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About the role
Scope
The Legal Director Southern Europe and two senior Market Counsels provide legal leadership and advice to key collaborators and their wider teams in the Southern Europe market.
The Counsel Italy and France reports to the Legal Director Southern Europe and will provide dedicated support to the Legal Director and the two senior Market Counsels, with particular focus on the Italian and France jurisdictions.
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The Legal Counsel will require a high level of professionalism and integrity, with good analytical and drafting skills, in particular in the area of commercial contracts, consumer and marketing laws and regulations, data privacy, and with some experience of Competition law.
They will need to have a commercial pragmatic approach, be able to explain legal concepts in a clear and practical manner; work autonomously and take initiative; have good interpersonal and influencing skills; be able to flex their style to suit context; be flexible in their approach to supporting different priorities across Southern Europe and be confident to support with presentations and training sessions to diverse audiences.
Key partners include the Legal Director Southern Europe, two senior Market Counsels, the SE Marketing Team, the Commercial Teams in Italy and France, and the Revenue and Category Growth team.
If you are inspired and want to join a journey like no other, then this may be the opportunity for you!
Purpose and role dimensions
The purpose of the Legal function is to underpin Diageo's growth and reputation while supporting Diageo's standards of business conduct.
Market Environment/Complexity:
The Diageo Southern Europe market comprises Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. The Diageo business in the French and Italian markets has specific complexities particularly in its route to market. In the case of France, Diageo has recently started operating its business through Diageo France, a newly built In-Market Company (IMC). In this country, Diageo also distributes part of its portfolio through MHD France, a jointly owned Moët Hennessy-Diageo joint venture. In Italy, Diageo operates through its IMC Diageo Italia.
The legal and regulatory constraints that apply to the distribution, sale and marketing of beverage alcohol in the two jurisdictions, make the provision of legal support challenging, especially in France with a heavy regulatory framework (eg. Loi Evin, Loi Egalim, etc.), but also in Italy, where Diageo is a market leader in certain categories.
The external environment in both jurisdictions is sophisticated and ambitious and there continues to be the threat of further Government intervention and additional regulations and restrictions on the alcohol industry, whether from additional duty increases, labelling requirements, advertising restraints, etc.
The Legal Counsel will support the achievement of the Southern Europe market growth strategy and Diageo's Performance Ambition, with a focus on Italy and France. They will provide creative, pragmatic and efficient legal support for long-term, balanced success, employing commercial competence, lateral thinking, outstanding risk management and brilliant execution.
They will be expected to:
- Support the Market Counsel Southern Europe (France & Italy) and the Southern Europe Legal Director on legal commercial matters, including advising on, drafting and reviewing commercial contracts, marketing and sponsorship agreements with a special focus on Italy.
- Advise on legal and reputational issues on consumer and customer marketing activities, innovation launches and sponsorship in Italy; and support with consumer and regulatory complaints.
- Support delivery of the critical Compliance agenda including supporting the Legal Director and Market Counsels in providing relevant Legal Compliance training across all teams in Italy/France, including regular refresher sessions.
- Carry out general legal research. Monitor and provide updates on changes to the regulatory landscape.
- Assist with development of team know-how and lead the processes for document and knowledge management, and records retention; and
- Work closely with specialist global legal function teams (IP, Antitrust, Business Integrity, Brand Protection and Corporate Security) for issues and initiatives relevant to Italy/France.
Top accountabilities:
- Enabling the achievement of Diageo Performance Ambition: provide proactive and fit for purpose legal advice to enable Diageo to beat the competition and drive achievement of performance goals, always doing business the right way.
- Reputation Management: support phenomenal governance, effective compliance and risk management across France and Italy. Provide proactive input to prevent and address key business risks, mitigate impact by early involvement and guide resolution of issues. Help to build an environment where appropriate risks are taken, driving holistic performance to protect and maintain reputation.
- Cost Management: effectively lead overhead and cost-savings by supervising end-to-end legal spend and handling budget to deliver savings.
- People Growth: have a strong dedication to personal growth and capability building, aligned behind and accountable for business performance.
About you
- Lawyer qualified in the EU, with 2-4 years of relevant commercial legal practice experience gained in leading law firm and/or in-house.
- Knowledge and understanding of legal issues relevant to the commercial business in Italy and/or France.
- Languages: Proficiency in English is required. Knowledge of Italian and French is an advantage.
Celebrating our inclusive and diverse culture is core to Diageo's purpose of "celebrating life every day everywhere". This purpose is, in itself, inclusive in nature, as it values everybody irrespective of background, disability, religion, gender identity, sexuality or ethnicity.
We know that for our business to thrive and for Diageo to realise its ambition, we depend on having diverse talent with a range of backgrounds, skills and capabilities in each of the 180 countries in which we operate and to reflect our broad consumer base. We view diversity as one of the key enablers that help our business to grow, and our values, purpose and standards set the conditions for us to respect the outstanding contribution each person brings.
Flexibility is key to success in our business and many of our staff work flexibly in many ways, including part-time, compressed hours, flexible location. Please talk to us about what flexibility means to you and don't let anything stop you from applying!
Character is everything