Legal Counsel, Employment & Privacy

Please note that this role is based in the United Kingdom. To enable us to meet the statutory and regulatory obligations of the United Kingdom immigration system, you must have the appropriate immigration permission needed to work and reside in the United Kingdom for the duration of the employment.

The Counsel, Legal Affairs role forms part of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Legal team and is based in London. The role supports the Privacy Office in EMEA and the Employment Legal team in EMEA and APAC.  The role reports to the Vice President, Labour Law, EMEA & APAC, with a dotted line to the Legal Director for Data Privacy in EMEA.

The role is suited to qualified lawyers with 3 years + post-qualification experience, and prior industry-specific experience is beneficial. The Legal Counsel role will support the Vice President, Labour Law, EMEA & APAC, advising on Employment Legal matters across EMEA and APAC. The role will also be responsible for Data Privacy legal advice across the EMEA region and in both cases, will cover all lines of Sony Pictures Entertainment business, together with production companies and joint ventures. The role requires exceptional organizational and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to multitask, prioritise, and willingness to take direction and receive feedback to ensure that all tasks and projects are completed in an accurate and timely manner.

What you'll do:

• A solid understanding of employment law, data privacy law and compliance.
• Self-starter with a proactive and positive attitude to their work, demonstrating a commercial and practical approach, taking ownership of tasks and working independently as well as collaboratively with others.
• Ability and willingness to continue to learn and understand new law and industry practices.
• Excellent legal analysis, drafting, negotiation and organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to win the confidence of business partners and the flexibility to respond appropriately to a wide variety of stakeholders across multiple territories in a fast-paced international business.
• Serve as an advisor to business partners by providing practical and timely guidance.
•  Will handle, manage & coordinate a wide variety of legal activities, including:
• Assisting with drafting and negotiating privacy provisions and contracts, including data processing and data sharing agreements.
• Assisting with drafting and negotiating employment-related agreements, including all forms of employment and engagement contracts and settlement agreements.
• Providing M&A transactional support, including data privacy and employment legal due diligence analysis, and advising on data privacy and employment law requirements during all stages of the transaction.
• Partnering with the Privacy Tech & Operations team and business stakeholders to review new processing activities and supporting with the creation and legal analysis of Privacy Impact Assessments, Legitimate Interest Analysis and Transfer Impact Assessments.
• Partnering with the People & Organization team on relevant day to day advisory and employee relations matters.
• Assisting with the creation, maintenance, and updates to the Privacy office’s and Employment Legal team’s documentations, including privacy agreements, employment agreements and template documentations.
• Carrying out regulatory monitoring research across the EMEA and APAC regions to identify key changes and updates to data privacy and employment law and guidance, identifying regulatory enforcement focus, providing updates and summaries to the Privacy Office and Employment Legal team, and assisting with taking appropriate compliance action across the enterprise, including developing and presenting training and legal updates to help foster communication, create awareness and enhance collaboration on privacy and employment matters.
• Assisting with responding to questions and requests from individuals to ensure that communications are appropriately actioned or escalated.
• Supporting with data privacy compliance requirements, including assisting with data incidents and breaches.
• Supporting the Employment Legal team with a wide variety of legal advisory matters, including special projects such as pay transparency, employment litigation and conciliation, employee relations matters and collective consultation process.
• Managing templates and precedent agreements and documents including all forms of employment and engagement contracts, employee handbooks, employment and data privacy related policies, settlement agreements, privacy notices, consent forms and consent language, data processing and data sharing agreements, privacy and employment guidance and training materials, privacy and employment resources on the company intranet and ensuring templates and precedents remain accurate and up to date.
• Managing document flow, including creating and maintaining digital and physical files, scheduling key dates for meetings, and managing calendars.

What you have:

• Able to work in a fast-paced environment with an ever-changing landscape, calmly and thoughtfully under pressure.
• Ability to work toward strategic objectives as outlined by supervisors.
• Prioritize work effectively to optimize results.
• Have excellent interpersonal skills and be a team player, with common sense, discretion and maintain confidentiality in all matters.
• Collaborate with various stakeholders across the organization.
• Demonstrate willingness to take instruction and receive feedback.

Qualifications:

• University degree and a qualified solicitor degree or equivalent are required.
• Must speak English fluently; additional languages a plus. 
• Background in working in or with multimedia international corporations is helpful but not a prerequisite.
• CIPP qualification preferred.

How we take care of you:

• Competitive salary, with annual bonus eligibility.
• A choice of comprehensive health plan options that fit your lifestyle, including private medical insurance.
• Rest and recharge during a week off during the winter holidays, in addition to the 25 days of paid annual leave.
• Participate in extensive learning & development opportunities at all levels, including curated instructor-led classes and high-impact online resources.
• Build your community by joining our Employee Business Resource Groups, and/or Sony Pictures Action – our racial equity and inclusion strategy.
• Access to an employee online store filled with a variety of discounted Sony products.
• Watch the newest movies and TV shows at our exclusive employee screenings at work.
• Entitlement to apply for an interest-free season ticket loan.
• Automatic enrolment in the Company’s Pension Plan
• Free counselling and advisory service.
• You will be automatically enrolled in the Company’s Life Insurance and Group Income Protection Plans subject to any applicable service requirements.
• The opportunity to attend various social events in our state-of-the-art offices in Paddington.

In addition to the above, we have a range of other optional discounted benefits that are reviewed regularly (e.g., gym memberships, travel insurance, activity passes, car leasing, experience days and many more!)

If you require any reasonable adjustments with any part of the recruitment process, including the application or interview process, please contact us at [email protected].Please put Reasonable Adjustment Request in the subject line of the email.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is committed to equal opportunity in all its employment practices, policies and procedures. No worker or potential worker will therefore receive less favourable treatment due to their race, age, creed, sexual orientation, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, disability, religion, gender, marital status or Trade Union membership (if applicable).

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