Legal Counsel, WPP

WPP; London; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 80,000

Job description

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to build better futures for our people, planet, clients, and communities.

Working at WPP means being part of a global network of more than 115,000 accomplished people in 110 countries. WPP has headquarters in New York, London and Singapore and a corporate presence in major markets worldwide.

We create transformative ideas and outcomes for our clients through an integrated offer of communications, experience, commerce, and technology.

WPP and our award-winning agencies work with most of the world's biggest companies and organisations – from Ford, Unilever and P&G to Google, HSBC, and the UN. Our clients include 61 of the FTSE 100, 307 of the Fortune Global 500, all 30 of the Dow Jones 30 and 62 of the NASDAQ 100. WPP are the leader in the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index and 20th in the FTSE 100 rankings for Women on Boards.

Why we’re hiring:

WPP’s Business Integrity team is looking for a Legal Counsel to join us. This role offers a great opportunity for someone with an interest in law, regulation, risk compliance, and ethics to develop their career within a global corporate setting.

What you'll be doing:

As Legal Counsel within WPP's Business Integrity team (part of our Legal function), you'll play a key role in supporting our commitment to ethical and compliant business practices. You'll report to the WPP Associate General Counsel, Corporate Risk, based in London, and work closely with colleagues throughout the organization globally.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

• Advising and supporting WPP companies on day to day legal & regulatory queries and requests. Drafting, negotiating and advising on arrangements with third parties and ensuring compliance. Advising on and managing governance and regulatory matters relating to compliance and ethics.
• Supporting WPP Business Integrity in ensuring there are effective and efficient policies and procedures in place, understood and respected by all employees – and that WPP’s resources, systems and processes are aligned with such policies and WPP is compliant with all regulatory requirements.
• Identifying and analysing current and emerging legal and risk issues across WPP. Investigating breaches of policies and of applicable external laws, regulations and codes. Supporting the Associate General Counsel Corporate Risk with internal risk assessments and data analysis. Supporting the Associate General Counsel Corporate Risk with design of internal processes established to detect and pre-empt risk crystallisation. Devising and implementing mitigation strategies and remediation actions.
• Supporting the Associate General Counsel Corporate Risk and other colleagues in the Business Integrity team to ensure that WPP’s risk appetite, governance requirements and applicable regulator expectations are understood and respected by WPP staff.
• Identifying, including from risk assessments and data analysis, business integrity topics on which staff training is required (including compliance, ethics, respect in the workplace, anti-bribery & corruption and gifts & hospitality) and drafting and creating training materials and content, and delivering the same as needed.
• Supporting the Associate General Counsel Corporate Risk with development and maintenance of precedents, best practices and data sets that comply with company policies and local law and can be used across WPP.
• Managing external law firms and other professional advisors.

What you'll need:

• Problem-Solving & Communication Skills: Ability to identify and solve complex issues, delivering results through a combination of technical knowledge and strong communication skills in a commercial environment.
• Integrity & Trust: Ability to establish respect and trust when dealing with sensitive and confidential matters, and to work effectively with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Organizational Skills: Ability to manage and prioritize a varied workload effectively and efficiently.
• Language Skills: Proficiency in additional languages is a plus.

WPP Business Integrity:

WPP’s business integrity programme is integral to ensuring that our policies, procedures and control environment are understood and adhered to across all geographies and markets. It is produced by mapping resources, systems and processes against WPP’s risk appetite, governance requirements and regulator expectations and then crafting actions from the results.

Actions for the business integrity team focus on tackling root causes of risk and include:

• In respect of resources, championing and enhancing messages and examples from global, regional and local leadership with communications, training sessions, workshops, townhalls and practical guidance, knowhow and resources for our people and providing “on the ground” support for day to day queries from our networks;
• In respect of systems, advising on the implementation of WPP’s policies, procedures and controls and providing a compliance lens for the design and structure of our enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment;
• In terms of processes, conducting an annual assessment of business integrity risk, monitoring dynamic data feeds, pro-active management of self-certifications and disclosures from our people, reviewing and investigating concerns raised including by whistleblowers and tracking remediation efforts.

Who you are:

You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are accepting: of new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures for our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we'll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – We promote a culture of people that do extraordinary work.

Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?

#LI-Onsite

WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.