The Opportunity
We are seeking a bright, enthusiastic and well-organised lawyer to join a high performing and friendly Legal team, specifically in the Commercial and Corporate Governance & Franchising Legal practice teams, handling the full range of governance, company and commercial matters in the UK & Ireland including corporate governance matters, commercial contracts, IT / digital projects, data protection and privacy compliance, marketing & advertising approvals, franchising, Joint venture matters and matters relating to employment, supply chain and public health and competition.
What will my accountabilities be?
Franchising:
- Handling transactions for the grant of franchises
- Managing external counsel on corporate asset sale transactions involving franchisees
- Advising the Franchising Recruitment team on recruitment campaigns
- Advising the Franchising Recruitment team with a variety of franchisee applicant issues
- Advising the Franchising team on general franchising queries
- Advising the Franchising team to support franchisees and joint venture partners to meet their corporate governance requirements
Corporate/Compliance:
- Carrying out general company secretarial tasks including: drafting powers of attorney; drafting a variety of resolutions including in relation to annual accounts, distributions, board appointments; and assisting with the renewal of the EEA Directors’ Bond
- Managing McDonald’s board meetings including preparing the pre-reads, running the meetings and providing guidance to the company directors and preparing and finalising the board minutes
- Delivering directors’ duties training and conflicts of interest training and monitoring changing corporate legislation and taking appropriate action
- Managing all McDonald’s corporate governance reporting and global litigation reporting requirements including: supporting the preparation of McDonald's corporate governance framework internally and by external counsel; strategically assessing areas of development during McDonald’s corporate governance journey and overseeing the full suite of other corporate reporting requirements including ESG and CSR obligations
- Leading on the management and review of employee conflicts of interests disclosures
- Handling and managing corporate transactions
- Providing company law and other legal advice and support in relation to the marketing co-operative and managing all legal documentation for the annual general meeting
- Co-ordinating responses for internal and external audits
- Responsible for compliance initiatives, global reporting and general compliance queries
- Working directly with the Global Compliance Director including leading on provision of market support with third party due diligence and with routing Business Integrity hotline queries
Commercial:
- Independently negotiating and preparing commercial agreements including confidentiality agreements, data processing agreements and services agreements including in relation to marketing, digital, supply chain and IT projects
- Independently advising internal clients on a wide variety of commercial issues including data protection, intellectual property and brand protection matters, franchise relations, employment matters, compliance, finance, tax and competition law matters, and customer inquiries. This will involve working strategically and collaboratively with legal and business colleagues to manage commercial transactions, identifying risks and providing solutions-driven, commercial advice
- Working collaboratively with the Marketing team on advertising campaigns to ensure regulatory compliance
- Handling data protection matters such as reviewing and responding to Data Subject Access Requests and advising on data protection compliance within new projects
- Proactively identifying legal trends and regulatory changes to enhance company policies and procedures across the range of business areas, develop communication and training programmes and ensure awareness and compliance across the business and dealing with policy queries
- Supporting the People team in particular with updating existing people policies and implementing new policies; advising on escalated employee complaints; attending roundtables with our insurers to align on approach and best practice
- Participate and contribute to cross-functional working teams on projects involving strategic business initiatives and risk management strategies
What Team will I be part of and who are my customers?
The Legal Counsel position will serve as a member of the Legal Team supporting all departments across the McDonald’s UK & Ireland business, including Franchising, Marketing, IT/Digital, Customer Services, Finance and Supply Chain.
What background do I need to have?
- The applicant should be a qualified solicitor with ideally 3-5 PQE, although we are happy to consider applications at all levels. They should also have excellent academic credentials, having trained in a top tier law firm or a reputable in-house legal team in relevant areas of law.
- Knowledge and experience of a variety of company & governance matters, commercial contracts and structures of corporate/commercial transactions (such as share and asset sales) would be preferred. Prior in-house or secondment experience also preferred
- The team is looking for someone who is positive, self-motivated, enthusiastic, authentic, pragmatic, open-minded and curious about learning and gaining experience in new legal and business areas; someone who will enjoy working in a high performance team and with business stakeholders to help find solutions
- The applicant will need to be: an effective communicator including having strong drafting skills and the ability to clearly and concisely explain concepts to non-legal stakeholders; a relationship builder: efficient and able to see the big picture and deliver commercially sound advice
At McDonald’s we are People from all Walks of Life...
People are at the heart of everything we do, and they make the McDonald’s experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers gives us strength.
We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind. These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play.
We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonald’s or elsewhere.”
#LI-Hybrid
