Geographic Legal Counsel Manager

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Job Summary

This role is based in KSA, mainly supporting the GCCs for KSA and UAE, with the possibility of assisting the GCCs of other ME countries.

The GCC is part of the Accenture Compliance, Operations, Regulatory and Ethics (“CORE”) legal team and focuses on local legal support on such matters. The GCC delivers and coordinates legal advice in support of Accenture's business, manages and mitigates risk, and drives ethical behavior and compliance with laws and company policies by:

Local Leadership Advisor - acting as a legal advisor to local leadership on CORE matters together with the Market Unit Legal Director (“MULD”).

Business Advisor - collaborating, reviewing and/or overseeing its area of responsibilities in advising the business on various matters together with other legal services teams (including other teams within CORE, Sales and Delivery (“Contracting”), Global Services, Government Relations, Litigation and Corporate Investigations, and Ventures and Acquisitions).

Compliance - implementing global compliance programs locally, and aligning local compliance requirements with global compliance programs.

Corporate Functions Advisor - advising and supporting Accenture’s corporate function teams (including Procurement, Marketing and Communications, Finance, Workplace, Tax, and Immigration and Mobility teams) on legal matters that arise in performance of their functions.

Corporate Matters - managing the legal affairs of the local entities.

DETAILED WORK SCOPE

The GCC protects the company, enables the operation of the busines, and helps the business grow:

Protect

• Educate and guide local leadership on the business of the company in accordance with sound corporate governance principles and best practices in line with Accenture’s Code of Business Ethics (“COBE”).
• Counsel, advise, and consult Market Unit Lead (“MUL”) and Country Managing Director (“CMD”) on compliance matters together with the MULD.
• Provide reports on a regular basis, and as directed or requested, to keep the local leadership informed of the operation and progress of compliance efforts.
• Monitor regulatory developments and ensure compliance with all applicable laws including developing compliance programs in line with new and updated laws.
• Develop and work with the MULD on implementing initiatives for the country in accordance with the country/MU compliance, risk management strategy and contracting objectives and priorities.
• Develop, initiate, maintain, and revise policies and procedures for the general operation of local compliance programs and its related activities to prevent illegal, unethical, or improper conduct. Manage day-to-day operation of the program.
• Identify legal risk patterns and trends in the various markets or client accounts across the country together with other legal teams, and contribute to the development of measures to actively address, manage and reduce the impact of such patterns and trends on the geography overall risk profile.
• Monitor, and as necessary, coordinate compliance activities of other departments to remain abreast of the status of all compliance activities and to identify trends.
• Responsible for compliance and corporate matters in the country (in close collaboration with relevant legal subject matter experts (“SME”)), including the local implementation of the global compliance program.
• Institute and maintain an effective compliance communication program, including promoting (a) use of the Anti-Corruption tools; (b) heightened awareness of the Code of Business Ethics, and (c) understanding of new and existing compliance issues and related policies and procedures.
• Monitor the performance of compliance programs and related activities on a continuing basis, taking appropriate steps to improve its effectiveness.
• Ensure that compliance issues/concerns within the organization are being appropriately evaluated, investigated, and resolved, by, but not limited to:
• Ensuring proper reporting of violations or potential violations to appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Collaborating with other teams (e.g., Litigation, Corporate Investigations and Employment, etc.) to direct compliance issues to appropriate existing channels for investigation and resolution and resolving difficult legal compliance issues.
• Responding to alleged violations of rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and COBE by providing input, evaluating and/or recommending the initiation of investigative procedures.
• In line with escalation protocols, serve as an escalation point for difficult contract or legal issues that are unusual and/or of greater risk; confer with/facilitate escalation to the global legal leadership as appropriate.
• Work with the Government Relations team on potential issues (e.g. reputational) that may not be illegal, but sensitive due to the geo-political climate and local sensitivities.
• Provide trainings as appropriate to amongst other things, address risk areas.
• Generally, provide legal counsel, advice, and guidance to the company to ensure maximum protection of the company’s legal rights and mitigation of legal risks.

Enable

• Assure the quality and consistency of legal service in the country by working seamlessly with other legal teams and leveraging on solutions, templates, and knowledge available in the legal group as a whole.
• Contribute to the development of internal guidelines, toolkits in line with global legal programs, including development of standard or template contracts representing the needs and interests of the geography.
• Advise Corporate Function teams, including on ad hoc and unique requests and be an escalation point for contracts.
• Provide local corporate law and regulatory advice in relation to the restructuring and business activities of local entities.
• Implement in the country the legal group strategy as well as the country and MU legal action plan and guidelines.
• Ensure compliance with local companies laws and regulations, manage corporate secretarial matters and overall management of local entities together with Controllership and external advisors.

Grow

• Understand the MUL and CMD's strategy and priorities in the country, and assist in related company initiatives relevant for the country in line with global legal programs;
• Understand the MUL and CMD’s legal concerns and needs and work with the MULD on addressing the same;
• Review contracts and provide transactional support to the Contracting teams;
• Involvement in complex projects in the country as necessary, for instance where there are regulatory issues, license requirements, or potential entity structuring aspects.
• Assist in the coordination and implementation of Post-Merger Integration process and manage the integration/restructuring of local targets.

Delivery Model

• Work together with the MULD and other legal teams (including global SMEs) to advise on local compliance issues.
• Serve as trusted business partner to the leadership and the corporate function leads on important CORE issues, with a focus on early intervention and proactive shaping of solutions.
• Meet business needs by leveraging internal and external resources with reusable and industrialized knowledge.
• Interact with internal experts, other CORE Legal Services teams as well as with all teams in Legal Contracting Services in Malaysia and peers at other companies.
• Operate cost effectively and consistent with relevant Accenture policies and the legal budget by:
  • optimizing the development and use of standardized tools and processes;
  • developing alternative sourcing for both generalist and specialist country support requirements using the Accenture Global Legal Network, off-shore resources and outside counsel, after training them as a part of our geographic legal community; and
  • selecting law firms, “Accenturizing” them, making them part of the delivery workforces and regulatory structures.
• Develop and monitor performance metrics for geographic legal support in KSA and UAE and improve performance against those metrics where necessary.

Education: Law degree or JD from a reputable law school.

Qualifications: Admission in KSA or a common law jurisdiction.

Work Experience: At least 6 years of experience as a lawyer in a law firm and/or multi-national company with at least 3 years of experience in a compliance or compliance related function for manager.

At least 10 years of experience as a lawyer in a law firm and/or multi-national company with at least 6 years of experience in a compliance or compliance related function for Senior manager.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Experienced in commercial law and compliance, good working knowledge of various areas of law such as data privacy, corporate governance, employment, intellectual property, competition and anti-bribery and corruption.
• Good knowledge of, or ability to understand, the relevant laws in KSA and UAE.
• Resourceful and demonstrates sound judgment, ability to prioritize and make decisions, and a high level of common sense, including the ability to “see around corners” and identify risks before they materialize.
• Knowledge of current regulatory environment.
• Confidence and capability in addressing sensitive and complicated ethical conduct/compliance and personnel-related matters.
• Ability to efficiently manage complex issues and various stakeholders, including senior management.
• Possesses the ability to understand opportunity setup quickly and identify (and advice on) potential legal risks associated with the opportunity.
• Ability to present innovative, original (careful, balanced, objective, lawful and well-reasoned) solutions and to act as a strategic thinker.
• Ability to influence, with a strong executive presence.
• Ability to make informed judgment calls, striking a balance between risk and reward.
• Adaptable and flexible on solutioning.
• Responsive and follows through on commitments.
• Strong time management, prioritization, and organizational skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and a team player yet able to work independently.
• Ability to motivate and consult professionals from various cultures and backgrounds.
• Fluent in English. Language abilities in Arabic will be an added advantage.

You will also have opportunities to hone your functional skills and expertise in an area of specialization. We offer a variety of formal and informal training programs at every level to help you acquire and build specialized skills faster. Learning takes place both on the job and through formal training conducted online, in the classroom, or in collaboration with teammates. The sheer variety of work we do, and the experience it offers, provide an unbeatable platform from which to build a career.

Accenture is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of society and does not discriminate on grounds of race, religion or belief, ethnic or national origin, disability, age, citizenship, marital, domestic or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other basis as protected by applicable law.

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