business
23. Resilient with the ability to operate within high pressured environments.
Please let us know if you require any additional support or adjustments to be made in order to submit your application to Kennedys.
*where a level of experience is indicated, this is a guideline only and represents the amount of time we would usually expect a candidate to accumulate the requisite level of experience. This does not preclude applications from candidates with more or less experience.
About Kennedys
Kennedys is a global law firm with expertise in dispute resolution and advisory services. With over 2,500 people worldwide across 45 offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and America we have some of the most respected legal minds in their field.
Our lawyers handle both contentious and non-contentious matters, and provide a range of specialist legal services, for many industry sectors but we have particular expertise in litigation and dispute resolution, especially in defending insurance and liability claims.
We're a fresh-thinking firm, and we're not afraid to bring challenging new perspectives to the table way beyond the traditional realm of legal services. We empower our clients with a diverse range of ideas, tools and technology to make their lives easier, as well as delivering exceptional results, every time.
What do we have to offer?
We welcome high-performing lawyers, business services professionals, secretaries, graduates and apprentices to join our rapidly expanding global firm. Whatever your role at Kennedys, you'll be involved in exciting and stimulating work, where your input will make a difference.
Our culture and values form a big part of who we are and we take them seriously. We make a difference by being approachable, straightforward, supportive and distinctive. Our are at the core of who we are and what make us a great firm to work with and for.
The Firm recognises the value of investing in our people's development and believes our culture and values contribute to the quality of our work and of our client relationships. With a culture of on-the-job and experiential learning, peer to peer learning, mentoring, resources and tools that enable you to drive your career, we can support your development in your current and future roles. A variety of other opportunities are available including secondments to clients and our global offices.
We strive to celebrate empower our people and ensure everyone can bring their authentic selves to work. We've created a culture based on client service, professional excellence, hard work and trust, where diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) is a key priority. We recognise that many of our people want to work for an employer that is aligned to their values, which is why we are building an inclusive culture, decarbonising our operations and supporting our people to thrive at work. Our people are the key to driving this change and helping us to make a difference to our clients, our people and the communities in which we live and work.
Kennedys is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. We expect all employees to be aware of and comply with all relevant policies and procedures within their jurisdiction, including those relating to Information Security, Data Protection and Quality Management, refer any breach promptly to Risk & Compliance and to complete all mandatory training when requested.