Principal Legal Counsel - Disputes and Risk

Excited to grow your career?

Our purpose is to make it easy for people to save and invest for a better future. We are looking for great people to join us, so please come and invest in YOUR future at Hargreaves Lansdown.

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they don't tick every box. If you're excited about working for us and have most of the skills or experience we're looking for, please go ahead and apply. We’d love to hear from you!

About the role

Our Legal Team is growing resulting in an excellent opportunity for a highly experienced, business-minded lawyer to join us in our Disputes and Contentious Risk team. As a Senior or Principal Legal Counsel, you will join a collaborative, supportive legal team with great ideas and big ambitions for the future of HL. We provide legal advice, support, and challenge across the HL Group. We manage legal risks and use commercial, legal, and business partnering skills to support HL in achieving its strategic objectives, while ensuring HL meets its legal and regulatory obligations.
Reporting in to the Head of Disputes and Contentious Risk, the Senior/Principal Legal Counsel will be responsible for the provision of contentious regulatory advisory services to the business, ensuring effective management of contentious legal risk across the HL Group.
You’ll possess a range of experience from within the retail Financial Services industry to complement our passionate and skilled team in delivering a best-in-class service and be able to demonstrate this via pragmatic and knowledgeable application.

What you’ll be doing

• Providing expert contentious regulatory advice to the business.

• Managing the legal work streams required for the successful completion of contentious regulatory projects.

• Supporting the business in managing contentious legal risk, including risk arising from proactive client redress, client complaints, fraud and conduct issues.

• Managing litigation and supporting the business in the management of disputes risk.   

• Assisting with the development of controls over legal risk and our legal risk management framework.

• Assisting with the development of the legal team’s training and knowledge function, including delivering training across the business.

• Building and maintaining networks internally and externally and keeping abreast of developments in relevant law and regulation.

• Taking an active role in shaping the legal team’s strategy and in achieving its strategic goals.

About you

We are open to applicants at either our Principal Legal Counsel (10+ years PQE) or Senior Legal Counsel (5+ years PQE) role level, with a preference for a more senior lawyer, and with the following experience and skill set:   

• Experience in contentious financial services matters, preferably within a retail context, and ideally with substantial in-house experience.

• Excellent understanding of UK financial service laws, including FCA regulation and the FOS.

• Ability to proactively and effectively collaborate with business stakeholders, translating complex matters into easily understood pragmatic legal advice.

• Comfortable working in a dynamic environment and across a broad range of matters.

• Excellent technical and drafting skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.

• Excellent attention to detail.

Interview process

The selection process will incorporate competency-based questions including an assessment of your technical knowledge and transferable skills. For candidates who progress to the next stage, there will be a presentation or assessment to prepare and deliver and may be an online psychometric assessment (depending on role level).
 

Working Schedule

This role is based in Bristol head office, BS1 5HL. This role is permanent, full time, 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.  For this role we offer a hybrid flexible working pattern to enable you the option of working from home and coming into the office. 

Why us?

Here at HL, we’re the UK’s number 1 investment platform for private investors, based in Bristol. For more than 40 years we’ve helped investors save time, tax and money on their investments.

To achieve our mission, we believe we have a workplace like no other, with constant learning, dynamic teams, and a great ethos. We're steered by core values that promote service, quality, innovation, and opportunity in everything we do.

What's on offer?

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Hargreaves Lansdown is an inclusive employer that values diversity in its workforce. We encourage applications from all individuals without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or age.

This role may also be available on a flexible working or part time basis – please ask the Recruitment & Onboarding team for more information.

Please note, we are unable to provide employment sponsorship to candidates.