Business Unit Counsel, West Africa at the Coca Cola Company

Job ID: R-35716
Location: Lagos, Nigeria
Job Type: Full time
Department Name: Legal
Role:  Manager
# of Direct Reports: 4-5
Job Titles of Direct Reports: Legal Counsel,
Paralegal: Legal Assistant
Job Grade: 14
Reports to (position): General Counsel, International

Job Responsibilities
Job Objective:

• The purpose of this role is to provide oversight and leadership over all legal matters relating to the BU, with a focus on ensuring the business receives strategic and solution-oriented legal services.
• BU Counsel will lead the legal function and serve on the business leadership team of the BU.
• BU Counsel must be a trusted counselor, bring a growth mindset to solving problems and be a credible and effective leader within Legal and the BU.

Principal Responsibilities

•  Lead a team of legal and non-legal associates supporting the BU, including developing talent, cultivating growth behaviors and driving positive associate engagement.
• Serve on the BU leadership team and be both a legal and business counselor.
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations of the various countries that comprise the BU, contractual and other external obligations and Company policies.
• Provide solution-oriented legal advice regarding obligations, risks and opportunities, and collaborate with the business to arrive at decisions that appropriately balance the achievement of growth objectives with risks.  
• Negotiate and draft complex agreements and documents (e.g., M & A,  contracts, pleadings, policies, correspondence, memoranda) to advance business goals and protect the Company’s interests.
• Drive a culture of integrity and ethical behavior in the Company, including providing counseling and training on the Company’s Code of Business Conduct and other governance and compliance policies.
• Strategic management of legal proceedings (e.g., litigation, other disputes, investigations, regulatory proceedings).
• Manage outside counsel to ensure they provide high quality, cost-effective legal services.
• Anticipate and counsel on adverse regulatory or litigation trends, including collaborating with key stakeholders (e.g., bottlers, suppliers, customers, industry associations) on mitigation strategies.
• Assist in franchise management by liaising closely with counsel for bottlers and other system participants.
• For Company’s investments in bottling partners, new and emerging ventures and joint ventures, ensure appropriate agreements are in place and that the entities have acceptable compliance and governance programs.
• Ensure compliance with corporate formalities and requirements to maintain various TCCC corporate entities
• Enhance the Company and the Legal function’s reputation by maintaining positive relationships with regulators, engaging in bar/legal association activities and supporting local communities.

Success Criteria

• Providing timely and creative solutions to legal and business problems, including identifying appropriate risk tolerances that allow the business to achieve objectives while mitigating unreasonable risks.
• Exhibiting a growth mindset, courage in decision making and a strong sense of ethics and integrity.
• Being a strong leader and developer of talent.
• Maintaining good relationships with key external stakeholders, including bottlers and other system partners, customers, suppliers, trade associations, bar/legal organizations and governmental authorities.

Job Scope / Impact:

• Responsible for legal matters across 31 countries comprising a population of over 1 b and involving multiple bottlers.
• The BU includes priority markets for the future growth of the Company.
• A senior leader in the BU.

Key Contacts (internal/external):

• Company General Counsel; General Counsel, International; Legal colleagues
• BU President and Leadership Team
• BU associates.
• Bottler management, including bottler legal team.
• Internal and external legal subject matter experts (e.g., tax counsel.
• Other third parties, including Bottler Shareholders, venture partners, customers, suppliers, authorities.

Job Requirements / Qualifications
Education:

• Law Degree or equivalent.
• Licensed/qualified to practice law.

Experience:

• Minimum: 10 years legal practice in house and/or law firm
• Preferred: 10 years+

Cultural Diversity: Understanding of cultural environment important to effectively serve in this role. 
Analysis:

• Must analyze complex legal and business issues and develop creative options and recommendations in high pressure situations, even if there is no clearly right answer, including identifying potential consequences of proposed or ongoing action/inaction (e.g., legal costs, monetary exposure, damage to reputation, risk of adverse precedent, loss of business opportunity) and risk mitigation.
• Must analyze conduct or proposed activities to determine compliance with Company values, Code of Business Conduct, anti-bribery policy and other governance and compliance programs.
• Must evaluate performance, talent development needs and resource requirements.

Judgment and Decision-Making:

• The applicability and interpretation of laws, regulations and legal compliance and governance policies as it relates to activities of the Company and associates. Final authority within BU on issues of legality and ethics and compliance (subject to oversight of Legal leadership and Ethics & Compliance Office).
• For legal matters where a discretionary business decision is appropriate (i.e., not illegal or unethical), must bring the business creative options, recommendations and solutions while fully disclosing related risks.  Must also ensure that the decision is made at the right management level based on the potential risks, including elevating the issue within the reporting structure of the Company as necessary.
• Must have courage to provide advice that may be unpopular when required and to allow the acceptance of risk when appropriate.
• Must develop strategy and tactics for transaction negotiations, litigation and other dispute resolution, and governmental investigations and proceedings to advance and protect the best interests of the Company. 
• Must prioritize and ensure focus by the team on work that matters most and deploy limited resources accordingly.
• Must determine work that should not be done, as well as work which can be addressed through digitization, standardization and simplification.
• As a member of BU Leadership, participate in BU business planning.  Develop BP for BU legal function.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:

• Leadership:  Capable of being a strong people leader and developer of talent.
• Communication:  Must have strong skills in communicating complex legal principles and advice clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing, and under intense time pressure or other stressful circumstances.
• Substantive Legal Skills: Must be proficient in the following legal areas: contract law; commercial law; basic IP; anti-bribery; basic corporate law; marketing and litigation. Experience in the following areas is also preferred: Competition law; food law; local commercial law; M & A; other local laws and regulations.
• Negotiation and Drafting:  Must be skilled in negotiating and drafting contracts and other transactions documents.
• Corporate Governance and Compliance:  Must be able counsel and train associates on applicable laws, regulations and Company policies.
• Advocacy: Must be able to advocate for the Company’s interests in interactions with judges, arbitrators, mediators, regulators, prosecutors, legislators, NGOs, and trade associations.
• Professionalism: Must have a high level of ethics and integrity and always seek to serve the best interests of the Company. Must have ability to maintain professional demeanor and focus on objectives in confrontational situations, and be a voice of reason and calm during crisis
• Stakeholder Relationships: Ability to understand Company's contractual and historical relationships with bottlers, customers, suppliers, sponsorship properties and other counter-parties. Includes knowledge of the implications that such relationships have on the Company's strategic decision-making and freedom to act.

Must exhibit growth behaviors:

• Curious - keep seeking, never settle
• Empowered – make it happen
• Iterative - push for progress not perfection
• Inclusive - include, value and trust others

Work Dependency:

• Will need to integrate into the business, including inclusion in risk assessment, advance planning and decision-making processes.
• Must work effectively with Legal colleagues (managers and peers) to ensure the leveraging of legal resources and collective genius and consistency in legal advice.
• Must develop collaborative relationships with bottler counsel and external counsel.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in spoken and written English required.  Proficiency in French preferred.
• Travel Requirements: Approximately 30%- subject to business needs.