Senior Contracts Administrator - 3 month contract

SUMMARY:
To advise on the commercial legal and contractual requirements and litigious matters for the division and provide support to the Divisional Administration Manager. (3 month contract)

POSITION INFO:

MUST BE AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY!!!!

• BCom (Law) or LLB incorporating commercial law and corporate governance • Admitted Attorney
• Company secretarial knowledge; Intellectual Property knowledge; Governance and Risk Management; and Business administration studies would be beneficial
• Minimum 3 years’ commercial legal experience in a similar role

Responsibilities:

Commercial Legal:

• Draft, vet, negotiate and interpret commercial agreements, legal correspondence and memoranda within defined timelines
• Review external commercial agreements and other legal documents received from third parties to advise internal stakeholders on the acceptability thereof and to align it with divisional and group policies
• Identify, manage and advise on legal and contractual risk
• Liaison with business units, divisional managers and Corporate head office legal department to facilitate drafting of complex legal agreements
• Draft agreement and risk summaries to highlight risks in agreements
• Attend meetings with business units, divisional managers and third parties to facilitate legal review and finalisation of agreements as necessary, with the objective of obtaining the optimal legal, risk and commercial position for the division
• Supervise the Contracts Administrator on new vendor credit applications channelled through Corporate head office legal department
• Liaison with Corporate head office legal department in respect of the above requirements and approvals, as necessary

Authorised signing of Agreements:

• Ensure that all approved contracts are signed in accordance with the Approval Framework, shareholder agreements and other applicable agreements

Legal database records management:

• Assist with contract management, including timeous renewal of agreements
• Monthly review of the changes to the legal contracts register addressed by the Contracts Administrators (eg. new, renewals, archived and updated contracts), ensuring accuracy and completeness of the contracts register on an ongoing basis

Statutory information records management:

• Assist with the management of internal company information schedules, letterheads and statutory details and records on a quarterly basis and when changes arise
• Assist with the management of published agreements, letterheads, and legal information on SharePoint

Reporting:

• Draft the litigation report for submission to the Corporate head office and board
• Review of the quarterly contracts register for board packs compiled by the Contracts Administrators
• Update the finance bad debt register with monthly progress on matters handled directly by the role
• Address ad hoc Corporate head office legal and divisional reports and updates, when necessary

Litigation:

• Compile reports on commercial legal and litigious matters
• Responsible for perusal and amendment of all legal correspondence and attending to all requirements concerning litigation matters
• Co-ordinate legal matters requiring external legal assistance
• First line liaison with external attorneys in respect of litigation matters
• Liaison with Corporate head office legal department in respect of the above requirements and approvals, as necessary

Other:

• Provide strategic and practical legal advice and support to various business units to assist their operational teams to strategically deal with legal challenges within their operations
• Keep abreast with new legislative and industry developments to provide general legal advice and support to various business units
• Legal research of specific legal issues affecting the business and advise management on optimal legal position
• Review and Drafting of legal letters, legal notices and correspondence

Intellectual Property:

• Assist with legal matters, including infringement arising on the intellectual property portfolio of the division
• Liaison with Corporate head office legal department and Company secretarial in respect of the above requirements and approvals, as necessary

Continuous Improvement:

• Identify improvement opportunities and make recommendations for improvements
• Participate in Continuous Improvement initiatives