Senior In-house Lawyer

Senior In-house Lawyer - Legal

About Goodbody

Goodbody is a leading financial services firm, committed to serving and growing client relationships for 150 years. We are a full service, investment-led business offering wealth management, asset management, investment banking and private equity services. Our staff of over 400 work in offices across Dublin, London, Cork and Galway. We’re proud to offer prospective employees a professional, collegial work environment that encourages diversity of thought and background. Our reputation in the Irish market for putting customers first is as consistent as the company’s long-standing commitment to giving back to the communities that we work in.

About the Senior Legal Counsel Role:

As senior legal counsel on Goodbody’s Legal team, you will work closely with colleagues across the business, providing practical and commercially focused legal advice on a broad range of matters, including day-to-day business issues, contracts, strategic projects and corporate transactions.

You will play an important role in helping the business identify, assess and manage legal risk, and in supporting good decision-making across projects, transactions and business initiatives. You will operate with a high degree of judgement and independence, while escalating complex, sensitive or high-risk matters where appropriate.

You will be supported by the Head of Legal and your colleagues in the Goodbody Legal team. We operate in a busy and varied environment and are committed to providing high-quality legal support in a collegiate, collaborative and professional manner.

Senior Legal Counsel Accountabilities include:

• Provide clear, practical and commercially focused legal advice to the business on legal matters.
• Help the business identify, assess and manage legal risk, including on complex or higher-risk matters.
• Draft, review and negotiate commercial contracts and other legal documents.
• Build strong relationships with and act as a trusted legal adviser to business stakeholders, supporting sound and informed decision-making.
• Represent the Legal team on strategic projects, corporate transactions, new business initiatives and relevant governance forums.
• Advise on disputes, threatened claims, litigation and regulatory issues, working with external lawyers where appropriate.
• Manage external legal advisers effectively, including instructions, advice and costs.
• Communicate legal advice clearly and concisely to senior stakeholders, project teams and non-lawyers.
• Support legal training and awareness for colleagues.
• Maintain strong legal and regulatory knowledge relevant to Goodbody’s business.
• Support and mentor more junior colleagues in the Legal team.
• Contribute to a collaborative, professional and supportive Legal team culture.

Qualifications and Experience

• A solicitor qualified to practice in Ireland.
• 5 - 8 years + post qualified experience.
• Experience in one or more of corporate transactions and commercial law, commercial contracts, data privacy, financial services regulation (including MifiD and MAR) would be beneficial.
• In-house experience in a regulated financial services firm is desirable but not a pre-requisite. 
• Experience working with either enterprise AI tools (such as Co-Pilot) or legal specific AI tools.

Ideal Characteristics

We’re looking for someone who is:

• a good communicator and able to explain legal issues and risks clearly in plain English;
• pragmatic and commercially minded, with sound judgement and a strong awareness of legal and regulatory risk;
• comfortable advising and influencing senior stakeholders across the business;
• able to take ownership of complex matters and recommend practical solutions;
• organised and able to prioritise effectively;
• collaborative and supportive, with the ability to share knowledge and support colleagues; and
• independent-minded and professional in providing constructive challenge where needed.

Employee Value Proposition

Goodbody is focused on helping our employees thrive, and we do this by bringing to life our Employee Value Proposition (EVP) ‘Together we prosper’. Our firm’s purpose is to create long-term prosperity, and we cannot execute on our purpose without the right talent at Goodbody. To make sure we attract and retain industry-leading, passionate and inspiring talent, we’ve built a vibrant culture based on inclusion, opportunities to grow and a commitment to ‘do the right thing’, one of our core values. We live this by offering:

• Regular employee events through our universal inclusion programme fostering a sense of belonging and celebrating differences. And an ‘always on’ approach to social, financial, mental and physical wellbeing. 
• A benefits package that includes a generous pension scheme, educational sponsorship and health insurance, along with a hybrid working model to promote better work/life balance
• Opportunities to give back through sustainability initiatives, volunteering and on-site and online meetings with our charity partners

Goodbody is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace which values and benefits from the diversity of our workforce.  Reasonable accommodations are offered at every stage of our recruitment process. Should you have a reasonable accommodation request please include a note in your application or email us directly at HR@Goodbody.ie 

Please read the Goodbody Recruitment Privacy Notice. By submitting your personal data to us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Notice and agree to the use of your personal data in line with this. We will only use the information that we collect about you lawfully in accordance with the Data Protection Acts, 1988 and 2003 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Appointment to this role is subject to the candidate's eligibility to work in Ireland. Where agency assistance is required, our Recruitment Team will engage directly with suppliers. Unsolicited CVs / profiles supplied to Goodbody by recruitment agencies will not be accepted for this role. Goodbody operates a direct sourcing model and where agency assistance is required, the HR team will engage directly with our recruitment partners.

Goodbody Stockbrokers UC, trading as Goodbody, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. In the UK, Goodbody is also subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority. Goodbody is a member of Euronext Dublin and the London Stock Exchange. Goodbody is a member of the group of companies headed by AIB Group plc.

For AIB Employees: Please note there are specific controls in place for transfers between AIB and Goodbody. Goodbody is part of AIB Group and you must inform your AIB line manager and HR BP in advance of making an application to Goodbody.