Position Background:

• The Latin America South Region, constituting operations in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, is an integral part of this large global professional services organization
• The General Counsel leads a team of legal professionals throughout the region and reports to the Region Managing Partner, and secondarily to the Americas Area General Counsel.
• The General Counsel coordinates closely with the organization’s Americas General Counsel and Global General Counsel to assure consistent high-quality legal support throughout the Region and the organization
• This is a leadership and management role for a generalist lawyer, requiring significant experience with matters involving regulatory, compliance, governance, contracts, transactions, internal investigations and enforcement issues, and demonstrable litigation and dispute resolution experience, and experience with a wide range of cross-border matters

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as a trusted strategic advisor to the Region Managing Partner and the entire executive team, with a demonstrated ability to team effectively, develop relationships and protect and enable the business
• Lead, plan strategically, and develop the legal function throughout the region, in coordination with the organization’s Global General Counsel and Americas General Counsel
• Build a strong working relationship with the organization’s Americas and Global General Counsel and key legal function leaders around the world to deliver exceptional client service to the region
• Support the business objective of expanded integration of operations across the region
• Employ a pragmatic and creative commercial mindset to effectively balance opportunities and risk, thereby enabling and facilitating a wide range of business relationships including acquisitions, ventures, alliances and partnerships, as well as new business initiatives leveraging technology and intellectual capital
• Align the region legal strategy with the delivery of the overall organization’s strategy and vision
• Lead, manage and coordinate delivery of all contentious, non-contentious, compliance and governance related legal advice and assistance in all practice areas of the region
• Draft and participate in commercial contracts negotiations with clients and service providers, elevate legal risks to management and, where appropriate, to Global and Americas legal practice group leaders
• Directly support the management and resolution of complex and brand affecting litigation and regulatory matters
• Support business transactions (M&A, alliances, ventures, procurements)
• Promote teamwork and cross-disciplinary coordination between the organization’s lawyers within the region and across the Americas and Globally through participation in Global legal practice groups
• Own the on-going improvement of region legal team’s professional standards and lead the team in achieving a high-performance culture
• Own the personal and professional development, coaching and mentoring of all LAS Region legal team members
• Manage and report on the region legal budget and developments, including identifying and managing external counsel and associated cost
• Lead the region legal team’s best practices, including: (i) Development and maintenance of Legal Policies & Checklists, Do’s & Don’ts, FAQs, Templates & Guidance notes (ii) Provision of regular training to internal clients on key legal and regulatory issues (iii) Selection and maintenance of legal research resources

Ideal Experience:

• Qualified to practice law in at least one of the five countries of the region, with a strong preference for lawyers who are qualified to practice law in, or have significant legal experience in, Brazil
• Experience navigating a global, complex, matrixed environment, ideally with experience in a professional services-like industry
• Demonstrated pragmatic and creative commercial mindset to effectively balance opportunities and risk, thereby enabling and facilitating a wide range of business relationships including acquisitions, ventures, alliances and partnerships, as well as new business initiatives leveraging technology and intellectual capital
• Proven ability to quickly assess, comprehend and respond to any number of complex legal issues across the organization’s legal practice groups and the ability to provide pragmatic commercial solutions
• Experience overseeing significant corporate/transactional matters: complex mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships, other possible investments and negotiating and structuring major long-term contracts
• Broad cross-border/international experience; preference for international legal training and experience
• At least 12 years of post-qualification legal experience in the region, preferably with an international law firm and/or multi-national corporation; preference for in-depth experience in a professional service environment
• Solid experience in legal and regulatory enforcement matters, including experience with law enforcement
• Excellent command of written and spoken English, Portuguese and Spanish
• Proven experience of building, managing and motivating teams with a demonstrated track record of effective performance management
• Developed commercial awareness with an outcome orientated approach and the ability to apply legal principles pragmatically
• Exposure to intellectual property and associated legal issues

Other Personal Characteristics:

• Unquestioned ethics and integrity
• Strong commercial mindset and pragmatic business acumen
• Extensive international/multi-cultural experience
• High level of self-confidence and energy; action-oriented
• High level of emotional intelligence, intellectual agility, initiative, self-motivation, resourcefulness, and patience
• Strong analytical skills
• Strong organizational skills with attention to detail
• “Board Presence” - gravitas/presence to inspire trust and confidence
• Diplomacy
• Strong skills in building trusting relationships