Job Description

Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 175 years our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood and used by our communities - enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow.

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Job title: Legal Director

Line manager: Regional General Counsel, Africa, Americas & UK

Location: Springer Nature Legal Department, part of the General Counsel\'s Office based at Kings Cross, London

Hybrid working

Position Summary and General Description:

Springer Nature is one of the world\'s leading global research, educational and professional publishers. It is home to an array of respected and trusted brands and imprints, with more than 170 years of combined history behind them, providing quality content through a range of innovative products and services. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals and resources reach millions of people, helping researchers and scientists to discover, students to learn and professionals to achieve their goals and ambitions. The company has almost 10,000 staff in over 50 countries.

The Legal Director position is a key role in the General Counsel\'s Office of Springer Nature with the opportunity to contribute to the growth and success of Springer Nature both regionally and globally. The successful candidate will work closely with members of the GCO\'s Senior Leadership Team to support Springer Nature business areas including Macmillan Education, the organisation of the Chief Operations Officer, and Global Procurement.

Key tasks:

Your main responsibilities will involve:

• Managing legal affairs globally across our Macmillan Education division, working closely with counterparts in Spain, Asia, South America, and southern Africa.
• Providing legal support for significant areas of Springer Nature Operations, working closely with the Legal Business Partner to the COO.
• Acting as Legal Business Partner for VP, Global Procurement
• Reviewing, drafting, negotiating and advising on a wide range of commercial contracts, templates and terms and conditions, commercial arrangements and other general commercial contracts.
• Working closely with the Regional General Counsel on department strategy & management;
• Actively contributing to Legal Ops improvements and efficiencies;
• Playing a key role in building and contributing to the culture within the General Counsel\'s Office
• Leading projects with notable risk and complexity, and developing the strategy for project execution
• Acting as mentor to more junior colleagues
• Acting largely autonomously, working directly with the business, providing objective analysis of risks that relate to commercial and consumer law, copyright and other intellectual property matters and providing solutions to satisfy legal and business requirements.
• Advising on publishing and media law matters, both domestically and internationally.
• Identifying ways to enhance and support internal processes, policies and procedures to support strategic goals (such as Legal Ops) and to ensure compliance with applicable rules, regulations and laws (such as competition law and GDPR).
• Providing regular training to the business in a friendly and accessible manner.
• Working in a collaborative and proactive manner with other global members of the General Counsel\'s Office to enhance the support provided by the legal team to the business and also in relation to promoting best practice and contributing to the overall performance of the General Counsel\'s Office itself.
• Providing meaningful feedback and support to more junior roles in the team, such as Legal Counsel.
• Communicating with and managing diverse target groups inside and outside the organisation

Key relationships:

• Maintaining strong working relationships with:
• In-house clients in the business and international departments (including Corporate Transactions, Tax, Editorial Rights, Company Secretariat, IT, HR and Finance)
• Colleagues in the General Counsel\'s Office and Group Compliance
• External advisers

Job requirements

Qualifications:

• A qualified solicitor/barrister with a current practicing certificate
• Member of Law Society or Bar

Skills/knowledge:

• Strong technical legal skills
• Outstanding legal research, analysis, and drafting skills
• Demonstrated leadership and project management skills
• Excellent communication skills (verbal, written and presentation) with an open communication style and willingness to engage in constructive debate

• Excellent commercial awareness
• Efficient, rigorous, and well-organised with good attention to detail
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and responsibilities simultaneously, and enthusiasm to work in a vibrant and fast-paced environment;
• A significant degree of autonomy and responsibility;
• A collaborative, cordial and accessible manner and the ability to communicate and connect with diverse groups to provide clear, accurate and consistent advice;
• A desire to form part of an energetic and well-respected team and to contribute to the team\'s future success;
• Creativity and persistence in problem solving.

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At Springer Nature, we value the diversity of our teams and work to build an inclusive culture, where people are treated fairly and can bring their differences to work and thrive. We empower our colleagues and value their diverse perspectives as we strive to attract, nurture and develop the very best talent.

Springer Nature was awarded Diversity Team of the Year at the 2022 British Diversity Awards. Find out more about our DEI work .

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