Senior Counsel, Pensions

at  BP

JOB DESCRIPTION:

The Senior Counsel, Pensions will report into the Managing Counsel (MC) for the BP Pension Fund and will cover support to the Legal team. Where required, you will deputise for the MC, including providing effective pragmatic and practical legal advice to BP Pension Trustees Limited board (Trustee), and other subsidiaries.
You will provide, manage and deliver day to day legal support to the Trustee Executive (TE) and assist in managing the Pensions Legal team, including supporting team meetings and day-to-day interaction with the team. You will have access to the panel of law firms and assist with managing the legal spend of the Trustee.
You will have a high degree of autonomous and independent work and, where required, work closely with the leadership team of the TE, and the Trustee.
You will advise the TE with relevant up to date legislation changes, including TPR, FCA, DWP updates and other associations / initiatives, e.g. Stewardship Code, Climate Change regulations etc. You will review and consider the impact of Government consultations, providing summaries, where requested and draft responses to such consultations. You will also work with the wider Fund team to ensure proper processes, governance and controls are drafted, reviewed and communicated to the relevant teams.

SKILLS:

Coaching, Commercial Acumen, Communication, Decision Making, Group Problem Solving, Influencing, Legal Matters, Pensions, Stakeholder Engagement, Strategic, Strategic Thinking, Supplier Relationship Management, Technical Knowledge

Provide legal and commercial support on the following:
confidential projects involving the Fund, identifying when to advise on a legally privileged basis and provide prompt and detailed or summarised (as requested) legal advice;
support the Managing Counsel on leading the team and opportunities to support the wider Compliance and Company Secretariat pension fund team including driving change and leading by example;
appropriately escalate concerns from a legal and compliance perspective to the Managing Counsel, for discussion and resolution;
drive collaboration with, and support to, the clients and other Legal teams within the wider bp Legal group, as required;
present to the Fund, by way of legal, compliance or regulatory training, townhalls or other forms of group communications, both written and oral;
keep abreast of emerging legislation and build external networks with pensions and investment lawyers and other large pension funds with a view to best practice;
provide legal advice on corporate governance matters and other governance issues, including climate;
provide support for opportunities for continuous improvement for both individual and the team;
work with Compliance to implement, and continuous review of, Senior Manager Certification Regime requirements, including regular training and supporting Compliance with ongoing regulatory support;
provide general corporate law advice and general commercial, e.g. corporate governance issues, non-disclosure agreements, KYC/AML queries;
work with other teams in bp including group Legal, Treasury, Procurement, Tax, Ethics and Compliance, People & Culture.