Legal Advisor

Our client is a leading alternative investment platform with assets under management of more than R150 billion. The business portfolio is diversified across private market equities, specialised credit, and property and infrastructure. They are seeking a Legal Advisor to join their team in Sandton.

What will you do?
To perform the role of a banking and finance / general corporate / private equity and fund attorney in a legal team, providing professional legal advice and risk management services to internal clients to mitigate legal risks.

Responsibilities include

Providing legal advice:

• Participating in the relevant committees and reporting on legal or reputational risks.
• Structuring, negotiation, documentation, and on-going management of legal aspects of transactions within a risk framework acceptable to the client and Committee’s conditions.
• Provide commercially viable solutions to technical issues.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating corporate, banking, security and finance documentation across the debt, properties, empowerment, and equities sectors such as - committed bilateral and syndicated loans, risk/funded participation agreements, guarantees and indemnities, letters of credit secondary debt trading documentation.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating on transactions related to project finance, equity-based investments, private equity, fund finance, empowerment funding and venture capital.
• Reviewing and negotiating cross-border and international transactions.
• Advising on distressed debt and restructurings.
• Advising on insolvency and litigation issues.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating non-core business documentation.
• Preparation and updating precedent and know-how systems.
• Deliver training sessions to the business on current legal topics.

Manage stakeholder relationships:

• Build and maintain effective relationships with relevant stakeholders and users.
• Develop trusting professional internal relationships by keeping relevant stakeholders and users informed of any new changes to the law which may impact their business.
• Develop and manage professional relationships with external clients, external legal counsel and external legal advisors representing client interests.

Manage internal processes:

• Maintaining and updating legal templates.
• Ensuring sound and efficient legal processes.
• Drafting of high-quality legal agreements.
• Ensuring company’s risk is adequately identified, mitigated and/or managed.
• Providing guidance to the client's lender / financing representative and operations on financial close processes.
• Regular reporting to the client's Head of Legal on workload, turnaround times and skills development.
• Proactively identifying areas for business and legal improvement.
• Project managing plans identified for improving legal efficiencies.
• Management of appointing, briefing, and monitoring of outside legal counsel whilst containing costs.

Managed Transformation and Change:

• Contribute to a culture conducive to the achievement of transformation goals.
• Participate in the development and implement action plans to address issues raised in culture surveys to improve results.
• Participate in and support corporate responsibility initiatives.
• Achieve operational excellence by supporting the implementation of business optimisation improvement through team engagement.
• Encourage the team to generate innovative ideas and share knowledge

Qualification and Experience

• LLB degree.
• Admitted attorney of the High Court with 5 or more years related experience, post articles.
• Experience as a legal advisor in a corporate legal department or attorney in a legal practice, with a focus on drafting and negotiating banking. finance and corporate contracts.
• LMA drafting and structuring.
• Experience of fund finance, project finance and mergers and acquisitions.
• Dual UK (or other) and RSA qualified attorney preferred but not required.

Technical / Professional Knowledge

• Banking knowledge
• Diversity management
• Governance, risk, and controls
• Legal risk and practice management
• Regulatory and legal principles
• Research and development
• Stakeholder management
• Business writing skills
• Management information and reporting principles, tools, and mechanisms
• Behavioural Competencies
• Strong communication skills
• Continuous learning attitude
• Decision-making ability
• Ability to manage workload and operate independently
• Proactive and innovative approach
• Team-oriented and collaborative
• Ability to work under pressure with attention to detail
• Self-motivated and deadline-driven
• Accessible and responsive

Knowledge and Skills

• Legal Risk management
• Legal Projects management
• Legal advice and documentation reviews
• Coordinates legal action that may require external legal assistance

Personal Attributes

• Business insight
• Builds networks
• Manages complexity
• Persuades