Manager - Corporate Legal

Broad outline of the Role

This is a tactical role responsible for providing support to business teams for commercial and corporate transactions, advises and resolves commercial legal matters, conducts negotiation in commercial matters, advises the business on all disputes and potential disputes, and acts as a advisor to cross functional teams for commercial legal processes

Minimum qualification & experience

• Law degree and actively licensed to practice law in the region
• 7-12 years of relevant experience
• Should have exposure to corporate commercial law and have worked on commercial and procurement contracts globally.
• Exposure to the telecom sector would be preferred.

Other knowledge/skills

• Excellent negotiation and communication skills, with the ability to build and maintain relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities to drive business growth.
• Proactive and adaptable with a track record of achieving commercial targets and objectives.
• Strong time management, prioritization and organizational skills
• Excellent communications and negotiation skills
• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills. Managing team members.
• Excellent research and analytical skills on legal propositions.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple transactions and persons while using sound judgment, initiative, discretion and a proactive approach to work.
• Ability to work on and meet demanding deadlines.
• Ability to work in a team, in a culturally diverse, changing and challenging environment.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and/or sensitive business information and handle work with utmost integrity.

Key Responsibilities

• Acts as the main supervision point for the Commercial Team on the assigned matters

• Advises on and resolves matters, including contract drafting and negotiation

• Coordinates the commercial teams overall use of external counsel and legal support of other departments

• Conducts legal research and analysis on selected topics, prepares memoranda, opinions and position papers upon request

• Acts as main liaison point for banking and financing transactions; resolves complex and general commercial transactions with minimal supervision

• Assist the operations in connection with the Company's Contract Management System and ensure strong coordination with various business units within the Company w.r.t same.

• Proactively addresses new processes to expedite legal support, legal documentation and management of risks

• Responsible for working towards the department's improvement projects related to streamlining documentation and contracting processes

• Implements processes, procedures and documentation for new services

• Maintains the Company's standard template agreements (including service schedules) and related documentation;

• The primary function is to provide day-to-day support to the business teams for commercial transactions and real estate matters of Tata Communications Limited within India region and other geographies as required and assigned from time to time.

• Provide commercial, corporate transactional and litigation support for all business lines relating to Tata Communications Limited and its group companies, as required and assigned. 

• Sound working knowledge of AI platforms used by the legal team for contract lifecycle management.

•    Work closely and effectively with business teams and with senior management teams to understand their needs and assist them in negotiating legal documents with third parties.
•    Independently draft, review and negotiate a range of agreements, including customer contracts, procurement contracts, software licenses, marketing contracts, legal documentations, etc. (with sound knowledge of commercial laws) for the parent and parent’s subsidiaries.
•    Review tender documents, RFPs and vendor contracts under and advise business/sales teams of relevant issues and risks in line with the legal requirements. 
•    Should be abreast with the applicable laws and statutes and should be able to exercise judgement and discretion to opine on legal issues. 
•    Coordinating with external legal consultants/ advocates on various matters related to legal opinion and representations.
•    Render contractual related support to the litigation, compliance and regulatory teams.
•    Proactively come up with new processes to manage risk factors. 
•    Support general corporate and administrative activities within the team; 
•    Work and supervise the junior team members and guide them on BAU matters.
•    Formulate policies and processes.
•    Perform related duties as assigned.

Technical Competencies

• Strong business acumen and understanding of commercial operations and financial principles
• Knowledge of legal aspects related to commercial contracts and compliance requirements
• Analytical mindset with proficiency in financial analysis and reporting
• Prior experience in contract management in Telecom sector and in new age technologies like IoT, AI etc. will be an added advantage
• Proficient in MS Office suite of products.