Senior Legal Counsel

LDC is looking for an experienced commercially minded lawyer to join a busy Geneva-based legal team, who will provide day to day legal support to LDC and its affiliated companies at the global level.

This key role requires a highly organised, rigorous and motivated individual with a commercial aptitude with self-assured developed legal skills and expertise. The successful candidate will have a highly collaborative approach while also able to work independently, notably in the production of legal advice and documents.

Main Responsibilities:

• Provide legally sound and business-oriented assistance to internal clients (freight & commodities business units, support functions and, when required, management) in relation to all aspects of the physical trading of commodities, contentious and non-contentious, at a global level;
• Provide all-round legal support to the business operations, including day-to-day assistance, dispute resolution and support to trade and business development activities;
• Structure, draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements in relation to the business operations (e.g., offtake and tolling agreements, long term supplies and chartering arrangements), in coordination with the various internal and external stakeholders;
• Management of arbitration (LMAA, GAFTA, FOSFA, RSA/SAL) and litigation in a wide variety of jurisdictions.

Interactions:

• The number and nature of relationships, both within the Group and outside, are often complex.
• In this role the person will typically handle about 20 live issues at any one time, requiring interaction/collaboration/advising traders and heads of platforms, senior managers in other support functions, legal colleagues globally, and external counsel and other advisers.
• The person has to be a very quick thinker and able to jump between matters adeptly, to adapt to changing circumstances, identify and address priorities.

Experience:

• 7-10 years of relevant experience, of which minimum 5 years PQE.
• Solid legal skills in international trade and dry shipping a must
• Commodities trading house experience a plus.

Other skills:

• Ability to build and maintain productive work relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong communication skills, with experience of working in an international environment.
• Robust analytical skills to identify the relevant issues in any given situation and provide practical solutions.
• Team-player, able to work independently as much as in team.
• Ability to work well under pressure, to respect deadlines and to assume responsibilities.
• Ability to understand legal and commercial issues quickly, to digest and analyse a factual background, to form hypotheses, to draw inferences and to question assumptions, to test ideas, to propose solutions, to discuss and argue constructively.
• Self-motivated, diligent and detail-oriented
• Able to cope of heavy workload and resilient to stress

Problem solving:

• The role is intellectually sophisticated and challenging; it will often involve the need to provide assistance under time constraint.
• Providing sound legal advice is necessary but not sufficient; the person will take ownership of the matter to bring it to a resolution, often in coordination with other stakeholders.
• Requests for assistance arise from the most junior to the most senior ranks of the company, the person will need to address each query timely and in a suitable manner.

Languages:

• Proficient spoken and written English. French and other international languages, an asset.

Academics:

• English law, alternatively common law, qualified solicitor a must.