Assistant Manager - Legal Services at the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC PLC)

Job Description
AEDC Plc being a dynamic organization, is looking at growing potential within the Company. To this effect, the Company is currently seeking experienced professionals to join it as Assistant Manager, Legal Services: This person will work on Investigations, Advisory, Dispute Resolutions, Legal Documentation and Compliance.

Major Roles & Responsibilities

• Ability to initiate and complete any of the team member assignments.
• Leads one or more of the teams in Legal Services.
• Leads negotiations and meetings with internal and external departments.
• Drives performance of unit KPIs and SLAs.
• Ensures quality assurance of deliverables.
• Keeps expenses within budget limits.
• Submits weekly and monthly reports to General Manager Legal Services.
• Backs up for General Manager Legal Services. Train subordinates.

To Assist with:
Litigation & Arbitration:

• Efficient case management for civil and criminal cases excluding cases of electricity theft and vandalism.
• Managing and tracking expenditure under the litigation budget.
• Managing, monitoring and reduction in litigation spend.
• Prequalification and supervision of external counsel and debt collectors.
• Engagement & Dis-engagement of External Counsel and debt collectors.
• Reduction in number of litigations by promoting out of court settlements through the use of ADR to efficiently resolve disputes where beneficial to the company.
• Evaluating the merits of cases filed against or on behalf of the company and facilitating meetings with external counsel to agree AEDC strategy.
• Reviewing of court processes prior to filing.
• Compilation, assignment and monitoring of civil cases for prosecution and defence on behalf of the company.
• Facilitating the appearance of witnesses during court hearings and preparing witnesses for court hearings.
• Maintenance of comprehensive filing (electronic and hard copies) of all processes and correspondence and updating electronic database.
• Engaging with the insurance broker(s) to promote beneficial settlements for incidents.
• Attendance at court and arbitration hearings.
• Coordinating settlement meetings.
• Biannual & annual performance ranking of external counsel.
• Working with appropriate directorates and convening meetings with external counsel in order to determine the best redress or response strategy to disputes.

Investigations:

• Apply ADR and other dispute resolution techniques to resolve complaints initiated by law firms in favor of the company.
• Preventing complaints from degenerating to litigation.
• Participating in incident investigations to provide a legal perspective and ensure comprehensive report writing.
• Participating in staff investigations and providing a legal perspective.
• Ensuring appropriate documentation, record and current status of incidents and disputes in electronic databases.
• Engaging with the insurance broker(s) to promote beneficial settlements.
• Engaging with security agencies to develop a strategy for the arrest of offenders in conjunction with the Security Unit.
• Monitoring the repayment of debts assigned to debt collectors.
• Follows up on correspondence and liaise with Commercial Services on the repayment of MDA debts Advisory & Compliance.
• Participating in staff investigation panels and providing a legal perspective.
• Providing notification of new laws and regulations and their impact on the company.
• Providing timely and practical legal opinions.
• Ensuring savings for the company by ensuring AEDC is not subject to unlawful taxes and levies.
• Developing compliance database on the legislation and regulations that impact on AEDC’s business.
• Notifying relevant departments of their compliance obligations ahead of deadlines.
• Monitoring corporate compliance with legislation and regulations.
• Pursues and promotes the enactment of legislation favourable to AEDC.
• Keeping track of pending bills within the legislature in order to contest bills adverse to the interests of the company.
• Populating and updating relevant Legislation and NERC Regulations on the company intranet.

Contracts & Documentation:

• Engagement with Procurement and user departments to ascertain the company needs.
• Ensures that contract amendments / reviews are gathered and acted as appropriate.
• Preparation of comprehensive standard templates for efficient roll out of agreements.
• Review of non-standard templates to ensure protection of company interests.
• Conducting searches at CAC on counterparties.
• Negotiation of contract terms in favour of the company.
• Participation in Tender Committee meetings.
• Development and maintenance of contract database.
• Notification of user departments two months prior to contract expiry.
• Circulation of contract obligation to contract manager.
• Proper filling of contracts and originating documents.
• Creates and maintains soft copies of all agreements.
• Creates and maintains documentation registry.

Education, Experience &Technical Skills

• Bachelor’s Degree in Law LLB, Barrister at Law (BL).
• Minimum of 7 years post call.
• Membership of NBA and a Post graduate qualification will be an added advantage.
• Tenacity to manage a large work load.
• Broad knowledge of Company and Commercial Law.
• Excellent written, oral communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and discretion.
• Awareness of the sensitivity and confidentiality involved in the function.
• IT proficient.

Other Required Competencies:

• Resilient and able to deliver under pressure.
• Takes full ownership and demonstrates focused determination to complete work on time.
• Ability to work within a team with minimal supervision.