Head of Legal

 ABOUT THE ROLE

The Head of Legal for Global Brands at Boots Retail USA (BRUSA) is responsible for providing clear and concise, strategic and commercially focused legal advice and recommendations to executives and management within a variety of departments (including Sales, Marketing and Purchasing departments) on all day-to-day operational legal, corporate, commercial, compliance (including data privacy, anti-bribery, and corporate governance) and litigation matters in the US.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Contracts: Draft, review, and assist clients in negotiating a broad variety of commercial contracts (including distribution, vendor/supplier, logistics, purchasing, advertising, media buying, marketing, branded and custom content, promotions and sponsorships, contests and sweepstakes, influencer marketing, ecommerce, and other general business agreements and general terms and conditions of sale) and tailor them to the needs of the business and mitigate possible legal risks.

• Marketing and Advertising Clearance: Provide analysis and advice to business teams in on compliance with advertising, consumer protection, self-regulatory and internal Company guidelines, policies and processes and other applicable laws and regulations, including compliance with FTC guidelines, CARU guidelines, on-line behavioural advertising, testimonials and endorsements, claim substantiation, linear and digital disclosures, and data collection and use. Provide counselling on issues of copyright, trademark, and right of publicity throughout the business. Enforce the Company’s intellectual property rights and defend infringement claims.

• Regulatory:  Provide counsel on regulatory and product safety questions. Legal analysis and advice on employment, e-commerce and cross-border data privacy & data security issues, including advising on the EU data protection directive, e-privacy directive, and the EU-US privacy shield. Keep an eye on relevant new legislation and ensure that it is implemented within the local organisation.

• Risk Management: Manage legal risk across the full breadth of the business in a manner that supports and facilitates the continued commercial success of the business. Promote and enforce ethical behaviour in all activities of Company in accordance with the WBA Code of Conduct and Anti-bribery, Anti-corruption and Conflict of Interest Policies.

• Efficiency & Standards: Develop standard contracts, templates, forms and general terms and conditions of any kind to streamline, standardize and simplify systems/procedures/documents and ways of working. Partner with clients to develop and implement best practices. Create and conduct formal presentations and trainings to business teams on a variety of legal and business topics.

• Litigation: Directly and diligently follow and manage any claims and legal disputes and support the business in disputes with suppliers, customers and authorities as well as related alternative dispute resolutions. Make necessary warnings for financial impacts of litigations.

• Outside counsel management: Effectively select and manage external counsels/contracted lawyers and also liaise between external counsels and internal business teams. Develop and enhance processes for selection and instruction of external counsel and manage these relationships effectively both in terms of costs and impact.

• Legal Budget Management: Monitor and plan department budgets, track spending, identify savings opportunities and negotiate fixed fees and alternate fee arrangements with outside counsel.

EXPERIENCE AND REQUIREMENTS

• J.D. from a reputable US accredited law school
• Admitted to practice law in good standing in at least one U.S state
• At least 10 years’ post qualification experience in applicable legal roles, including working in-house for a multinational corporation. Experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare or fast moving consumer goods industry will be considered a plus.
• In-depth knowledge of contract law (commercial contracts with suppliers, vendors, etc.), distribution law (wholesale and/or retail) and marketing/advertising rules and regulations as well as several years of professional experience in the aforementioned fields - ideally within the FMCG or pharmaceutical industry
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary, multi-jurisdictional teams and project-managing them

SKILLS

• Ability to work independently with minimum supervision and hands-on mentality with a strong connection to the operative business and closely coordinating with the Boots Global Brands and Division legal teams.
• Proven ability to interpret and analyze complex issues and develop and implement pragmatic and goal-oriented solutions.
• Result-oriented and able succinctly and easily explain complex topics to business teams.
• High level of commitment, analytical and entrepreneurial thinking and the ability to work on a wide range of high-priority topics in parallel and effectively prioritize them.
• Negotiate skillfully, promote/sell ideas persuasively, and close transactions with mutually beneficial results.
• A proactive and concise communicator who is able to present ideas clearly, articulately and openly and convey necessary information.
• Excellent drafting skills with an ability to recognize and attend to important details with accuracy and efficiency.
• An approachable, straightforward and resilient personality.
• Strong organizational and time management skills, driving tasks to completion in a timely manner.
• Focus on internal and external customer satisfaction with a quick response time
• Assertive with an open and collaborative leadership style
• Able to build solid, effective working relationships with others (internally as well as externally).
• A positive attitude with a good sense of humor.