Hybrid In-House Legal Counsel

Signet & Coterie | UK- In-House Legal Counsel

Lawyer. Commercial brain. Problem solver. Occasional firefighter.

We’re looking for an experienced full-time In-House Legal Counsel to join the team supporting two very different, but equally entrepreneurial businesses — Signet Collection, our growing hospitality business, and Coterie, our fine wine and logistics business. On one side, there’s Signet Collection — a growing collection of wonderfully individual hotels and hospitality businesses, doing things a little differently. On the other, there’s Coterie — our fine wine and logistics business, operating in a completely different world, but with the same entrepreneurial spirit.

Two businesses. Two sectors. Plenty of variety. And one newly created legal role sitting right in the middle of it all. If you’re the sort of lawyer who enjoys a good commercial challenge, gets bored doing the same thing every day and would rather solve a problem than simply point out that there is one, we should probably talk.

So, what’s the job?

You’ll be our key UK legal resource across Signet and Coterie, working closely with our General Counsel in Taiwan, Executive Chair of Coterie and Managing Director of Signet, as well as our wider leadership teams.

You’ll have a genuine seat at the table — helping shape decisions, structure deals, manage risk and, occasionally, explain to everyone why the thing they really, really want to do probably needs a slightly different approach.

This isn't a role where you'll spend your days buried in contracts. Although there will be contracts. Lots of them.

You’ll also be involved in acquisitions, property, governance, employment, data protection, regulatory matters, disputes and pretty much anything else that requires a sensible legal head. One day you might be working on the acquisition of a hotel. The next, negotiating a major commercial agreement. The day after that, helping HR navigate a tricky people issue or advising the leadership team on a new business opportunity.

What will you actually be doing?

A bit of everything, including:

• M&A, investments & corporate structuring Supporting acquisitions, disposals, investments, due diligence, corporate structures and strategic transactions.
• Commercial contracts Drafting, reviewing and negotiating supplier, customer, partnership, procurement, services and other strategic commercial agreements.
• Property & real estate Supporting hotel acquisitions, disposals, leases, licences, developments, refurbishments and the many other joys of property law.
• Hospitality, wine & regulatory matters Providing practical, commercial advice across the regulatory environments in which both businesses operate.
• Employment & people Working alongside HR and senior leaders on employment-related legal matters, policies, employee relations and risk.
• Data, technology, cyber & AI Advising on GDPR, data sharing, technology agreements, systems, AI and the increasingly interesting legal questions that come with them.
• Intellectual property, brand & reputation Helping protect our brands, intellectual property, partnerships and commercial interests.
• Disputes, claims & insurance Managing and resolving disputes, claims and incidents, bringing in external specialists when they're needed.
• Governance & company secretarial Supporting boards, statutory requirements, corporate records and good governance — making sure we're doing the right things in the right way.