Senior Legal Counsel – Commercial - FTC

Location: ASOS.com, Mornington Crescent, Greater London House, NW1

Department: Legal

Level: Guide

Reports to: Head of Legal – Commercial

THE TEAM

The Legal Commercial team is responsible for providing legal and risk management expertise across the Commercial division of ASOS. (Buying, Merchandising, Design) We are looking for a Senior Legal Counsel (or a Legal Counsel with relevant commercial experience) to assist the Head of Legal for Commercial and be responsible for partnering with, guiding and supporting the needs of ASOS’ Commercial community. This is a small team, that covers a lot of ground, and it can only do that by being flexible, adaptable and agile – both within the business and between themselves. 

You’ll need to be technically excellent, hands on and commercially minded, with a strong professional ethic, and the energy, interest and training to pursue a huge array of matters. ASOS is fast paced, so all employees also need to be able to cope with change pretty quickly, and be enthused and excited about what’s around the corner for us. To win our 1,000+ strong Commercial Team over, you’ll need to speak their language and move as quickly as them. You will need the ability to make quick, confident, commercial calls - at all times in the ASOS tone of voice - and assisting on as well as leading on complex contract negotiations.

THE ROLE

This is a high impact, commercially focused, senior legal role - you will be helping to ensure that the Legal Department meets the needs and requirements of all elements of ASOS’ business across the globe. It requires the ability to give commercial as well as legal advice, to operate comfortably and effectively in many different jurisdictions, and to promptly identify risks and issues for escalation to appropriate senior stakeholders.

There are several key elements to the role:

Commercial Function:

Working with our Commercial B&M, Ethical Sourcing and Technical teams, you will, in particular, be required to:

• Provide legal input in the Commercial Suppliers lifecycle process, including on-boarding, T&Cs negotiations, and exit. Support Commercial’s negotiations with its global Commercial Suppliers (both third-party brands and suppliers of our own-brand range).
• Assist with continued rollout of updated ASOS T&Cs and policies to ASOS’ current Commercial Supplier base.
• Support (as appropriate) on other Commercial contracts e.g. licensing and exclusivity arrangements, 3D printing, collaborations, testing, fit and packaging.
• Support with ensuring commercial and compliance policies are kept up to date and adhered to by Suppliers.
• Be responsible for advising on key legal and regulatory developments impacting sale of products in our key territories and when supplying direct into new markets.

• Advise and assist on global compliance issues (chemical, packaging and labelling), in particular REACH and Prop 65, and product safety issues, including managing legal input for product recalls. Liaise with regulators and ASOS’ Garment Tech, QA and Chemical Compliance Teams as required.
• Ensure that escalated customer complaints are being properly supervised and managed, including in relation to consumer law, product safety and product defects. Where appropriate, review requests for new product categories.
• Advise on the regulatory framework in which ASOS operates and provide updates on upcoming issues which may impact the business. This includes competition and pricing rules. 
• Manage UK and international contractual disputes including product issues and supplier compliance, administration and insolvency.
• Advise and assist on delivery issues, including supporting the Tax/Customs teams with customs compliance/seizures.
• Advise and assist the Sourcing, Ethical and Sustainability divisions of Commercial including in the context of Fashion With Integrity, policies, compliance and remediation.
• Support major projects and workstreams that impact the Commercial teams, including advising on new supply and contracting models.  Experience of drafting and negotiating a wide range of retail/commercial agreements (e.g. wholesale, marketplace/direct to customer, franchise, e-commerce, selective distribution agreements, etc.) preferred.
• Be a sounding board for senior Commercial stakeholders on strategic commercial issues.
• Where appropriate, support the PR team on issues relating to the above.
• Provide training to Commercial teams on relevant topics.

Senior Legal Team:

• Reporting to the Head of Legal for Commercial, potential to manage paralegals within the team and will have the opportunity to supervise and work closely with Legal Counsels across the Legal Department.
• Act as a role model for the ASOS Legal Department, encouraging collaboration across the business, and growing the credibility of the Legal Department and ultimately ASOS as a whole.
• Identify and provide training to the Legal team and to the business on relevant legal and commercial issues.
• Identify the need for external legal advice and exercise appropriate cost management and control with all external partners used by the Commercial function of the Legal Department.
• Provide project management experience to drive projects forward with multiple stakeholders.
• Assisting in the maintenance and development of the ASOS contract database, agreement templates and contract playbooks.

We’d love to meet, someone with…

• Fashion/retail and commercial contract experience, gained from both private practice and in-house positions.
• Product compliance experience (e.g. Prop 65 and REACH) is a plus.
• Previous experience working in a fast-growing, agile, adaptable environment is preferable.
• A solicitor qualification in England & Wales (with relevant retail experience) or solicitor or equivalent outside of England & Wales who are willing to undertake the Qualifying Transfer Test.
• Excellent IT skills, particularly in relation to the use of Sharepoint, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and an early adopter of new Technology generally.
• Great Communication. Our team members continually build relationships at all levels across the business, at the same time as working collectively to deliver what’s needed, when needed, by whatever means necessary. All Legal Team members should be approachable & capable of adapting their approach and communications to ensure excellent interaction with the wide variety of people and personalities across the unique environment of ASOS.

• What's in it for you?

• Competitive salary, bonus and pension matching
• Life insurance, free private medical care, cycle to work scheme + more
• A bespoke flexible benefits scheme catered to you
• Best in class Learning & Development schemes and career development programmes
• 25 days holiday + never work on your birthday again!
• Free modern onsite gym, plus personal training and wellness rooms
• A dynamic social environment, from company-wide sports days, charity days, ‘Give A Week Away’ opportunities to visit our charity partners in India & company-wide celebrations to name just a few
• Huge staff discounts and sample sales