Senior Legal Counsel in Bristol, Gloucestershire

Senior/Principal Legal Counsel- Bristol- up to £100,000.

We’re looking for a Senior or Principal Legal Counsel to join our growing defence SME and provide broad, commercially focused legal support across the business. This is a fantastic opportunity to join as sole legal counsel in the UK and join a company on the brink of extensive growth!

This is a varied role with exposure to commercial contracts, employment law, corporate matters and potentially M&A, working closely with senior leadership and teams across the organisation.

You don’t need previous defence experience. We’re more interested in your ability to understand a business, provide pragmatic legal advice and help manage risk in a commercially sensible way.

What you’ll be doing

• Advising the business and senior leadership on a broad range of legal and commercial matters.
• Drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts.
• Advising on employment law and employee-related matters.
• Supporting corporate activity, including potential M&A and strategic transactions.
• Managing legal risk and working with the business to find practical solutions.
• Working with and managing external legal advisers where required.
• Helping develop legal processes, contracts and policies as the company continues to grow.

About you

We’re looking for a qualified solicitor with strong commercial legal experience, ideally with experience across contracts and employment law. Corporate/M&A experience would be an advantage.

You could be an experienced in-house lawyer looking for a broader role, or a solicitor currently working in private practice who is ready to make the move in-house.

Most importantly, you’ll be commercially minded, pragmatic and confident working with senior stakeholders. You’ll enjoy having a broad remit and being part of a growing business where you can make a real impact.

Defence experience is not essential — we’re open to candidates from a range of sectors with strong transferable commercial legal experience.

The opportunity

This is a great opportunity to join a growing SME at an exciting stage of its development, with the chance to work closely with senior leadership, take ownership of a broad range of legal matters and help shape the legal function as the business grows.

Interested? We’d love to hear from you. Please contact Victoria at Copello on (phone number removed)