Director of Legal Services

DIRECTOR OF LEGAL SERVICES

THE JOB OPPORTUNITY

This is an exciting opportunity to lead and grow the Legal function of a boutique professional services firm, delivering real value to clients, the Legal team and to the business as a whole. The firm have four core disciplines in advisory, accountancy, legal and tax, in which they deliver to clients through quality guidance and joined-up expertise.

The Director of Legal Services role is central to the success of the business and as such, sits on the Board, reports to the Managing Director and is part of the Senior Leadership team.

The Legal team currently comprises of three distinct departments, each headed up with a Head of Department for their different area of expertise. In order to reach their ambitious growth plans, they are looking for an experienced leader to join and create a cohesive, high-performing and profitable team.

The Legal team comprises of three different departments:

• Corporate/Commercial
• Employment & Immigration
• Litigation/ IP& Art Law

Your primary goal is to achieve revenue and profit targets for the Legal Department through;

• Business development: Acquiring new instructions from new and existing clients
• Leading and managing the Legal team, holding them accountable for delivering on their objectives
• Billable work: Supporting clients in their growth journeys with quality legal advice
• Productivity: Maximising the potential and productivity of the team
• Strategy & Planning: Defining and delivering departmental strategy

THE REQUIREMENT

Growth-focused: You will be someone who gets a buzz from business development, has an established network of SME contacts and experience at speaking at events. They need someone who naturally embodies their values, is comfortable to represent the brand externally and is looking for a new challenge to support SMEs, the business and the team to thrive.

Quality legal expertise: Ideally you will be legally qualified and technically expert in an existing specialism (ideally Corporate or Commercial). However, your ability to diagnose clients’ requirements and apply appropriate legal and commercial solutions, delivered by you or your team, is far more important. Critically, you will have a thirst to grow and develop your department, with the capability to “rain make” through established client and SME networks. You will understand how to manage your team, the wider business, and their marketing strategy to support this activity.

Leadership: You will have experience of leading a high-functioning team and share in their belief that an open, human-centred and ambitious culture is the key to achieving great things. You will be comfortable thinking both strategically and practically, as the role will require strengths in both strategy and delivery.

Curious, Collaborative & Commercial: As a small business ourselves, we value authenticity, curiosity, collaboration and commercial thinking. You will be the main point of contact for a portfolio of their key clients and will also work closely with the other business teams to deliver the joined-up expertise that their clients look to for so a natural strength in building effective relationships will be key.

People who succeed at the firm are technically brilliant, entrepreneurial self-starters, comfortable with change and confident to capitalise on the opportunities available to drive their own growth.

REQUIRED/DESIRABLE SKILLS

• Relevant professional services experience of c8-10 yrs.
• First-hand SME experience: 5 years’ minimum experience advising fast-growth UK-based SMEs.
• Strategic thinking: Value the need for strategy and confident to course correct if needed.
• Leadership: Belief in value of a high-performance culture and experience building one.
• Resilience: With scaling comes change so the ability to manage and enjoy change is key.
• Relationship-building: Open, effective relationships with colleagues and clients crucial.
• Communication: Strong communication skills and confident having challenging conversations.

ON OFFER

• Competitive annual salary (c£100k-£140k dependent on experience)
• Performance-related bonus (tbc)
• Plus a good range of benefits