Contracts Specialist

Job Advert Summary

We are seeking a Contracts Specialist to provide expert guidance on commercial legal and contractual requirements, ensuring compliance and minimizing risk across the division. The role involves advising on litigious matters, supporting the business in handling complex legal challenges, and working closely with the Legal and Contracts Manager on strategic initiatives.

Minimum Requirements

• BCom (Law) or LLB incorporating commercial law and corporate governance
• Admitted Attorney
• Minimum 3 years’ commercial legal experience in a similar role, with business and commercial focus

Additional Qualifications

Company secretarial; Intellectual Property; Governance and Risk Management; and Business administration studies would be beneficial.

Duties & Responsibilities

Commercial Legal – Customer agreements, Supplier agreements, Leases, etc.

• Draft, vet, negotiate and interpret commercial agreements, legal correspondence and memoranda within defined timelines
• Review external commercial agreements and other legal documents received from third parties to advise internal stakeholders on the acceptability thereof and to align it with business goals and divisional and group policies
• Provide solution-driven legal advice, balancing legal risk with commercial objectivesLiaison with business units, divisional managers and Corporate head office legal department to facilitate drafting of complex legal agreements
• Apply divisional strategy, governance frameworks, and insurance requirements when structuring contractual positions and escalate deviations with recommended positions and risk assessments
• Prepare formal legal risk opinions and position papers for management decision-making
• Negotiate and conclude legal agreements in alignment with business goals applying commercial awareness, business savvy, industry insight, and business acumen
• Liaison with Corporate head office legal department in respect of the above requirements and approvals, as necessary
• Identify trends in contractual risk and proactively recommend mitigation strategies

Authorised signing of Agreements

• Ensure that all approved contracts are signed in accordance with the Approval Framework, shareholder agreements and other applicable agreements prior to submission for final signing

Legal database records management

• Contribute to the contract management process, including weekly status reports) for contracts under designated area of responsibility with the objective of ensuring accuracy and completeness of the contracts register on an ongoing basis
• Review of the inputs to the legal contracts register addressed by the Contracts Administrator for contracts under designated area of responsibility, prior to final approval

Statutory information records management

• Assist with the management of the administration of internal company information schedules, letterheads and statutory details and records on a quarterly basis and when changes arise
• Assist with the management of the administration of published agreements, letterheads, and legal information on SharePoint

Reporting

• Draft and contribute to divisional legal, litigation, and risk reports for submission to Corporate Head Office and Board structures
• Update the finance bad debt register with monthly legal progress on matters handled directly by the role
• Address ad hoc Corporate head office legal and divisional reports and updates, when necessary

Litigation

• Evaluate settlement vs litigation positions and provide recommendations to management
• Address requirements for the furtherance of commercial legal and litigious matters and report on developments.
• Responsible for compilation of information, perusal and amendment of all legal correspondence and attending to all requirements concerning litigation matters
• Co-ordinate legal matters requiring external legal assistance
• First line liaison with external attorneys in respect of litigation matters
• Liaison with Corporate head office legal department in respect of the above requirements and approvals, as necessary
• Review and ensure that all legal fees invoices are correct prior to final approval.

Other

• Support the implementation and continuous improvement of legal and contracts management policies, procedures, and templates
• Provide strategic and practical legal advice and support to various business units to assist their operational teams to strategically deal with legal challenges within their operations
• Keep abreast with new legislative and industry developments to provide general legal advice and support to various business units
• Support in providing technical guidance and coaching to contracts administrators

Intellectual Property

• Manage the intellectual property portfolio for the division
• Identify and escalate strategic IP risks and protection opportunities and support enforcement in conjunction with Legal and Contracts Manager
• Assist with legal matters, including infringement arising on the intellectual property portfolio of the division
• Liaison with Corporate head office legal department and Company secretarial in respect of the above requirements and approvals, as necessary