Associate General Counsel

Job Description - Associate General Counsel (240001NX)

Associate General Counsel

Are you ready to make your mark as part of our General Counsel Team? Then you've come to the right place. At White & Case, we'll support you, give you responsibility and welcome you as an integral member of our diverse, international team from day one.

White & Case is a prominent global law firm with over 2,600 lawyers in 47 offices across six continents, recognised for its top-tier transactional and dispute practices. The firm serves a diverse clientele, including leading financial institutions, innovative start-ups, and government entities. Our business is guided by three core values: pioneering innovation, unity, and a human touch.

The Associate General Counsel will support our partners and the Compliance and New Business (CNB) intake team with complex conflict clearances for new matters. This includes serving as an escalation point for challenging clearances and providing advice on ethical, reputational, and regulatory issues. The role also involves closely working with, training the CNB team, and assisting in the development of the new matter intake system.

The Firm's General Counsel is a Partner based in New York. The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) team members are primarily located in London and New York, acting as the Firm's in-house legal counsel.

Key Responsibilities

• Assisting the OGC and the CNB teams with analysing and resolving conflicts of interest, compliance, AML and other regulatory, reputational, or ethical issues with new matters and new clients.
• Training the CNB teams in London, Tampa and Manila and assisting in the continuous development of the new matter intake system.
• Performing other duties necessary and essential to support the Firm's strategic goals.
• Bridging the gap between business and CNB teams, translating and explaining complex conflict matters to partners and transactional lawyers, and facilitating discussions.
• Anticipating and responding to Firm needs, creating a calm environment to achieve results in challenging situations and ensuring team well-being.
• Promoting cultural diversity and inclusivity within the team.
• Making commercial, ethical, and strategic decisions in the best interests of the Firm.
• Leveraging creative thinking and diverse skills to solve challenges.
• Understanding future challenges to influence OGC or Firm strategy.

Qualifications and Skills

• Strong academic background with a practising certificate in England & Wales and/or New York state.
• At least 2 years PQE at a major national or international firm, with a minimum of 4 years' experience in the risk/new business function of a major international law firm focusing on conflicts.
• Expertise in Intapp Open conflicts system and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
• Excellent communication and presentation skills; adept at translating and explaining complex conflict matters to partners and transactional lawyers, and facilitating discussions.
• Deep understanding of conflicts rules in England and Wales, with awareness of the current conflicts and compliance landscape.
• Proven project management skills to complete multiple projects in a matrixed environment.
• Recognised as a go-to person for conflicts of interest, providing high-quality legal advice.
• Ability to foster a team environment that delivers high-quality work with diligence, precision, and attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal skills to manage expectations, adapt to different styles and cultural sensitivities, and convey difficult messages with conviction and confidence.
• Commitment to promoting cultural diversity and inclusivity, and raising profile and credibility by sharing knowledge, speaking at events, and training others.
• Strategic and creative thinking to make commercial, ethical, and strategic decisions in the best interests of the Firm, while solving challenges and anticipating future opportunities to influence strategy.

What We Offer

When you join us, you'll be working directly with partners, business leaders and many other inspiring colleagues across our global network of offices. We live by our values-to be pioneering, united and human-and we believe that you'll experience them from your first day. We will give you the support and development opportunities that will help you achieve your potential.

We believe that consistent high performance merits reward and support. Our compensation package reflects your calibre as a General Counsel professional, and our benefits are designed to support your changing needs and priorities across different life stages.

About White & Case

We are a global law firm with longstanding offices in the markets that matter today. Our on-the-ground experience, our cross-border integration, and our depth of local, US and English-qualified lawyers help our clients work with confidence in any one market or across many.

Location and Reporting

This role is based in London, and reports into two Deputy General Counsel who are responsible for Conflicts.

Our standard office hours are 09:30-18:00, with a current requirement for 3 days in the office per week.

Firm Benefits

We offer a flexible range of benefits, services and programmes designed to help support your lifestyle requirements. Some of the benefits currently available include:

• Private medical insurance
• Pension plan with matched employer contribution up to 7.5%
• Yearly wellbeing fund
• Income protection
• Holiday purchase
• Life insurance
• Critical Illness insurance
• Private GP services
• Travel insurance
• Dental coverage
• Cycle to work

Equal Opportunity Statement

White & Case is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. It is our Firm's policy to recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, religion, creed, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law.

If you require assistance and/or accommodation to participate in our application and/or interview process, please email the recruiting contact listed for the relevant position. We are a Disability Confident (Committed) Employer. We will be happy to work with you.