Legal Counsel

About the role:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Legal Counsel focused on Data Protection to join the General Counsel team in our Birmingham office.

As Legal Counsel, you will play a key role within both the Compliance and General Counsel teams, supporting the firm on data protection and privacy matters. Acting as a subject matter expert, you will provide specialist advice and guidance, ensuring the firm meets its data protection and privacy obligations

About you:

We’re looking for a qualified lawyer with experience in data protection and privacy, gained in private practice, industry or a regulatory environment. You’ll be comfortable interpreting legislation and providing practical advice on regulatory and compliance matters, helping colleagues navigate complex issues with confidence.

You’ll enjoy building relationships across the business and communicating clearly with both legal and non-legal audiences. Experience supporting data breaches, data subject requests, complaints, regulatory notifications and privacy reviews would be beneficial, particularly within a large or international organisation.

We’re looking for someone who is commercially minded, pragmatic and solutions-focused, with the ability to balance legal risk with business needs. You’ll be organised, adaptable and comfortable managing a varied workload while working collaboratively with colleagues across different teams.

Desirable: 

• Privacy certifications (e.g. CIPP, BCS) preferred
• Data governance experience
• International data protection experience; China, Middle East and Europe
• Information security experience 

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 26 consecutive years. 

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Free private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment.  The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.  This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work.  Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Meg Astley at meg.astley@gowlingwlg.com 

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