Associate General Counsel

Job Description - Associate General Counsel (23000010D20240814)

Associate General Counsel – Litigation, UK & Lloyd’s

London, UK

We are looking for a lawyer with extensive experience of insurance coverage litigation to join our small and collaborative Litigation, UK & Lloyd’s team. The team provides legal advice regarding first and third-party coverage related matters spanning a wide range of property and casualty and specialty lines of business and plays a pivotal role in AXA XL’s in-house claims counsel capabilities. It also assists the claims teams with day-to-day legal questions and management of litigation.

As an Associate General Counsel – Litigation, UK & Lloyd’s, you will provide a broad range of insurance law advice to claims handlers in respect of both contentious and non-contentious matters in a wide variety of jurisdictions. You will work on both pre-litigation and litigated claims, as well as managing coverage litigation together with the claims handling team. You will report directly to the Head of Litigation – UK & Lloyd’s.

Essential Responsibilities:

1. Developing comprehensive and high-quality coverage analyses, litigation and settlement strategies, keeping in mind both the particulars of each case as well as its impact on the entire book of claims and the business generally.
2. Providing comprehensive general legal advice to the complex and multi-jurisdictional Claims organization of AXA XL, including regulatory and claims vendor contracting matters.
3. Communicating effectively in writing and face-to-face with key stakeholders, in particular claims handlers and senior management.
4. Participating in the development of litigation management systems and processes in collaboration with other internal litigation units.
5. Overseeing the selection and management of qualified, cost-effective outside counsel and other litigation vendors.
6. Serving as a subject matter expert and resource to other units across our global insurance platform by providing comprehensive and timely legal advice and training to internal stakeholders including Claims.
7. Reporting on significant case developments and litigation trends to senior management and other internal stakeholders.
8. Providing hands-on management for certain high-profile matters in addition to managing external counsel across a broad spectrum of claims-related litigation/arbitration matters.
9. Focusing on individual and ‘book of business’ issues, including choice of law/venue and policy terms and conditions.
10. Working closely and collaboratively with the UK, US and Europe & Asia-Pac Claims teams.

Required Skills and Abilities:

1. International coverage experience: track record of insurance coverage experience, including coverage litigation, arbitration and mediation gained at a top law firm.
2. Legal credentials: Degree with high academic achievement and solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales or UK barrister.
3. Able to understand all facets of claims and apply that knowledge to the global claims organization.
4. Able to provide assistance with amending and drafting policy wordings from a legal perspective.
5. Research and analysis: Possessing the knack for complete and comprehensive researching while being able to deliver crisp, targeted and on-point analysis.
6. Strategic thinking: Visualize what doesn’t exist and know how to get there.
7. Leadership skills: Demonstrate courage. Coach, train, evaluate and hold people accountable.
8. Drafting skills for both internal notes and external communications.
9. Overseeing e-discovery as and when required.
10. Cross border teamworking: ability to act independently as a number of the internal claims handler clients are based outside the UK.
11. Mental agility: Innovative thinker, capable of handling highly complex financial data and situations.
12. Communication and negotiation: Excellent verbal and written communication, collaboration, negotiation and presentation skills.
13. Passion for results: Work tenaciously to achieve outstanding results.

Desired Skills and Abilities:

1. Preferred but not essential: Proficiency in another European language.
2. Preferred but not essential: In-house experience with a specialty (re)insurer.

Location: GB-GB-London

Work Locations: GB London 20 Gracechurch Street, London EC3V 0BG

Job Field: Regulatory, Compliance and Risk

Schedule: Full-time

Job Type: Standard

AXA XL is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any colleague or applicant for employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, military status or any other category protected by local law.