Legal Adviser

Job summary

The Legal Division is the in-house legal function at UKEF and is part of the Legal and Compliance Group. It provides legal advice on all aspects of the Department’s work in accordance with the Department’s legal obligations and risk appetite and in a manner that achieves the Department’s commercial objectives as an export credit agency.

The work is varied on a daily basis, including entering into and managing banking and finance agreements with banks, exporters and overseas buyers in support of UK exports and overseas investments. Products range from short-term trade finance and trade credit insurance on standard terms to complex arrangements for the financing of high value infrastructure projects and assets involving multiple commercial parties and other national export credit agencies and multi-lateral institutions. Although UKEF’s agreements are governed by private law, the methods of operation of the Department and its decision-making processes are governed by public law.

The Legal Division is currently headed by the Co-Heads of the Legal Division, who alongside the Director of Legal and Compliance, are responsible for managing all legal advice and legal risk for the Department. The 15 or so other Legal Advisers and two paralegals maintain a busy workload consisting of transaction and advisory work for the Department and are organised into small teams, each reporting to a Team Leader. The Division is supported by a Legal Support Team, which comprises the Office Manager/PA to the Co-Heads of the Legal Division, and a legal support assistant.

Job description

The post-holders (Legal Advisers) will be required to provide high-quality commercial, financial and public law advice over a wide range of areas of legal practice, with minimal supervision.

Banking and finance focused roles

Although individual Legal Advisers may have a focus on areas of finance such as syndicated lending, asset finance (including aviation), project finance and trade finance, Legal Advisers are required to operate in a wide range of areas of legal practice. These could include:

• export finance, general banking and trade finance matters;
• trade credit and investment insurance;
• public and private debt restructuring, claims and recoveries and reinsurance work;
• some debt capital markets, swaps and derivatives in support of the above; and
• advising on the development of new finance products and product variations for the organisation;

Legal advisers may also be required to advise generally and from time to time on the activities of the organisation. These areas may cover: public law matters; public procurement law matters; international agreements governing the provision of export credits and public international law matters; information law, including the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations requests and the UK GDPR.

Public law focused role

In alternative to the above, the Legal Division is looking for an individual with demonstrable experience in providing legal advice on public law matters including statutory powers, policy compliance, state aid and subsidies and/or public law litigation such as judicial review. It is anticipated that this postholder will devote a majority of their time in the Legal Division working on these matters though they will, under appropriate legal supervision, also advise on the broader areas outlined above and depending on the needs of the team.

In all Legal Adviser roles, knowledge of environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters as they relate to finance transactions and/or public law issues would be advantageous.

Legal Advisers are required to provide high-quality legal advice and support clients at all stages of transactions, from structuring, negotiation, signing and completion through to all aspects of post-issue transaction management, including amendments, claims and recoveries and litigation. This also involves responsibility for managing relationships with key clients within the Department and a variety of external stakeholders.

Assistance may also be needed for other aspects of the Legal Division’s legal work and amendments to existing products to reflect changes in law or policy as well as contributions to cross-Department projects. The roles in Legal Division are varied and the post-holders must therefore be willing to learn about areas of law with which they are unfamiliar.

Legal Advisers must have strong interpersonal skills to work as part of a team and to interact with Departmental colleagues, counterparties and other external stakeholders. They need to be able to prioritise work effectively and work to deadlines.

Legal Advisers are expected to contribute to the enhancement of the Legal Division's reputation both internally and externally. This includes participating in Department-wide projects, training and initiatives in furtherance of the Department's strategic and policy objectives.

Main Activities

• Providing (and managing the provision) of high-quality legal advice; providing representation and support in relation to and managing transactions, occasional litigation and other matters in which UKEF is involved, including drafting relevant correspondence and legal documentation, and conducting negotiations. Some travel (including international travel) for work purposes may be required depending on the transactions and from time to time.
• Drafting and managing the drafting of transactional documentation based on UKEF templates (based on LMA standards) including Departmental specific policies.
• Instructing and managing law firms, counsel and other external legal advisers, both in the UK and overseas, and supporting the procurement of the Department’s Panel law firms.
• Carrying out (and managing the carrying out of) legal research and presenting results.
• Utilising, supervising and developing the paralegals and Legal Support Team in the Legal Division.
• Identifying training requirements, and devising, contributing to and delivering training to a range of clients and stakeholders, and organising training by external training providers or law firms.
• Contributing to Divisional and Departmental meetings and committees and cross-Departmental projects.

This list is not exhaustive, and you may be required to carry out additional duties according to business needs.

Person specification

UK Export Finance is looking for motivated individuals with a desire to learn about the business. Successful candidates will be provided not only with functional training to enable them to do well in their role, but also with personal development to help them to achieve their career ambitions. Please note that the person specification below outlines at which stage(s) you will be assessed on how you meet the criteria for the role(s) including:-

A = assessed at application stage I = assessed at interview stage

T = assessed by test stage = assessed at presentation stage

Essential

Qualifications

• Either a 2.1 degree in law or other relevant subject (A)
• Qualified to practice law in England & Wales as a solicitor or as a barrister or with significant experience of advising on legal matters in England or Wales (A)
• Must hold LPC, BVC or equivalent (A)

Knowledge and Skills

• Highly effective interpersonal skills (A, I)
• Good planning and organisational skills (A, I)
• Robust reasoning skills (A, I)
• Ability to work under pressure (A, I)
• Good oral and written communication skills (A, I, P)
• Eye for detail (A, I)
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word (A)
• Reliable judgement and appreciation of legal risk (A, I, P)
• A creative approach to problem solving (A, I)
• Sound powers of legal analysis and research (A, I)
• Flexible and able to manage workload and prioritisation. (A, I)

Experience

• Significant post-qualification experience in a reputable law firm or in-house team (A)
• Demonstrated relevant experience in the field of any of the following: (A, I, P)

Qualifications

o Either a 2.1 degree in law or other relevant subject (A)
o Qualified to practice law in England & Wales as a solicitor or as a barrister or with significant experience of advising on legal matters in England
or Wales (A)
o Must hold LPC, BVC or equivalent (A)

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Presentation - this will be a topic agreed by UKEF and provided to relevant candidates in advance of their interview.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £85,238, UK Export Finance contributes £24,693 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

We are assessing candidates using Success Profiles (see Appendix 1) and across the whole process we will assess your Experience, Technical and Behaviours as highlighted below.

The application must be completed by 23.55 on the day of the closing date for it to be accepted.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Please ensure that you read through the Candidate Information Pack attached to this advert, before applying.

All applications will be sifted against our essential criteria outlined in the personal specification.

• Qualification
  • Either a 2.1 degree in law or other relevant subject (A)
  • Qualified to practice law in England & Wales as a solicitor or as a barrister or with significant experience of advising on legal matters in England or Wales (A)
  • Must hold LPC, BVC or equivalent (A)
• Statement of suitability - you should fully articulate in 1000 words how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification within the Information Pack.

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

1. Experience - Application and Statement of Suitability

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial interview, to be held onsite at 1 Horse Guards Road; this will include the following assessment:

1. Behaviours/ Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all five behaviours highlighted in Appendix 1.
2. Technical - you will be assessed across your technical expertise and acumen, in relation to the essential criteria
   1. Presentation - this will be a topic agreed by UKEF and provided to relevant candidates in advance of their interview.

Details of interview panel members will be e-mailed to all successful candidates who are invited for interview.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : UKEF Recruitment
• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk

Further information

Should you have a complaint or wish to raise any concerns regarding the recruitment process, please e-mail your complaint to the Head of Pay and Resourcing (UKEF) at Recruitment2@ukexportfinance.gov.uk and include “Complaint” in the subject heading. Should you remain dissatisfied following UKEF’s investigation then you can refer your complaint to the Commission - http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/making-complaint.

Attachments

Information Pack - Legal Adviser Opens in new window (pdf, 4321kB)