Legal Counsel

Job description

Legal Counsel

At The FA, our Legal team plays a vital role in supporting and protecting the game at every level. We're looking for a Legal Counsel to provide trusted legal advice across a broad range of football regulatory, contentious, litigation and strategic matters.

This is an excellent opportunity for a solicitor looking to move in-house, as well as those already working within an in-house legal team. The work is varied, high-profile and often unique to football, offering exposure to complex regulatory issues, stakeholder management, and strategic projects across the organisation.

We're looking for a lawyer who can build strong relationships, provide practical advice and act as a trusted advisor to colleagues across The FA.

What will you be doing?

• Provide legal advice across football regulatory, contentious, litigation, risk and wider legal support matters.

• Support strategic projects across the organisation, helping colleagues navigate legal and regulatory issues.

• Assist with FA rule and regulatory changes, including consultation with football stakeholders.

• Advise on legal and regulatory matters involving key football stakeholders, including FIFA, UEFA, the Premier League, EFL, WSL, PFA and LMA.

• Support The FA's Technical Division on FIFA and UEFA regulatory issues affecting England teams, including disciplinary and eligibility matters.

• Help manage legal disputes and litigation, including the instruction and management of external legal advisers where required.

• Identify and mitigate legal risk while supporting business objectives with pragmatic, solutions-focused advice.

What are we looking for?

• Qualified solicitor with at least 3 years' post-qualification experience, or the ability to demonstrate equivalent relevant skills and experience.

• Experience gained within a leading law firm, an in-house legal team, or a combination of both.

• Strong contentious, regulatory or dispute resolution experience.

• Ability to provide clear, practical and commercially focused legal advice to a range of stakeholders.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex legal issues in a straightforward way.

• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to build credibility and trusted relationships across the organisation.

• Well organised, proactive and comfortable managing a varied workload with competing priorities.

• Excellent judgement and a collaborative approach to problem solving.

Beneficial to have

• Knowledge of sports law and/or football regulation.

• Experience working in-house or on secondment within a sports organisation.

• Experience advising on regulatory, governance or risk-related matters.

Why join us?

This is a rare opportunity to work on some of the most interesting legal issues in sport. You'll advise on matters that have a direct impact on English football, collaborate with stakeholders across the game and gain exposure to a wide range of regulatory, contentious and strategic work.

Whether you're looking to take your first step in-house or further develop your career within a purpose-led organisation, you'll join a supportive team and play an important role in helping shape the future of the game.

What's in it for you?

We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles. To achieve this, we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class, Elite Performance Centre, St. George's Park in Staffordshire, which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.

We pride ourselves on offering a competitive salary as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:

• Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season, encourages you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and well-being.
• Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
• Private medical cover funded by The FA.
• A contributory pension scheme.
• An additional 'Thank You' day's leave, volunteering days, as well as 25 days of annual leave ( based on a full-time, permanent contract )
• A hybrid working model which offers greater flexibility.

For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page, https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/careers

Currently, we are working within a hybrid working model whereby the expectation is to work from your contractual location for part of the week, and as and when required by the team. The remaining days can be worked remotely. We will continue to monitor this model, and it may be adjusted in future if deemed necessary. The contractual location of this role can be found on the FA Careers page.

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work.

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.