Senior Legal Counsel FTC

Senior Legal Counsel | 12 months Fixed Term Contract | Hybrid role split London office and WFH

Legal Counsel – Corporate/Commercial (4-5 Years PQE)
Location: Hybrid – London office, balanced with some remote working. 
Company: Spire Healthcare – a leading private hospital group 

About the Role

We are seeking a bright, motivated and articulate Corporate/Commercial Lawyer to join our dynamic and high performing in-house Legal Team on a 12 month fixed term contract basis (maternity cover). This is an excellent opportunity to work in a fast-paced, collaborative environment, supporting a wide range of business functions and strategic projects.

Key Responsibilities

The scope of the role is broad, varied and would suit a candidate who is keen to try new opportunities in a supportive environment. The role would include:

Corporate Transactions & Strategic Projects

• Support on M&A, financing arrangements, joint ventures and other strategic initiatives.
• Support the legal integration of new subsidiaries. 
• Support with advice on group restructurings and intragroup arrangements. 
• Opportunities to advise on high-profile strategic projects.
• Attend steering committee meetings for key strategic projects.

Commercial Contracts

• Draft, review, and negotiate procurement and commercial contracts, including: 
  • group-level agreements (e.g., Private Medical Insurers, third-party funders, suppliers of clinical and non-clinical goods/services, IT/SaaS agreements); and
  • site-specific contracts (e.g., sponsorship agreements, licences, sub-contracts).
  • Draft and advise on intragroup commercial contracts. 
  • Together with litigation colleagues, advise on commercial disputes. 

Regulatory & Competition Law Advice

• Support the team with and develop the capability to provide obtaining strategic advice on a range of competition law matters, particularly those impacting the healthcare sector such as compliance with the Private Healthcare Market Investigation Order 2014 (CMA Order) including engaging with external counsel to assist with merger control analyses.
• Together with regulatory colleagues, provide advice on appropriate contractual frameworks to help navigate regulatory compliance issues (i.e. CQC registration compliance). 

General Legal Support

• Provide ad-hoc legal advice to hospitals and central teams (Property & Estates, Marketing, IT, Finance/Tax, Business Development, Group Purchasing, Pathology, NHS Contracting).
• Assist in preparing internal briefings/ reports for Board and Committees of the Board, including the Executive Committee. Support the Group General Counsel/ Company Secretary with governance duties including verification of half year and full year results and annual report and accounts 
• Manage updates to the Legal Team risk register.

Legal Operations & Process Improvement

• Contribute to projects aimed at optimising and streamlining legal processes, standards and efficiencies, including driving change through legal AI.

Training & Knowledge Sharing

• Deliver induction and ongoing training on key compliance areas (e.g. competition law and commercial contracting).
• Supporting the team in maintaining up-to-date legal knowledge and shaping and future-proofing legal documentation standards.
• Supporting group companies in updating precedent documents. 

Team Support & Administration

• Instruct and manage external legal advisers and support in managing legal team budget. 
• Maintain up to date legal resources for the business via the legal intranet.
• Assist in supervising legal counsel/ trainees.

About You

• Qualifications and Experience: 
• English law qualified (4-5 years PQE) in corporate and/or commercial law.
• Strong academic background (a 2:1 degree or equivalent)
• In-house experience is desirable but not essential
• Skills: 
  • strong interpersonal and communication skills with demonstratable drafting ability; 
  • can balance the provision of legal advice with commercial pragmatism;
  • proactive, self-motivated and reliable, with a ‘can do’ attitude and ability to take initiative;
  • ability to build rapport easily as well as effective relationships; 
  • thrives as part of a team;
  • innovative mindset with a keen desire to take on new projects;
  • ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines in a dynamic environment.

Benefits:

We offer employees a competitive salary as well as a comprehensive benefits package which includes but is not limited to:

• 35 days annual leave inclusive of bank holidays
• Employer and employee contributory pension with flexible retirement options
• ‘Spire for you’ reward platform - discount and cashback for over 1000 retailers
• Free Bupa wellness screening
• Private medical insurance
• Life assurance
• Save an average of £50 per month with our free onsite car park      

We commit to our employees well-being through work life balance, on-going development, support and reward

Our Values

We are extremely proud of our heritage in private healthcare and of our values as an organisation:

• Driving clinical excellence
• Doing the right thing
• Caring is our passion
• Keeping it simple
• Delivering on our promises
• Succeeding and celebrating together

We commit to our employees’ well-being through work life balance, on-going development, support and reward.

Spire Healthcare is a leading independent healthcare group in the United Kingdom, running 38 hospitals and over 50 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland. It provides diagnostics, inpatient, day case and outpatient care, operates a network of private GPs and provides workplace health services to over 800 corporate clients. It also delivers a range of private and NHS mental health, musculoskeletal and dermatological services.

Spire Healthcare are proud to be an equal opportunities employer.   We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture for all. Our people are our difference, it’s their dedication, warmth and pursuit of excellence that sets Spire Healthcare apart. 

Closing date: In order to streamline our recruitment process, we reserve the right to expire vacancies prior to the advertised closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications.

For us, it's more than just treating patients; it's about looking after people.