Assistant Vice President, Legal Counsel - Leverage Finance Team

Do you want your voice heard and your actions to count?

Discover your opportunity with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of the world’s leading financial groups. Across the globe, we’re 120,000 colleagues, striving to make a difference for every client, organization, and community we serve. We stand for our values, building long-term relationships, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world.

With a vision to be the world’s most trusted financial group, it’s part of our culture to put people first, listen to new and diverse ideas and collaborate toward greater innovation, speed and agility. This means investing in talent, technologies, and tools that empower you to own your career.

Join MUFG, where being inspired is expected and making a meaningful impact is rewarded.

OVERVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENT/SECTION

The Legal department provides legal services to and manages the legal risk for MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities (EMEA) and the MUSHD international business (collectively the “Firm”).

Members of Legal are dual-hatted across MUFG Bank and MUFG Securities. Dual-hat employees will be expected to be entity neutral across all responsibilities to ensure that services are provided to both entities effective and without favour or detriment to the other entity.

The Legal department’s principal functions are to:

• Provide legal services and legal advice to each international securities business and banking businesses
• Draft, review and negotiate contractual documentation, whether transactional or non-transactional
• Draft notes and other product documentation and arrange for issuance of such notes and products
• Draft, review and negotiate ISDA documentation and related trading agreements and lending (syndicated or bilateral, ECA financings, LMA based or bespoke contractual arrangements)
• Draft, review and negotiate trade finance credit lines and products, as well as trade finance instruments
• Provide legal and execution advice in relation to transactions and new business
• Provide transaction management support for securities issues and financing transactions arranged or underwritten by an international securities business
• Provide support for internal projects (internal restructurings and/or regulatory driven)
• Evaluate legal risk to ensure business is conducted in a lawful and professional manner
• Identify and advise on the implementation of new laws and regulations
• Provide legal oversight of regulatory matters and government affairs
• Manage all disputes, litigation, regulatory proceedings and other contentious matters
• Manage and approve all use of law firms

MAIN PURPOSE OF THE ROLE 

We have an exciting opportunity for a legal counsel to join MUFG EMEA Legal Department as a permanent member, based in London. This role will be primarily covering a broad range of leverage finance transactions (including related hedging) within the Legal – CIB Loans & Bonds team, working closely within the Leverage Finance team.

From time to time, MUFG may ask individuals to develop new areas of practice either where this is required to meet business needs and/or as part of an individual’s career progression.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

In this role, the successful candidate will be providing services which cover MUFG’s banking arm and securities business under a dual-hat arrangement. Under this arrangement, the employee will act and make decisions on behalf of both the bank and the securities business, subject to the same remit and level of authority, and irrespective of the entity which employs them.

• Advise on, participate in and implement Firm and International Business transactions, proceedings, actions, projects and initiatives.  This includes activity / projects to improve the delivery of legal services to the business and MUFG’s clients (which may include process improvement, onboarding of technology etc).
• Review and lead the negotiation of leverage finance (“LF”) transactions, both sponsor-led and corporate, across all European jurisdictions including cross-border, from a legal, structural and technical perspective, focusing on ensuring the highest standards of delivery.
• Act as a strategic advisor to the Business and provide legal support to LF origination, LF portfolio management and related teams.
• Advise on a broad range of transaction documents including, term sheets, bilateral and syndicated loan agreements, intercreditors, security documents, ancillary documents and legal opinions.  
• Develop and maintain MUFG institutional views on key leverage finance market terms and sponsor precedent, making MUFG colleagues aware of emerging documentary trends and potential implications.
• Advise on the legal, regulatory and reputational issues and work closely with the wider EMEA and International legal teams to serve Business seamlessly as One MUFG.
• Participate in working groups, projects and committee meetings at MUFG.
• Develop junior staff within Legal EMEA and LF business area to become fully acquainted with key terms and trends in LF documentation.
• Review and advise on client documentation including NDAs, marketing material, term sheets, due diligence reports release / reliance letters, related side letters etc.
• Act as a strategic advisor to the Business and support the set-up of new & complex products and new business initiatives.
• Manage the engagement of law firms and legal spend efficiently.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Functional / Technical Competencies:

• University graduate
• 2-5 years’ post-qualification legal experience working with financial sponsors/ levfin obtained either in private practice with a major law firm or in-house with another significant financial institution, sponsor or asset management firm.
• Good technical understanding of levfin structures and sponsors’ driven markets.
• Familiarity with derivatives / structured hedging products would be beneficial.
• Demonstrate commercial awareness of the latest market issues and regulatory changes.
• Ability to build effective and positive client relationships quickly and fully embrace the importance of client service.
• Ability to explain complex legal concepts to a non-technical audience.
• Ability to speak/read another language – French and Spanish language skills preferred.

PERSONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both written & verbal
• Effective operating in a team and matrix-oriented environment, and ability to work with colleagues at all levels of seniority
• Proactive and enthusiastic, with an inclination to drive change
• Results driven, with a strong sense of accountability
• Team player
• Pragmatic, curious and commercially minded
• Efficient working style with a good sense of urgency and commercial acumen.

We are open to considering flexible working requests in line with organisational requirements.

MUFG is committed to embracing diversity and building an inclusive culture where all employees are valued, respected and their opinions count. We support the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion in recruitment and employment, and oppose all forms of discrimination on the grounds of age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy and maternity, race, gender reassignment, religion or belief and marriage or civil partnership.

We make our recruitment decisions in a non-discriminatory manner in accordance with our commitment to identifying the right skills for the right role and our obligations under the law.