Legal Counsel

Business Unit:Global Legal
Job Description:

Role Summary:

The main purpose of this role is to provide legal advice and support to the firm’s collective investment products in Ireland and Luxembourg. Depending on business priorities and capacity, the role holder will have the opportunity to become involved in providing legal support more broadly to Russell Investments’ busy and varied EMEA business. This may include working through distribution issues, negotiation of IMAs and trading documentation and implementation of all aspects of financial services regulation. The successful candidate will need to demonstrate an ability to communicate well with people in a range of different departments within the company and at all different levels.

The responsibilities of the individual in this position include:

Regulatory & Business conduct

• Displaying exemplary conduct and living by our organisation’s Code of Conduct.

• Taking personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct across the business.

• Effectively and collaboratively identifying, escalating, mitigating and resolving risk, conduct and compliance.

Legal advice and support to the company's EMEA business including collective investment products

• Updating prospectuses for new funds, share classes, regulatory updates, changes to investment objectives and fund closures.

• Assessing what is required to market and or distribute funds in different jurisdictions (and managing the relationship with external counsel in each jurisdiction).

• Putting in place agreements and managing relationships with third party service providers, helping with more general advice on strategic issues when restructuring or merging funds and working on internal working groups.

Advising fund boards and maintaining relationships with the Irish board members

• Familiarity with Irish regulatory issues relevant to UCITS and AlFs.

• Communicating effectively with senior executives and independent directors.

Dealing with contract negotiation and company wide commercial issues.

• Negotiation of investment management agreements and trading documentation.

• Reviewing and negotiation of IMAs with clients and third-party investment managers.

• Participating in client onboarding as required.

• Participation in the governance process eg obtaining board and investment committee approvals.

• Negotiation of ISDAs and other trading documents.

• Keeping precedents up to date with regulatory and business requirements.

Maintaining regulatory knowledge

• Working on regulatory projects as required eg ESG implementation, DORA.

The successful candidate will have extensive demonstrable skills and experiences including the following:

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification required.

• Admitted to practice in the UK, Ireland or another common law jurisdiction is essential.

• Familiarity with the Irish or Luxembourg funds environment and regulations.

• Good understanding of Irish regulatory issues relevant to UCITS and AlFs.

• Familiarity of FCA regulations.

• Knowledge of collective investment products and the law and regulation of those products would be advantageous, either in Ireland or the UK.

• Highly motivated and a preparedness to learn new areas of law.

• Previous experience as a financial services lawyer.

• Ability to communicate a complicated issue clearly and succinctly.

• Excellent drafting skills. Ability to write clearly and distill complex ideas into clear wording.