Legal Counsel

Summary

Thanks for checking out our vacancy, we're delighted you want to learn more about Dechra!

Dechra is a global specialist veterinary pharmaceuticals products business. Our expertise is in the development, manufacture, marketing, and sales of high-quality veterinary products worldwide. Dechra has recently been 'taken private' and was, until recently, part of the FTSE100, listed on the London Stock Exchange, with revenue of approximately £680 million. Dechra has seen rapid growth over the last 5 years. Since 2015, the Group has completed 30 acquisitions worldwide. Learn more at Dechra.com.

Here at Dechra, our values are embedded within our culture and thrive within our family of almost 2000 colleagues globally. From manufacturing to marketing, (D)edication, (E)njoyment, (C)ourage, (H)onesty, (R)elationships and (A)mbition are at the heart of our everyday operations and the way we do business

The Opportunity

As a member of the global Group Legal team, this Legal Counsel position will report to the Assistant General Counsel. The role requires an individual that can engage with all parts of the business including cross-border functions such as sales teams, DPM&S and PDRA. The role will require the holder to work closely with other members of the Group Legal team some of whom are based in Europe and North America. The role is one that forms part of a group (see diagram above) that may need to support work across the business and/or in support of any senior colleague globally. All Legal team members will necessarily have a close working relationship with the Company Secretarial and Compliance teams.

The Legal Counsel will be responsible for assisting the General Counsel, Assistant General Counsels, and Senior Legal Counsels with the delivery of timely and commercially focused legal support to all parts of the Dechra Group but with a particular focus on colleagues based in North America. The aim of the Legal team is to support the business in realising its strategy and to help it manage legal risk.

The Legal Counsel may, by agreement, act as a business partner to one or more parts of the business.

Dechra is a friendly, collaborative, and people focused business and so the Legal Counsel needs to be confident working with colleagues across the globe. The Legal Counsel will need good listening skills, cultural awareness and to enjoy working with others. Nonetheless, despite the supportive culture, work will often be new and challenging so the Legal Counsel should have curiosity, common sense, and resilience.

Main Responsibilities

So, what will you be doing? This role has a broad and varied scope and the successful candidate will have responsibility for duties including:

• Where agreed, act as a business partner to one or more parts of the business.

• Drafting and negotiating commercial contracts including:
• External manufacturing agreements, supply chain and procurement contracts, capital equipment contracts, warehousing and logistics contracts.
• Sales contracts such as distribution and rebate agreements; advising on legally compliant rebate schemes.
• Software, SaaS, and other IT agreements.
• Consultancy and service agreements, including MSAs.
• KOL agreements, promotions, sponsorships, and donations.
• Licenses of intellectual property and research agreements.
• NDAs.

• Support on corporate sales and acquisitions.
• Dealing with early-stage disputes.
• Instruct and manage external advisors; liaise with internal stakeholders.
• Support all central corporate support functions (e.g. Tax, Finance, HR, IT, Marketing, Digital) with appropriate advice and contracts.
• Assist GC, Assistant GCs and Senior Legal Counsels with the support and supervision of junior colleagues.
• Contribute to the Legal team's internal training and knowledge base. Upkeep of standard legal template contracts and forms to ensure they are fit for purpose and regularly updated to reflect new legislation and best practice.
• Responsible for own personal health & safety.

Ideal Candidate

Here at Dechra we pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer and we embrace candidates from all walks of life. We're particularly excited to hear from those who have/are:

• Experience resolving legal issues and providing strategic, well-reasoned, constructive solutions
• Ability to effectively communicate legal advice
• Ability to work collaboratively and effectively with key stakeholders and business partners
• Strong organizational and time management skills in order to balance working on multiple projects in multiple time zones in parallel
• Demonstrable challenging and influencing capability
• Strong negotiation, communication, drafting and interpersonal skills
• Self-starter with ability to work independently yet be a team player
• Ability to anticipate risk and be proactive in planning and communicating accordingly including determining who should be informed and engaged
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• U.S. qualified lawyer with demonstrable in-house work experience or equivalent experience
• Active membership in at least one U.S. State bar
• Experience working as part of a global team
• Strong commercial law experience
• Ability to travel within the U.S. and internationally