Legal Counsel

Company Description:

McDonald’s has run its business in the UK since 1974 and celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The business currently operates over 1,450 restaurants across the UK and Ireland, serving almost four million customers each day. McDonald’s is one of the UK’s largest private sector employers, employing over 177,000 people.

McDonald’s UK & Ireland has a proven track record of investing in the development of its employees and offering flexibility as part of its dedication to being a modern and progressive company. Every year, it invests over £40 million in developing people, giving every one of its employees the opportunity to take part in structured training.

McDonald’s buys ingredients from over 23,000 British and Irish farmers and spends over £1.1billion annually on its food and packaging requirements. McDonald’s is committed to supporting British and Irish farmers to ensure it can continue to source many of its ingredients from the UK and Ireland.

McDonald’s is a market leader in its field, striving for the highest standard of quality, speed and restaurant experience. Re-generation of our restaurant infrastructure, covering digital ordering, re-imaging and dual-point service make working at McDonald’s more exciting than ever!

We are dedicated to using our scale for good: good for people, our industry and the planet. From bold recycling initiatives and sustainable sourcing efforts to our partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities, we see every day as a chance to have a genuine impact on our customers, our people and our partners.

We're a people business just as much as we are a restaurant business. We strive to be the most inclusive brand in the world by building diverse teams who create delicious, feel-good moments that are easy for everyone to enjoy. Joining McDonald's means thinking big every day and preparing for a career that can have impact around the world.

Company Vision and Culture

Our Global vision is to build a better McDonald’s and, in the UK, and Ireland we are working hard to be the UK & Irelands best-loved restaurant company.

McDonald’s is defined by its culture. Our culture shapes and informs everything we think and everything we do. Our culture influences the way we interact with each other, and how we interact with customers, franchisees and suppliers. Our culture motivates and inspires us to attract and retain great talent, creating positive, energising, exceptional working environment for us all.

Our values drive our culture and shape our beliefs, our priorities and our actions. They influence the decisions we make, how we treat one another and how we show up as a brand to the world.

Serve: We put our customers and our people first

Inclusion: We open our doors to everyone

Integrity: We do the right thing

Community: We are good neighbours

Family: We get better together

Job Description:

The Opportunity 
We are seeking a bright, enthusiastic and well-organised lawyer to join a high performing and friendly Legal team, specifically in the Commercial and Corporate Governance & Franchising Legal practice teams, handling the full range of governance, company and commercial matters in the UK & Ireland including corporate governance matters, commercial contracts, IT / digital projects, data protection and privacy compliance, marketing & advertising approvals, franchising, Joint venture matters and matters relating to employment, supply chain and public health and competition.

What will my accountabilities be?

Franchising:

• Handling transactions for the grant of franchises
• Managing external counsel on corporate asset sale transactions involving franchisees
• Advising the Franchising Recruitment team on recruitment campaigns
• Advising the Franchising Recruitment team with a variety of franchisee applicant issues
• Advising the Franchising team on general franchising queries
• Advising the Franchising team to support franchisees and joint venture partners to meet their corporate governance requirements

Corporate/Compliance:

• Carrying out general company secretarial tasks including: drafting powers of attorney; drafting a variety of resolutions including in relation to annual accounts, distributions, board appointments;  and assisting with the renewal of the EEA Directors’ Bond
• Managing McDonald’s board meetings including preparing the pre-reads, running the meetings and providing guidance to the company directors and preparing and finalising the board minutes
• Delivering directors’ duties training and conflicts of interest training and monitoring changing corporate legislation and taking appropriate action
• Managing all McDonald’s corporate governance reporting and global litigation reporting requirements including: supporting the preparation of McDonald's corporate governance framework internally and by external counsel; strategically assessing areas of development during McDonald’s corporate governance journey and overseeing the full suite of other corporate reporting requirements including ESG and CSR obligations
• Leading on the management and review of employee conflicts of interests disclosures
• Handling and managing corporate transactions
• Providing company law and other legal advice and support in relation to the marketing co-operative and managing all legal documentation for the annual general meeting
• Co-ordinating responses for internal and external audits
• Responsible for compliance initiatives, global reporting and general compliance queries
• Working directly with the Global Compliance Director including leading on provision of market support with third party due diligence and with routing Business Integrity hotline queries

Commercial:

• Independently negotiating and preparing commercial agreements including confidentiality agreements, data processing agreements and services agreements including in relation to marketing, digital, supply chain and IT projects
• Independently advising internal clients on a wide variety of commercial issues including data protection, intellectual property and brand protection matters, franchise relations, employment matters, compliance, finance, tax and competition law matters, and customer inquiries. This will involve working strategically and collaboratively with legal and business colleagues to manage commercial transactions, identifying risks and providing solutions-driven, commercial advice
• Working collaboratively with the Marketing team on advertising campaigns to ensure regulatory compliance
• Handling data protection matters such as reviewing and responding to Data Subject Access Requests and advising on data protection compliance within new projects
• Proactively identifying legal trends and regulatory changes to enhance company policies and procedures across the range of business areas, develop communication and training programmes and ensure awareness and compliance across the business and dealing with policy queries
• Supporting the People team in particular with updating existing people policies and implementing new policies; advising on escalated employee complaints; attending roundtables with our insurers to align on approach and best practice
• Participate and contribute to cross-functional working teams on projects involving strategic business initiatives and risk management strategies

What Team will I be part of and who are my customers?

The Legal Counsel position will serve as a member of the Legal Team supporting all departments across the McDonald’s UK & Ireland business, including Franchising, Marketing, IT/Digital, Customer Services, Finance and Supply Chain.

Qualifications:

What background do I need to have?

• The applicant should be a qualified solicitor with ideally 3-5 PQE, although we are happy to consider applications at all levels. They should also have excellent academic credentials, having trained in a top tier law firm or a reputable in-house legal team in relevant areas of law.
• Knowledge and experience of a variety of company & governance matters, commercial contracts and structures of corporate/commercial transactions (such as share and asset sales) would be preferred. Prior in-house or secondment experience also preferred
• The team is looking for someone who is positive, self-motivated, enthusiastic, authentic, pragmatic, open-minded and curious about learning and gaining experience in new legal and business areas; someone who will enjoy working in a high performance team and with business stakeholders to help find solutions
• The applicant will need to be: an effective communicator including having strong drafting skills and the ability to clearly and concisely explain concepts to non-legal stakeholders; a relationship builder: efficient and able to see the big picture and deliver commercially sound advice

Additional Information:

At McDonald’s we are People from all Walks of Life... 

People are at the heart of everything we do, and they make the McDonald’s experience. We embrace diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture that means people can be their best authentic self in our restaurants and offices, which helps us to better serve our customers. We have a strong heritage of diversity and representation within our communities, which we are proud of. The diversity of our people, customers, Franchisees and suppliers gives us strength.

We do not tolerate inequality, injustice or discrimination of any kind.  These are hugely important issues and a brand with our reach and relevance means we have a very meaningful role to play.

We also recognise our responsibility as a large employer to continue being active in our communities, helping to develop skills and drive aspirations that will help people to be more aware of the world of work and more successful within it, whether with McDonald’s or elsewhere."

#LI-Hybrid