Sr Mgr Legal

The Senior Legal Manager will serve as a legal business partner to the commercial organisation, with majority of the role focused on commercial transactions, contracting and customer-related legal matters. This will include leading the drafting, review, negotiation and management of customer master agreements and related transaction documents, advising on commercial structures and contractual risk, and managing claims, breaches and disputes where required. The remaining time of the role  will involve advising Human Resources on employment related matters, supporting the tax team on tax related matters and providing ancillary legal support in relation to risk, compliance, regulatory affairs, governance and other key operational areas of the business. The successful candidate must be an exceptional legal drafter and negotiator, possess strong commercial judgement and business acumen, and adopt a pragmatic, solution-orientated approach that enables the business while appropriately managing legal risk.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES:

a.    Serve as a legal business partner to the commercial team, leading the drafting, review, negotiation, implementation and ongoing management of customer master agreements, amendments, transaction documents and other commercial arrangements, and providing legal support in relation to contractual claims, breaches and disputes as required.
b.    Draft, review and negotiate complex commercial agreements and related legal instruments, ensuring that contractual terms appropriately protect the organisation, reflect the agreed commercial position and support the timely implementation of business transactions.
c.    Advise the commercial team on transaction structures, contractual rights and obligations, risk allocation, legal considerations, liability, remedies, termination rights and other legal issues affecting commercial negotiations and customer relationships.
d.    Manage all legal aspects of the commercial contract lifecycle, including negotiation, execution, implementation, amendments, renewals, variations, waivers, claims, breaches, termination and post-termination obligations.
e.    Build and maintain effective working relationships with customers, external counsel and relevant commercial counterparties.to support the achievement of business objectives. 
f.    Manage commercial disputes, complaints, demands and litigation, including developing appropriate dispute-resolution strategies, preparing or reviewing legal correspondence and pleadings, appointing and managing external counsel, and seeking commercially sensible and cost-effective outcomes.
g.    Handle the organization’s litigation portfolio including but not limited to pre-trial briefing, assisting in the review and response to pleadings, collating supporting documentation, identifying potential witnesses, attending Court proceedings, maintaining litigation files and ensuring proper maintenance of such files. 
h.    Periodically review the organization’s dispute and litigation portfolio to assess strategy, exposure, prospects, costs and opportunities for appropriate resolution. 
i.    Manage external counsel, including issuing instructions, agreeing service levels and fee arrangements, monitoring performance, managing costs within budget and ensuring the timely delivery of high-quality legal services.
j.    Provide practical and sound legal advice to Human Resources on labour and employment matters, including employee relations, disciplinary and grievance processes, employment documentation, workplace investigations and labour disputes.
k.    Provide legal support on tax matters and commercial and corporate transactions including REIT related matters in coordination with internal teams and protect the organization’s contractual and commercial interests in its dealings. 
l.    Supporting other in-country departments as the business partner and ancillary legal support to key business functions on risk, compliance, governance, operations and applicable regulatory requirements.
m.    Develop and deliver practical legal awareness and training on commercial contracting, dispute prevention, employment related matters, compliance and other legal risks.
n.    Provide support in relation to applicable regulatory affairs matters including review of laws, regulations etc. and advise on their potential operational or business impact, corporate governance, statutory and company secretarial requirements.
o.    Management of legal costs and ensuring departmental cost efficiency.

QUALIFICATIONS
•    Excellent drafting and strong negotiation skills
•    Strong legal and commercial judgement
•    Ability to work with all levels of management
•    Exceptional organizational and communication skills (written and verbal)
•    Strong organization, prioritization and meet deadlines under pressure
•    Analytical, problem-solver who is able to identify and resolve key issues quickly
•    Effective self-leadership as an individual contributor in a high-performance environment
•    High level of integrity and professional accountability. 
•    Ability to analyze data and formulate recommendations
•    Ability to make sound business decisions
•    Strong stakeholder management skills
•    Accuracy oriented with strong attention to detail
•    Expert knowledge of relevant compliance legislations
•    Expert knowledge of corporate and commercial law

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

•    LLB Degree or equivalent foreign qualification.
•    Admitted lawyer of the High Court of Kenya in good standing.
•    7 + years relevant experience in applying general commercial and corporate law. 
•    5+ years of property law and/or telecommunications law experience.
•    The candidate must have some experience working in a medium-to-large law firm and/or large multinational. Experience and the ability to apply skillset is central to the evaluation.
•    Substantial experience drafting, reviewing and negotiating complex commercial agreements and advising on commercial transactions, contractual risk and dispute resolution.