This candidate had exceptional language skills: they were fluent in French, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Since the company operates in all of the markets using these languages, this person immediately stood out for the legal team.
Our client was a large global technology company with ca. 15,000 employees. Headquartered in Europe, they are world leader in their sector.
The business is an exciting place to work offering excellent work-life balance, diverse multicultural environment and cutting edge tech legal work.
What was the role the client was hiring for?
Global Head of Legal and a leader of a team of 30, was seeking to hire a technically strong lawyer with 5+ PQE and experience drafting and negotiating technology contracts, ideally trained in private practice and fluent in English and French. The role was based in Madrid.
The team was looking for someone passionate about working close to the commercial team and senior management and acting as a true business partner advising on a diverse portfolio of products and services.
Of importance were business rapport building skills and strong business insight, as well as the ability to work in a fast-moving company.
Reporting into Global Head of Legal, the role offered a lot of responsibility providing legal and contractual support to this IT business:
Responsibilities included
- Responsibility for varied range of issues including strategic accounts and / or vendor and supplier management
- Creating strategic solutions to key legal issues
- Negotiate and draft complex agreements (software, services, outsourcing, supplier, vendor, consultancy, technology licensing and development agreements)
- Provide key support on litigation, data protection and regulatory issues
- Advise top management on strategic legal risks
- Instruct and manage external counsel
- Oversee capturing of know-how, provide training on areas of expertise and supervise more junior team members
Who was hired and what was the candidate’s background?
We placed a 6+ PQE technology lawyer, qualified in a top law firm with subsequent five years of in-house experience at a major international business handling IT / digital / e-commerce/ SaaS matters and contracts.
Fluent in five languages – French, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, the candidate relocated from Switzerland.
How successful was this placement long term?
The new team member started in their role in May 2019.
As of today, they are still gainfully employed by the business (as are 99% of lawyers we have placed).
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