Trade and Finance Lawyer

Job Description

Purpose of the role

To ensure that the activities of the corporate banking division related to the role’s relevant product set are conducted in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, and to help the bank manage legal and reputational risks associated with these activities. 

Accountabilities

• Development and implementation of best practice legal strategies related to the role’s relevant product set, to manage risk related to non-adherence to laws, rules and regulations.
• Subject matter legal advice and support to the Bank's corporate and investment banking divisions globally on a wide range of transactions and projects across trade and working capital finance, cash management, real estate finance, project finance, asset backed finance, lending and other corporate loan finance.
• Subject matter legal advice and support to the Bank’s businesses and infrastructure functions, including areas such as credit, compliance, risk, product management, tax, finance, fraud, transaction management, structuring and execution, litigation, commercial contract support, and operations, often in close collaboration with other legal teams across departments and jurisdictions.
• Subject matter support in the Legal department’s representation of the bank in legal proceedings related to the role’s relevant product set, such as litigation, arbitration, and regulatory investigations.
• Creation and/or review of legal documents for the relevant product set to ensure the bank’s adherence with applicable laws, rules and regulations. Maintaining and updating legal documentation related to the role’s related product set for the corporate banking division.
• Development and delivery of training programmes to educate employees on legal and regulatory requirements related to the role’s relevant product set.
• Pro-active identification, communication, and provision of legal advice on applicable laws, rules and regulations (LRRs). Keeping up to date with regards to changes to LRRs in the relevant coverage area. Ensuring that LRRs are effectively allocated to, and adequately reflected within, the relevant policies, standards and controls.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..
• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..
• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..
• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..
• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.
• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.
• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.
• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.
• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.
• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.
• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.
• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

Join us as a Trade and Finance Lawyer where you will be supporting the Trade & Working Capital business across the bank from an origination, execution, structuring and syndication perspective. Although the role is aimed at supporting the overall Trade & Working Capital business as a whole, it is more heavily focussed on supporting the trade finance aspects of the business. In addition, the team is also involved with helping the business implement regulatory change as well as a number of key strategic projects.

Key accountabilities:

• Provision of legal advice to the international Trade & Working Capital business teams and the management of legal risk, with particular focus on trade finance transactions and structures
• The role involves advising on a wide range of trade and working capital products, including trade loans, export credit agency backed financings, discounting of letters of credit and promissory notes, bank to bank trade finance, multi-layer debt financings with a trade finance element (e.g. ancillary LC and bonding facilities), bonds, guarantees and indemnities facilities and ESG product. In addition there may be a requirement from time to time to advise on invoice discounting and asset based lending structures
• Reviewing and negotiating a full range of transaction documentation

Key skills required for this role include:

• English law qualified Solicitor with thorough knowledge of general banking/finance law
• Currently working in a law firm or an in-house department of a reputable bank focussing on finance transactional work
• Proven track record on a range of general banking work, structured transactions and experience in cross border transactions
• Ability to tackle new technical areas of law without prior experience
• Strong technical legal skills, including ability to draft and negotiate legal documentation to the highest standard
• Ability to co-ordinate projects and transactions

Other highly valued skills include:

• Some specialist expertise of trade finance products, including bonds, guarantees and indemnities facilities, export credit agency backed financings, discounting of letters of credit and promissory notes and cross-border issues associated with such financings is strongly preferred
• Experience gained working in-house for a financial institution would be advantageous
• Ability to manage varied workload under pressure and deal with competing priorities
• Strong commercial focus and ability to think laterally
• Good communicator with strong personal impact and a strong team player

You may be assessed on key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen, strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

This role will be based in Birmingham.