Senior Counsel, Corporate (APAC)

Role & Responsibilities:

Position Definition (Key Purpose of the Position) :

The Business Area Leader, Corporate, plays a critical role in the strategic reorganization of the VF Legal Department, which is designed to better align with VF's strategic imperatives.

One of the Business Area Leader’s key accountabilities is to drive a deeper connection between their team and VF's enterprise and corporation elements to facilitate stronger business area-based engagements, protect VF's interests, deliver timely, precise, succinct, and budget-conscious legal counsel and risk management. Another crucial responsibility of the Business Area Leader is the implementation of common practices related to legal risk management, financial planning and reporting, integration with clients and commercial strategies; and associate development to help achieve the foregoing deliverables.

To that end, the Business Area Leader will ensure the use of the Department’s new TAC operating model across their team to drive the rigorous and value-driven delivery of legal services to VF clients. The TAC model emphasizes a cross-brand service model, working collaboratively across various VF brands and shared functions and operates within the Business Area, Corporate.

Key Accountabilities:

• Team Leadership: Cultivate and steer a team of legal professionals who specialize in the diverse functions that Corporate Business Area encompasses.
• Resource Allocation: Devise exhaustive plans detailing resource deployment. This entails scoping the need for both internal expertise and external legal partnerships, while assessing potential ROI.
• Legal Surveillance: Continually monitor legal nuances, especially those impacting corporate governance, acquisitions, divestitures, and the other intricate facets of the Corporate Business Area within the region.
• Strategic Counsel: Offer informed legal direction on the Legal Matters specified in the Work Scope. Collaborate with other Business Area leads to spot common intersections in strategy and potential legal risks. Proffer strategic legal advice, particularly on matters of corporate structuring, labour and employment, and overarching corporate strategy.
• Contract Oversight: Supervise the genesis, negotiation, and culmination of pivotal corporate contracts, including real estate, sourcing or employment, ensuring alignment with VF’s overarching objectives while mitigating legal exposure.
• Risk Management: Innovate and execute methodologies to pinpoint and neutralize potential legal pitfalls, especially within the Corporate Business Area’s vast spectrum. This includes monitoring potential challenges to VF's enterprise actions and decisions.
• Legal Ops Synergy: Collaborate closely with the Legal Ops team to ideate, bring to life, and maintain requisite compliance tools and procedures tailored specifically for corporate operations.
• Financial Oversight: Exercise judicious oversight over the engagement of external legal entities, ensuring their services align with the budgetary constraints specific to corporate initiatives.
• Training Campaigns: Conceive and oversee the roll-out of educational vehicles targeted at VF personnel, centring on corporate-related legal themes, risk mitigation strategies, and best practices.
• Reporting: Draft and deliver cogent reports to both regional and global hierarchies on strategic corporate legal subjects. Emphasize predictive enterprise risk analyses and region-specific countermeasures.
• Committee Engagement: Actively partake in, and at times spearhead, various committees. These span both regional and global compliance forums as well as strategic roundtables pertinent to the Corporate Business Area.
• Project Stewardship: Instigate and monitor project management blueprints that amplify the efficiency of the aforementioned roles, ensuring seamless execution and alignment with VF's corporate objectives.

Work scope: LEGAL MATTERS PERTAINING TO THE BUSINESS AREA, CORPORATE

1. People & Labour Relations: (60%)

• Transactions:
  • Employment Agreements
  • Human Resources Policies & Procedures
  • Sales Agency Agreements for the Region
• Advisory:
  • Organizational Re-structures
  • Employee Disciplinary Actions
  • Legal Support for HR-related Matters
  • Labour Union Negotiations and Support
• Compliance:
  • Maintaining Positive Labour Organization Relationships
  • Reports on Labour-related Litigation
  • Legal Assessments for Employee Compensation and Benefits
  • Wage, Hour, and Overtime Compliance
  • Labour & Employment Regulatory Training

2. Corporate & Finance: (25%)

• Transactions:
  • Corporate Resolutions
  • Corporate & Financing Agreements
  • Infragroup (ICO) agreements
  • Service Providers Agreements (Indirect Procurement)
  • Transfer Pricing (TP) documentation
• Advisory:
  • Corporate & Tax Restructuring Projects
  • Legal Entity Rationalization
  • Legal Risk Assessment
  • Support for regional Board of Directors
• Compliance:
  • Support to Corporate Governance and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Disclosure
  • Regional SOX Compliance
  • Support for Tax Compliance

3. Acquisitions & Divestitures: (10%)

• Transactions:
  • Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
  • Business Divesture
• Advisory:
  • M&A Strategy and Structure
  • Business and Brands integration projects
  • Tax Implications
• Compliance:
  • Transition Service Agreement (TSA) Compliance

4. Property & Real Estate: (5%)

• Transactions:
  • Lease Agreements
  • Property Sale Deeds
  • Construction Contracts
• Advisory:
  • Property Portfolio Management
  • Litigation related to Property Issues
• Compliance:
  • Contract Management and Review
  • SOX Compliance for Real Estate Transactions
  • Securing Public Authorizations and Licenses

Competency Requirements:

Professional Expertise:

• Commercial Insight: Profound knowledge of legal aspects related to corporate business operations, ranging from contracts, stakeholder relations, to regulatory adherence.
• Technical Insight: Comprehensive understanding of the corporate legal landscape, including regulatory matters, compliance, litigation, and risk management, as well as overall corporate governance.

Leadership & Management:

• Team Leadership: Proven capability to mentor, direct, and motivate a diverse team comprising various expertise levels and specialties.
• Growth Mindset:

• Can establish systems and scalable processes, including internal policies and procedures
• Eagerness to learn new things including across an ever-changing regulatory and legal landscape
• Drive to improve and innovate
• Able to embrace change and lead effectively through ambiguity

• Financial Oversight: Demonstrable experience in budget formulation, allocation, and fiscal management.

Communication & Collaboration:

• Communications Excellence: Outstanding ability to convey intricate legal topics clearly and persuasively to a range of stakeholders, both within and outside the organization. Proficient in English and Chinese Mandarin.
• Cultural Adaptability: Proven track record of thriving in an inclusive, diverse, and multicultural workspace.

Personal Attributes:

• Attention to Detail: Acute focus on details, paired with utmost discretion in handling sensitive information.
• Linguistic Proficiency: English and Chinese Mandarin fluency is mandatory. Proficiency in additional regional languages will be a distinct advantage.
• Critical Thinking: Exceptional legal research, analytical reasoning, and drafting prowess.
• Complex Problem Solver

Experience:

• Track Record: A minimum of 10-12 years of dedicated experience in corporate legal responsibilities, with a preference for those accustomed to multicultural environments. A combination of law firm and corporate in-house experience with a deep understanding and solid experience in PRC law and practice is highly desirable.

Academic Qualifications:

• Legal Mastery: Possession of a Juris Doctor or Master's degree in Law.

Language Proficiency:

• Fluent in both English and Chinese Mandarin