General Counsel
Please find a downloadable version of the full Job Description here.
Key responsibilities- To provide expert, proactive and highly proficient legal advice to the Executive, Board and internal clients on all legal matters, including those that are complex and have significant potential for legal, financial or reputational damage, and which shape the future direction of the organisation.
- Ownership of all legal areas including inter alia regulation, criminal and civil litigation, judicial review, commercial contracts, data protection, employment, equality and diversity, real estate, risk and compliance assessment, and corporate governance matters.
- Support IPSA by providing expert advice and guidance on statutory interpretation, the Scheme of MPs' Staffing and Business Costs, other rules and the future development thereof to meet our objective of moving to a model of principles based regulation.
- Supporting our dedicated People Team with employment related advice, including the management of formal proceedings at Tribunal where necessary and the Policy Team with advice on the prescribed terms and conditions of employment for MPs' staff.
- Responsible for all commercial legal work, supporting the Procurement Team, including drafting and evolving commercial contracts for external suppliers, contractors and any other agreements.
- Work closely with the Information Governance, Publications and Communication teams to support a coherent, best-in-class approach to data privacy compliance and information management across the organisation and its services.
- Management of any litigation, including high profile criminal prosecutions, regulatory appeals, judicial reviews and employment tribunals.
- Select and manage specialist external legal advisers with the objective of maximising quality whilst minimising cost, ideally covering the cost of the General Counsel appointment in full.
- Ensure there is an effective system of legal risk reporting and monitoring.
What we're looking for
As we develop a new, principles based regulatory framework, IPSA is seeking its first General Counsel to provide the highest quality legal advice across all areas of our operations. An insightful, engaging individual, you will be used to dealing with strategic and operational matters, always focussing on how IPSA can legitimately achieve its objectives within the current statutory framework.We are looking for a proactive, supportive lawyer who can operate at all levels of the organisation, helping us to deliver our strategic objectives. You will be used to balancing legal risk against other types of risk, to ensure advice is pragmatic and contextualised but never cavalier.
The balance of our legal advice is currently provided externally. You will be experienced in acting as a gatekeeper, dealing with as many matters in-house as possible. Ultimately, your commercial understanding will lead to the role paying for itself as we reduce our external bill.
Not just a lawyer, you will be part of our Senior Leadership team, working collaboratively with colleagues from across IPSA to further improve our performance. Ultimately your personal contribution to enabling MPs' to focus on what really matters by delivering an exemplary, seamless regulatory service should be clear for all to see.
Essential- Highest degree of professional ethics and integrity.
- A demonstrable 'can do' attitude, based on supporting an organisation to legitimately meet its strategic objectives with strong analytical and lateral thinking abilities to interpret and creatively solve complex issues.
- Senior leadership experience, gained either as an in-house lawyer or within an established law firm, and the ability to operate effectively in a matrix structure.
- A strong track record of providing proactive, expert, timely and authoritative strategic legal advice and support to senior leaders and key decision makers at the highest level.
- A broad knowledge of all legal matters likely to affect the IPSA and a depth of knowledge and experience in advising on regulatory, public law, employment, equality and diversity, commercial and information governance matters.
Interview process and timeline
Our interviews are competency and values-based. We'll ask you a series of questions designed to help assess your suitability for the role and for IPSA. We may also ask you prepare a presentation.
The closing date for this role will be 27 October 2024, so we encourage you to submit your application without delay. Shortlisting will take place in w/c 04 November 2024. Interviews will take on 20 November 2024 - please make a note of this interview date in your diary as we will be operating a tight interview schedule.
Interviews will be held in person, in London.
Ready to apply?
Great! Please use the link above to apply You'll need to apply with a CV and a cover letter. It's important to note that your CV and cover letter must be combined into the same document as you will be unable to add more than one attachment to your application.
We also ask you to keep your cover letter to around 500 words.