Senior Legal Counsel Recruitment Project
Background
Our long-standing client is a global pureplay ice cream company headquartered in North Yorkshire. They are the second largest manufacturers of ice cream in the world, with a presence in over 20 countries, revenues of c.€4bn and more than 13,000 employees. The Group General Counsel retained Florit Legal to find a Senior Legal Counsel to join their legal team.
Requirement
This Senior Legal Counsel would advise key stakeholders on legal risk and regulation and, working alongside the Group Head of Legal, be involved in the delivery of the Group legal activities across multiple countries. The role included commercial contracts ranging in levels of complexity, advising on intellectual property, technology, regulatory compliance and managing any disputes or escalated litigation.
Challenge
Although with good access to motorways, our client is headquartered in a part of North Yorkshire which is, for many candidates, a lengthy commute from major conurbations along the principal road network.
Given that the major legal centres are dispersed geographically by at least 45 miles in each direction, location always presents a challenge in this location when identifying and sourcing potential new in-house lawyers. Even though the client offers a favourable hybrid working policy the search was still restricted in radius owing to an onsite presence being required by the legal team.
Solution
When conducting a search campaign in a remote location, a company needs to have ways of being flexible with regard to each a candidate’s legal background and the levels of post-qualification experience (PQE) that will be considered. An additional layer of ‘safety’ was provided by the behavioural assessment technology included as part of our LTAR® service. If the right behaviours are present, a candidate’s technical background becomes less important. Individuals at the level of Senior Legal Counsel may have enough professional experience and the requisite aptitude to adapt quickly. The LTAR® methodology gives clients and extra layer of insight on this, to avoid making the wrong hire.
Such an approach allows us to cast a wider net at the outset, to capture a broader range of lawyers who might be suitable for each position. While commercial contracts skills are typically preferred for in-house roles, our client was able to offer flexibility by being open to considering lawyers with backgrounds in intellectual property, technology, or corporate law.
As a result, a strong shortlist was presented and a highly capable senior legal counsel with some in-house legal experience already was appointed.
