Legal Counsel - Trade Finance Lawyer

Our client, a leading financial services institution in the UK and globally, are looking for a senior structured finance lawyer to join the team in London.

It is a senior strategic role and they are ideally looking for someone with a minimum of 12 years of experience from a leading in-house institution or a law firm. The candidate would have a solid transactional public and private securitisation experience as well as good understanding of the regulatory landscape impacting this area.

Prior in-house experience, even in the form of a secondment would be very advantageous.

An international financial services organisation is seeking a Legal Counsel to join its Investigations, Litigation & Employment team in London.

This is a high-impact role offering exposure to a broad range of contentious and advisory matters across EMEA, including employment law, internal and regulatory investigations, and commercial disputes. The position involves working closely with senior stakeholders and control functions such as Compliance, HR, Risk, and Internal Audit.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide commercially focused employment law advice across employee relations matters (disciplinary, grievances, whistleblowing, dismissals, investigations).
• Advise on legal risks arising from business strategy, restructuring, and policy changes.
• Manage litigation and disputes (employment, civil, and regulatory), including oversight of external counsel.
• Lead and support internal investigations into regulatory, conduct, and ethical issues.
• Support cross-border matters across EMEA, including regulatory inquiries and litigation.
• Prepare reports and briefings for senior leadership.
• Collaborate with Compliance and other functions on regulatory risk and communications.
• Contribute to training, best practices, and legal innovation initiatives.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer with strong employment law and disputes experience.
• Experience handling investigations and contentious matters, ideally within a regulated environment.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and ability to advise on sensitive, high-risk issues.
• Commercially minded with excellent judgement.
• Experience in financial services and/or multi-jurisdictional work is advantageous.

What's on Offer

• Exposure to complex, cross-border legal matters.
• Regular interaction with senior leadership.
• A collaborative, high-performing legal environment.
• Strong career development opportunities.

We are working with a leading global financial institution looking to recruit a Legal Counsel into their Markets Legal team in London.

This role sits within a cross-asset group focused on complex structured solutions across OTC derivatives, with particular exposure to emerging markets, FX, and rates. The team works closely with sales and trading as well as with key stakeholders throughout the wider business.

Key Responsibilities:

• Structure and execute complex OTC derivatives across FX, rates, and cross-asset products
• Develop tailored solutions for clients, including those in emerging markets
• Partner with sales and trading to originate and deliver structured opportunities
• Manage transaction lifecycle from pricing through execution and post-trade
• Maintain strong awareness of market dynamics, risk, and regulatory considerations

Requirements:

• Strong experience in structured derivatives ideally 3pqe either making a first in-house move out of private practice or a lateral move from another FS institution
• Ability to manage and build on senior stakeholder relationships
• Clear communication and client-facing capability

This is a high-impact role offering exposure to complex transactions and varied derivatives matters within a well-established global platform.

For a confidential discussion, please get in touch.