Job Title: Legal Counsel
Location(s): Berlin or London
About Springer Nature Group
Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 180 years our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood and used by our communities – enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow. Visit group.springernature.com and follow @SpringerNature / @SpringerNatureGroup
About the role:
An exciting opportunity for an individual seeking a junior position within the Legal Department of Springer Nature, a global publisher dedicated to providing the best possible service to the whole research, professional and education community. We help authors to share their discoveries; enable researchers to find, access and understand the work of others and support librarians and institutions with innovations in technology and data.
This role will support our Springer Nature Group across divisions including the Nature, Springer, BioMed Central portfolios by providing legal assistance and advice on a broad range of intellectual property, integrity and commercial as well as other publishing law matters.
Responsibilities:
Legal Counsel is a key position within the General Counsel’s Office at Springer Nature. Your main responsibilities will involve:
- Understanding key commercial and publishing priorities and providing clear, practical and robust advice which facilitates business needs whilst mitigating key risks and challenges. Playing an important role in the future success and development of the General Counsel’s Office.
- Supporting senior lawyers in their dealing with research integrity cases such as in cases of papermills, and defamation claims by filtering requests, coordinating stakeholders, read the involved cases and underlying material, such as test protocols etc.
- Reviewing, drafting, negotiating and advising on a wide range of publishing and commercial contracts, templates and terms and conditions including author and distribution agreements, sales contracts, vendor contracts, commercial arrangements and other general commercial contracts. B2B and B2C.
- Working directly with the business, providing objective analysis of risks related to commercial and consumer law, copyright and other intellectual property, and other legal matters arising in the publishing context, and providing solutions to satisfy legal and business requirements.
- Identifying ways to enhance and support internal processes, policies and procedures to support strategic goals and to ensure compliance with applicable rules, regulations and laws (including without limitation GDPR and Consumer Rights Act).
- Providing regular training to the business in a professional and accessible manner.
- Working collaboratively and proactively with other global members of the General Counsel’s Office to enhance the support provided by the legal team to the business promote best practices and contributing to the overall performance of the General Counsel’s Office itself.
- Communicating with and managing diverse target groups inside and outside the organisation
Key relationships:
- In-house clients in the business and international departments (including Research Integrity Team, Publishing, Editorial Rights, Data Protection Office, Company Secretariat, IT, HR and Finance)
- Colleagues in the General Counsel’s Office and Group Compliance
- External advisers
- Building relationships as “trusted business advisors” to stakeholders and business partners, influencing their decision-making.
- Working with legal and business colleagues around the world regularly to provide best-in-class legal support and advice in the rapidly developing field of research, professional and educational publishing.
Experience, Skills & Qualifications:
Essential qualifications and experience:
- A qualified lawyer/solicitor/barrister with a current practicing certificate, preferably a law degree from Germany (second State Exam) or the UK plus further international copyright education or working experience
- A minimum of 2-4 years PQE
Desirable:
- In-house experience (including secondments). Experience in publishing/media
- Experience in advising on intellectual property matters especially copyright, integrity and licensing
Skills:
- A collaborative, cordial and accessible manner and the ability to communicate and connect with diverse groups to provide clear, accurate and consistent advice
- Good legal research, analysis and drafting skills coupled with commercial awareness
- Ability to manage multiple tasks and responsibilities simultaneously and enthusiasm to work in a vibrant and fast-paced environment
- A desire to form part of an energetic and well-respected team and to contribute to the team’s future success; Excellent communication skills (verbal, written and presentation) with an open communication style and willingness to engage in constructive debate
- Efficient and well-organised with good attention to detail
- Creativity and persistence in problem-solving
Qualifications:
- A qualified lawyer/solicitor/barrister with a current practicing certificate, preferably a law degree from Germany (second State Exam or Business Lawyer (Wirtschaftsjurist*In) or UK plus further international copyright education or working experience
At Springer Nature, we value the diversity of our teams and work to build an inclusive culture, where people are treated fairly and can bring their differences to work and thrive. We empower our colleagues and value their diverse perspectives as we strive to attract, nurture and develop the very best talent.
Springer Nature was awarded Diversity Team of the Year at the 2022 British Diversity Awards. Find out more about our DEI work here https://group.springernature.com/gp/group/taking-responsibility/diversity-equity-inclusion
If you have any access needs related to disability, neurodivergence or a chronic condition, please contact us so we can make all necessary accommodation.
For more information about career opportunities in Springer Nature please visit https://wd3.myworkday.com/springernature/
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