This role requires the Legal Counsel to possess maturity, operational and commercial judgement, strong interpersonal skills to build and maintain productive relationships within the legal team and business teams they support. The Legal Counsel will need to demonstrate applied knowledge of principles and practices of financial services law in Australia and New Zealand, product knowledge of custody, clearing, settlement, and managed fund operations would be very beneficial. Previous legal experience with another custodian would be viewed favourably. The Legal Counsel will have proven and effective analytical skills always seeking accuracy and quality in results and will be expected to develop independence of opinion. 

Principal Role Accountabilities
  * Taking an active part in the negotiation and establishment of agreements for new clients or new deals with existing clients. This may take the form of supporting sales and relationship managers in their commercial negotiations, or directly engaging with client’s legal advisors to resolve technical issues.
  * Providing legal and regulatory advice to the business on new products and services and proactively anticipating legal issues and identifying future legal requirements.
  * Assisting in the review, negotiation and drafting of contracts (including amendments) with clients and service providers.
  * Drafting legal disclaimers, reviewing incident reports and providing legal advice in respect of claims.
  * Maintaining standard legal documentation for all products and services offered in Australia and New Zealand taking into account local requirements and global standards.
  * Keeping up to date with the regulatory and legal environment in Australia and New Zealand and maintaining legal and regulatory watch dashboards in accordance with BNP Paribas policy.
* Assisting senior counsel to interpret legal and regulatory change in Australia and New Zealand and perform impact assessments including required changes to Securities Services’ framework and standard documentation.
  * Communicating and maintaining BNP Paribas legal policies and procedures.
  * Providing reporting to Head of Legal Securities Services, Australia and New Zealand, local securities services committees, and local management as and when required
  * Handling other legal matters across the BNP Paribas Group as may be required from time to time.

 What is required for you to succeed? 

The successful candidate should have approximately 3+ years legal experience in the financial services sector from a top tier law firm or another custodian bank or other financial institution - previous legal experience with banking and securities services preferred. The candidate will be required to demonstrate an ability to operate independently and to apply judgement and knowledge to various situations, including regulation evaluation and change implementation. An understanding of project and stakeholder management would be beneficial.

 The candidate will have legal technical knowledge and qualifications and will have awareness in industry and organisational standards and possess the ability to apply this knowledge in supporting the BNP Paribas legal framework. The candidate will be familiar with the Australian and/or New Zealand financial services legal environment and have an understanding of banking and securities laws. 
  * Degree qualified in Law
  * Current practicing certificate in Australia or New Zealand
  * Sound knowledge of principles and practices of legal requirements in financial services in Australia and/or New Zealand (including securities services and banking). 
  * Up to date knowledge of regulatory requirements, as well as industry association initiatives in Australia and/or New Zealand.
  * Knowledge in financial services, financial markets and products - and their activity drivers.  Specific knowledge of custody, clearing, settlement, operations and fund administration products and services would be highly beneficial.
  * Knowledge of the law pertaining to managed investment schemes and superannuation funds would be beneficial