Role Introduction
The Legal Counsel sits under the Group Legal and Compliance Department, mainly responsible for acting as a trusted legal advisor for Cathay Group. The Group Legal and Compliance is responsible for providing high quality legal services to the Cathay Group in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. We are now seeking a high calibre commercial lawyer to join its Commercial Legal Team as Legal Counsel. This is an excellent opportunity to build an in-house career with a leading and iconic Hong Kong company and work in a fast-changing and interesting industry.
Reports to: Senior Legal Counsel
Key Responsibilities
- Be a good team player who is able to work effectively with the business and be seen as a trusted advisor. You will need to have a good understanding of the business (including understanding their strategic and operational objectives and aims), be able to identify and assess legal risk, and provide sound and pragmatic legal advice that is both business- and solution-oriented while effectively and simultaneously managing legal risk
- Draft, review and negotiate independently a wide range of commercial contracts, including technology agreements, procurement agreements, Business-to-Business agreements, services agreements, agency agreements, distribution agreements, and online terms and conditions
- Work alongside external law firms on larger projects occasionally
- Work with all levels across the organization and know when to escalate issues
- Instruct external law firms and monitoring their cost-effectiveness and quality. You will also help manage the Cathay Group’s legal budget and external legal spend including by preparing regular legal forecasts and budget reports
- Prepare and deliver training and briefings on legal topics to the business and to keep Group Legal and Compliance, the business and management abreast of legal developments that may impact the Cathay Group
- Assist Group Legal and Compliance generally across all areas on an as-needed basis including departmental projects and initiatives
Requirements
- Hong Kong or other common law jurisdiction qualified lawyer with excellent technical legal skills; with 3-5 years of solid post-qualification experience in commercial or corporate law practice. Prior in-house experience is highly preferred
- Able to draft, review and negotiate complex technology, services, procurement, Business-to-Business and distribution agreements independently with minimum supervision. Excellent contract negotiation skills and experience, with highly developed influencing and conflict resolution skills
- High attention to detail, and able to see and understand the bigger picture to advise the business pragmatically with a risk-based approach to contract analysis. Excellent commercial acumen and comfortable working across unfamiliar or evolving subject areas
- Able to advise in relation to e-commerce and the application of contract and commercial law to online sales; with familiarity with consumer protection laws in various jurisdictions is an advantage; and able to advise in relation to licensing and contractual protection and utilisation of intellectual property
- Digitally fluent and able to adopt generative AI tools responsibly to enhance legal research and review, drafting and workflow efficiency with good understanding of generative AI capabilities, limitations and associated risks
- Clear written and verbal communication; able to influence stakeholders at all levels and work in a multi-cultural work environment. Personable, approachable, Confident and collaborative
- Efficient and able to prioritise workload, multi-task and work under time pressure. Mature with a high sense of responsibility and accountability for your work; highly adaptable, willing and able to learn quickly, and possess a can-do attitude.
- Able to work proactively and independently with minimum supervision, advise using common sense and logic, and drive forward internal matters under tight timescales whilst positively managing internal relationships
- Fluent in spoken and written English. Spoken and written Chinese is preferred
- High proficiency in office applications (including Word, PowerPoint, Excel and SharePoint)
Personal & Application Information
Cathay Pacific is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Personal data provided by job applicants will be used strictly in accordance with our Applicant Personal Information Collection Statement and for recruitment purposes only. Candidates not notified within eight weeks may consider their application unsuccessful. We keep records of your data for no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which we obtained them and any other permitted linked purposes. If your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your details on file for as long as is necessary to process your application or for the purposes of further job opportunities if you agree to such longer periods.
