Legal Counsel - Employment/Labour Laws - Bank

Legal Counsel : Employment/Labour Laws : Bank of New York Mellon

Title : Assistant Counsel (Equivalent to Vice President)

Grade : J

Department : Legal

Reports to : (Dual Reporting)

(1) Senior Managing Counsel - EMEA & India Employment

(2) Senior Managing Counsel - APAC Litigation, Enforcement & Investigations

Formal reporting lines are as noted above, but will report on a day to day basis to and be supervised by Managing Counsel - Head of Employment Law, India.

Overview Of BNY Mellon :

- BNY Mellon is a global financial services company focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 36 countries and serving more than 100 markets.

- BNY Mellon is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high-net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team.

Position Summary / Job Purpose (What the job role involves) :

- Your role will be to act as a lawyer responsible for delivering effective Legal support to the Head of Employment law, India in order to assist business lines and business partners of BNY Mellon India entities on employment and labour issues, and on contentious legal, regulatory, civil and/or criminal matters. You will also provide effective legal support to the Head of APAC Litigation, Enforcement & Investigations assisting on internal investigations.

- You will work with other lawyers in the Legal department, including Indian and overseas based lawyers, business line and jurisdictional specific lawyers, and with members of the Employee Relations team, members of the HR department and with business managers to deliver a high standard of legal advice that is tailored to BNY Mellon's business models.

- Viewed as a trusted internal resource capable of using knowledge of BNY Mellon's businesses, products, services and/or strategies to articulate and advance legal positions.

Primary responsibilities (Key parts to the job role): As a member of the Employment Law Department you will be :

- Working with Line Manager and dotted line Managers to achieve department objectives;

- Providing timely advice and assistance to relevant business lines and business partners, in partnership with BNY Mellon's HR team and other members of the Legal department;

- Providing legal advice and assistance in connection with strategic business decisions with implications for employees;

- Supporting the department in providing legal support/advice/review:

- For business lines and business partners on employment and labour law issues;

- On strategic aspects of employee relations issues, investigations involving employees and managing employment litigation;

- On employment and labour law issues arising in connection with business acquisitions, disposals and displacements, including outsourcing transactions;

- On employment agreements, employee policies and employee communications; restructuring and redundancy arrangements; agreed employee separation arrangements, including negotiation of settlement agreements; trade unions;

- On implications connected with legal and regulatory developments;

- On responses to regulatory and law enforcement inquiries, subpoenas/ summons, and/or investigations;

- Driving and working collaboratively with business partners (e.g. Corporate Security, Employee Relations, Risk, Internal Audit) to provide top quality legal advice and manage internal investigations and employee issues;

- Building relationships with relevant HR, business and business partner managers to ensure understanding of relevant operations and identification of issues and solutions;

- Instruction and management of external counsel relationships in India (including assistance with analysis and collation of advice from such counsel and maintaining effective cost controls);

- Assistance with the development of formal training sessions for business colleagues on relevant topics, e.g. documentary standards/policies/market industry issues/legal issues; and also informal knowledge-sharing within the legal team;

- Reviewing presented business issues, conducting legal research and investigation and crafting legal solutions, balancing internal and external stakeholder interests, with the risks of adverse legal actions, revenue loss or reputational damage to the entity. May seek guidance from senior colleagues to ensure solutions align to global legal strategies;

- Communicating and collaborating with leaders who also serve in an advisory or oversight capacity, such as Compliance, Risk, Internal Audit, etc. and developing the Legal response/position for issues identified as risks or areas of non-compliance.

Key relationships / stakeholders :

- India Employment legal;

- APAC Litigation, Enforcement & Investigations;

- EMEA Head of Employment Law;

- Global Employment and Enforcement and Investigations;

- Human Resources;

- BNYM India Senior Firm Management;

- Business line and business partner management;

- Legal, Compliance and Risk; and

- Corporate Security and Employee Relations

Requirements: (what we are looking for) :

- The successful candidate should be a qualified LL.B and have 5 - 8 years PQE from a reputed law firm in India or equivalent experience in a multinational corporate in the financial industry, with a legal background in employment and labour law. They will also have, amongst other technical skills and experience:

- Strong working knowledge of India employment and labour laws of and the relevant financial services regulatory framework;

- Investigations and employment experience from either a well-regarded private practice or an in house role with a global financial institution;

- Reasonable experience in advising on and coordinating employment litigation and complex employee matters;

- Reasonable experience in handling legal investigations, conducting interviews, fact finding and evidence gathering;

- Strong working knowledge of the management of restructuring and redundancies;

- Experience managing outside counsel on major deliverables;

- Ability to understand privacy & confidentiality obligations;

- Do research on statutory enactments and judicial case laws and apply the same as per requirement at work;

- Ability to provide clear and pragmatic advice to, and deal confidently with, individuals at all levels, including senior HR and business leaders.

The candidate should also have :

- Demonstrable integrity and ability to uphold organization values and ethics;

- Excellent oral and written English communication, drafting and negotiation skills;

- A collaborative and inclusive working style;

- Excellent stakeholder management skills;

- Ability to work with matrix management;

- Ability to exercise sound judgment in handling sensitive matters;

- Strong analytical thinking and critical reasoning skills to devise and deliver appropriate solutions;

- Credible and strong stakeholder management experience, at all levels, with the ability to prioritise, manage expectations, obtain stakeholder buy-in and escalate appropriately;

- Flexible and adaptable working style to react to changing priorities;

- Self-motivation to drive delivery against objectives in efficiently and timely manner;

- Willingness to learn;

- Ability to cultivate and maintain strong working relationships with internal clients;

- Capability to travel intra city, inter cities to addresses matters for the organization.