This new Group Legal Director role is the senior legal partner for the two business units, providing and overseeing commercially focused advice on Real Estate Development, Asset Management/Leasing, Governance and Corporate Real Estate matters, leading the team, managing external advisers, and supporting Board and Executive engagement.
Client Details
Our Client is a national institution that blends heritage with modern innovation, stewarding an exceptional portfolio of land and natural assets for the long term. Professionally managed with a commercial mindset, it unlocks value from iconic places-on land and at sea-while returning its success to the public.
Description
The responsibilities with this senior role include:
Legal Service Delivery
- Lead on key strategic and complex legal matters relating to real estate development, property/asset management and rural/coastal assets.
- Ensure legal services are delivered efficiently and aligned with business priorities.
- Maintain high standards of legal accuracy, discretion, and responsiveness, particularly when dealing with sensitive stakeholders and constitutional matters.
Leadership and Team
- Work collaboratively with senior leadership colleagues in the department to ensure a coordinated and consistent service is delivered to the business overall.
- Coach, mentor and line manage 2 senior associate legal counsels, fostering a high-performance culture and supporting career development.
- Actively contribute to and role model collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and continuous learning across the department and the wider business, championing and facilitating (directly and indirectly) the development of others, mentoring more junior colleagues and supporting succession planning.
- Champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing within the department and across the wider business.
Legal Business Partnering
- Act as the lead strategic legal advisor for the two business units, embedding legal expertise into strategic decision‑making.
- Provide proactive, pragmatic and solution‑oriented legal advice that effectively balances commercial opportunity with legal risk, taking into consideration other risk factors of relevance (e.g. reputational, financial, sustainability etc.).
- Build strong and trusted relationships with senior business leaders, acting as a critical friend and sounding board.
- Support the business in navigating constitutional matters and sensitive stakeholder relationships with discretion and integrity.
External Legal Panel Management
- Manage relationships with external panel firms supporting the business units.
- Ensure legal advice received externally is of the highest quality, commercially sound, and aligned with business needs.
- Drive cost certainty and reduction in external legal spend, ensuring value for money and effective use of resources.
- Monitor performance and delivery of panel firms, providing feedback and ensuring continuous improvement.
Governance and Strategic Support
- Work closely with the Group Head of Legal to ensure effective support at Board and Executive level.
- Contribute to the development and implementation of legal strategy, policies, and frameworks.
- Support the organisation's constitutional obligations and governance processes.
Operational Excellence
- Work collaboratively with Legal, Ethics & Compliance colleagues to help champion and drive improvements in legal operations, including digital transformation, process optimisation and risk management.
- Monitor legal trends and regulatory developments, ensuring the business remains compliant and informed.
- Provide an external perspective that brings best practices, experience and insight from other organisations.
Profile
The successful candidate will be a UK qualified Solicitor with substantial PQE (at least 8 years, there is no upper limit) and significant in‑house legal experience in a senior advisory role, ideally within the real estate sector, in a complex, multi‑unit organisation.
They will have:
- In‑depth understanding of UK real estate law, including development, joint ventures, leasing, and asset management.
- Sound understanding of corporate governance.
- Demonstrated ability to operate with discretion and professionalism in sensitive environments.
- Proven track record of delivering pragmatic strategic legal advice to senior stakeholders.
- Experience managing legal teams and developing talent.
Desirable:
- Familiarity with the housebuilding sector and/or rural assets may be beneficial.
- Awareness and appreciation of ethical and compliance standards relevant to a public‑facing organisation (and an awareness of or a desire to upskill in public sector legal obligations and constitutional matters).
This is a Hybrid role, base in London and the surrounding areas – the successful candidate may be required to travel nationally on occasion but normal working practices are to be in the office 50% of the time.
Job Offer
This is a well‑remunerated role offering a strong bonus and other excellent benefits.
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