Legal Advisor

Continue Your Journey

Petrofac is currently looking to recruit a Legal Advisor on a
permanent basis based in Sharjah, UAE.

What we do
Petrofac is a leading international service provider to the energy industry,
with a diverse client portfolio including many of the world 's leading energy
companies.
We design, build, manage and maintain infrastructure for the energy
industries. Our comprehensive and tailored service offering covers each stage
of the project life cycle and a variety of commercial models, giving our
clients the flexibility, they need.

Equal Opportunities
We recruit, reward, and develop our people based on merit regardless of race,
nationality, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status or
disability. We value our people and treat everyone who works for or with
Petrofac fairly and without discrimination.
Petrofac is striving to develop a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone
can contribute. We encourage everyone to apply, especially those individuals
who form part of underrepresented groups. Applications are also welcome from
candidates who want to discuss flexible working or job-sharing requests.

Key Responsibilities:
* Applicants will have international engineering and/or construction experience, both contentious and non-contentious, ideally including experience of arbitral and/or court procedures, ADR, mediation, expert determination, and be comfortable with and resolving conflict and have strong people skills.
* Provide commercially focussed, pragmatic legal advice to Petrofac's bidding and proposals teams in global jurisidictions (with local lawyers as appropriate), including working with operations, BD, HR, M&A, Treasury, Finance, Co Sec, Compliance.
* Advise on implications of applicable local laws, including engaging, liaising with and managing external local legal advisers, as necessary. Manage external lawyers and experts to ensure appropriate and cost-effective advice is given.
* Negotiate and advise on corporate bonds, guarantees and securities (including liaising with other parts of Legal, Finance and Treasury functions).
* Help lead project teams and commercial and other functions in analysing construction claims and legal disputes, both progressing and defending them, provide advice and options, facilitate and implement resolution and draft settlements, in each case with multiple parties and partners, subcontractors, suppliers and clients.
* Provide support on projects and contractual issues across the business, including assisting in the development, improvement, implementation and delivery of policies and procedures, training and guidance to the business including creation, review, maintenance and updating of precedents.
* Provide support to the wider legal function in an effort to help the business identify, exclude, mitigate and manage contractual, legal and other commercial risks through entire life cycle of EPC(M), E&C, consultancy, engineering and other contracts.
* Provide support to other parts of the legal function if required in the drafting and negotiation of contracts with clients, JV partners, subcontractors, and suppliers, including confidentiality agreements, MoUs, heads of terms, consortium agreements, and joint-venture agreements.
* Support and help ensure consistency of corporate behaviours relevant to group standards published from time to time (e.g. anti-bribery and corruption, diligence, and governance). Provide legal support to all areas of corporate, regulatory and governance, and CSR activities and ensure that Petrofac is compliant with its legal obligations at all times.
* Represent Petrofac at meetings and hearings.
* Deputise for Head of Legal - Commercial from time to time.
* Engage and collaborate with the business to build credibility, trust in, and appropriate use of the legal function.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
* Negotiating on fees e.g. with external law firms, experts and counsel.
PROBLEM SOLVING
* Included as part of Key Accountabilities (above).
PERSON SPECIFICATION Knowledge & Qualifications:
* Professionally qualified lawyer (solicitor/barrister) with a current UK or equivalent practising certificate.
* ‎3-‎6 year's PQE
* A background work knowledge (in house or in private practice) working in one or more sectors across: energy, renewables, infrastructure, power, projects, construction, utilities, oil and gas.
* Some private practice background (in a litigation department), with in-house experience (with litigation as a core part of your role), preferred.
* Experience in construction and engineering disputes is essential.
* Experience in oil & gas and renewables is helpful.
* Experience of managing and resolving disputes in a variety of legal jurisidictions (common law, civil law etc).

Skills & Competencies:
* Good drafting, contract interpretation, influencing, and negotiation skills.
* Sound technical legal skills, common law and/or civil law and commercial legal experience including knowledge of construction and engineering law. Experience of dispute-resolution (contractual escalation, expert determination, mediation litigation, arbitration, DABs) is important.
* Confident and capable of interfacing with senior management.
* An appetite to learn new skills and the versatility and technical ability to deal with issues outside of your experience and learn quickly on the job is desirable; you will possess maturity, confidence and gravitas to challenge decisions and actions when necessary.
* Good communicator with a pragmatic, methodical, detail-oriented, flexible and dynamic approach.
* Effective and capable of working independently, with little supervision and able to prioritise workload effectively.
* A self-starter who is outgoing and able to adapt to different environments and cultures.
* Willing to travel as and when require

If you are selected as a potential candidate, we will be in touch.