WPP
Legal Counsel (Commercial, IP & Advertising Clearance)
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WPP is the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands. We unite cutting-edge media intelligence and data solutions, world-class creativity, next-generation production, transformative enterprise solutions, and expert strategic counsel in a single company – powered by exceptional talent and our agentic marketing platform, WPP Open, to help our clients navigate change, capture opportunity, and deliver transformational growth.
We work with the world's most valuable brands and have global reach across 100+ markets, with deep local expertise.
Our people are the key to our success. We're committed to fostering a culture of creativity, belonging, and continuous learning, attracting and developing the brightest talent, and providing exciting career opportunities that help our people grow.
For more information, visit WPP.com.
Why we're hiring:
We are seeking a commercially focused Legal Counsel to join our legal team. This role will provide practical, solution-oriented legal support to commercial, production, creative, and marketing teams, with a particular focus on intellectual property, content production, and advertising clearance.
The successful candidate will work closely with agency and business stakeholders to help deliver creative and marketing campaigns while managing legal and regulatory risk. The role requires strong technical legal skills, sound commercial judgment, and the ability to advise confidently in a fast-paced environment.
What you'll be doing:
Intellectual Property & Content Review
- Advise on copyright, trade marks, designs, passing off, and other IP issues arising in creative, marketing, and production activities.
- Review campaign concepts, scripts, storyboards, creative assets, and production materials to identify and mitigate IP risks.
- Advise on ownership, licensing, and exploitation of intellectual property rights.
- Draft, review, and negotiate IP licenses, assignments, and permissions.
- Review third-party content arrangements, including photography, music, stock assets, user-generated content, and AI-generated content.
- Advise on talent, influencer, and contributor agreements from an IP and rights perspective.
Production Legal Support
- Support production teams on all legal and clearance aspects of content creation.
- Review and negotiate production agreements, talent agreements, location releases, contributor releases, and supplier contracts.
- Advise on rights acquisition, chain of title, and usage rights.
- Assist with dispute avoidance and risk management during production and content exploitation.
- Develop practical guidance and template documents for production teams.
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Advertising Clearance & Regulatory Advice
- Conduct legal and regulatory reviews of advertising and marketing communications.
- Advise on compliance with:
- CAP and BCAP Codes
- Consumer protection and competition laws
- Promotional marketing requirements
- Influencer marketing rules
- Digital and social media advertising requirements
- Sector-specific advertising restrictions where relevant
- Review substantiation for advertising claims and support teams in identifying evidence requirements.
- Provide clearance advice across multiple media channels, including TV, radio, digital, social, experiential, and print campaigns.
- Liaise with external counsel and regulatory specialists where necessary.
Commercial Legal Support
- Draft, negotiate, and advise on a range of commercial agreements including:
- Client services agreements
- Statements of work
- Production agreements
- Supplier agreements
- Non-disclosure agreements
- Licensing arrangements
- Support client pitches, contract negotiations, and contract renewals.
- Deliver risk-based, commercially pragmatic legal advice to stakeholders.
Training & Governance
- Develop and deliver training on IP, advertising clearance, and legal risk management.
- Produce guidance notes, playbooks, and template documents.
- Promote legal best practice across the business.
- Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting advertising, media, and content production.
What you'll need:
- Qualified solicitor in England & Wales (or equivalent common law qualification).
- 5-6 years PQE gained in a leading law firm and/or in-house legal department.
- Strong experience in commercial contract drafting and negotiation.
- Demonstrable expertise in intellectual property law.
- Experience providing advertising clearance and marketing law advice.
- Knowledge of content production, media, and creative industries.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Ability to assess risk quickly and provide practical solutions.
Desirable
- In-house experience within advertising, media, entertainment, technology, or consumer-facing businesses.
- Experience advising on influencer marketing and digital media campaigns.
- Familiarity with AI, emerging technologies, and related legal developments.
- Experience working in an international organization.
Personal Attributes
- Commercially minded and pragmatic.
- Strong attention to detail.
- Confident communicator with senior stakeholders.
- Collaborative and approachable.
- Able to balance legal risk with business objectives.
- Comfortable operating independently and managing multiple matters simultaneously.
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What Success Looks Like
- Delivers clear, practical, and commercially focused legal advice.
- Enables creative and commercial teams to move quickly while managing risk.
- Helps maintain high standards of IP compliance and advertising clearance.
- Builds trusted relationships with stakeholders across the business.
- Contributes to continuous improvement of legal processes and resources.
Who you are:
- You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are open-minded: to new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.
- You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology, and talent to create brighter futures for our people, our clients, and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.
- You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration, we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.
What we'll give you:
- Passionate, inspired people – We aim to create a culture in which people can do extraordinary work.
- Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence, and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.
- Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?
#LI-Hybrid
We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office around four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.
WPP is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to particular characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.
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