Legal Counsel

📍 Location: Norwich, Norfolk
💼 Permanent | In‑House Legal

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Legal Counsel to provide high‑quality, commercially focused legal advice across the Group. This is a pivotal, business-facing role supporting senior stakeholders on complex commercial contracts, legal risk management, and governance..

You will act as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, leading and developing the in-house legal function while delivering pragmatic, solution‑oriented legal support in a fast‑paced commercial environment.

Key Responsibilities

Legal Risk & Strategic Business Advisory

• Provide clear, pragmatic legal and commercial advice to executive management and operational teams.
• Proactively identify, assess and mitigate legal, regulatory and contractual risk.
• Develop and maintain a robust legal risk management and governance framework aligned to legislation and Group policy.
• Deliver legal training and guidance to managers on key legal and regulatory topics.
• Manage disputes and oversee external legal spend proportionately.

Commercial Contracts (B2B & B2C)

• Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of complex commercial contracts, including:
• Sales and procurement agreements
• Services contracts and framework agreements
• SLAs, NDAs, terms & conditions and bespoke arrangements
• Advise on contractual risk, liability, indemnities, pricing mechanisms and commercial protections.
• Partner with Procurement, Marketing and Operations on non-standard or innovative contractual solutions.
• Embed effective contract management and governance practices across the business.

Essential Requirements

• Qualified Solicitor (England & Wales) or equivalent.
• Law degree (2:1 or above).
• Significant post-qualification experience gained in-house and/or private practice.
• Strong experience drafting and negotiating complex B2B and B2C commercial contracts.
• Demonstrable experience providing practical legal advice to senior stakeholders.
• Commercially astute with proven ability to manage legal risk in a commercial, fast‑paced organisation.
•  Confident working autonomously as a trusted legal advisor.

Why Join Us?

• Broad, senior in‑house role with real influence.
• Exposure to commercial matters at Group level.
• Collaborative, professional working culture.
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements.
• Competitive Salary Package
• 33 days Holiday (inclusive of bank holidays)
• Private Healthcare
• Salary sacrifice benefits – enjoy perks such as pension, cycle to work, electric car purchase, and additional annual leave, while potentially reducing your tax and NI contributions
• Generous Employee Product Purchase Discount Scheme
• Pension – with up to 4 x salary & income protection, with the option to potentially save on tax and National Insurance via our salary sacrifice arrangement
• Life Assurance of up to 4 x basic salary (subject to qualifying criteria)

If you are a commercially minded lawyer looking for a broad and impactful in-house role, we would love to hear from you. Be a part of our journey and help shape the future of our company with your legal expertise!