Legal Counsel

**Job details**

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**Responsible to**

Senior Legal Counsel

**Location**

Kedleston Road, Derby Campus

**Closing date**

Tuesday 7 April 2026

**Salary**

£50,832 to £63,540 per annum (For exceptional performers, there is scope for further progression up to £73,071 per annum)

**Job grade**

Leadership – E

**Reference**

0040-26

**Contract type**

Permanent

**Post type**

Full-time

**Adaptive working type**

Hybrid

This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location. Currently, this role offers the opportunity to work remotely, normally 2 day/s a week in line with our Adaptive Working Framework.

**About the University**

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

**About the College/Department**

Legal, Governance and Assurance Services are a central risk management and support function which reports directly to the University Secretary and Registrar.

We consist of 3 teams: Legal Services, Governance, and Assurance. We provide professional support and assess and mitigate risk, including legal, regulatory, financial and reputational risk, across the University.

**Legal Services**

Legal Services provides support and advice in relation to contracts and other legal matters.

**Governance**

In Governance, we provide support, advice and documentation for the University's governance activities, working to reflect best practice, guidance and legislation.

**Assurance**

In Assurance services, we support the University's regulatory arrangements; and are responsible for monitoring the University's approach to the OfS conditions of registration. We also provide monitoring, training and support to reduce risk of non-compliance with these conditions.

The Department provides timely, high-quality, pragmatic, and commercially focused legal advice on complex, high-value, and strategic matters. Through its work, it supports the University’s strategic ambitions and ensures robust legal frameworks are in place to guide and protect institutional decision-making.

**About the role**

This is an excellent opportunity to join a specialist team providing high quality, commercially astute legal advice across the University. As Legal Counsel, you will play a key role in supporting a wide range of legal matters, including commercial and contractual issues, regulatory concerns, intellectual property, and corporate documentation.

Working closely with the Senior Legal Counsel and fellow Legal Counsel, you will lead on the negotiation, drafting, and review of a diverse array of legal agreements, ranging from supply and purchase contracts to research collaborations, consultancy arrangements, and memoranda of understanding. You will also be instrumental in supporting the University's governance framework and managing legal risk in contracts and other transactional activity.

Office presence is required at least 3 days a week.

**About You**

The successful applicant will be a qualified solicitor or barrister with post-qualification experience in commercial law, ideally gained in an in-house or public sector setting. You will have a strong working knowledge of contract law and commercial practice, alongside proven experience in negotiating and advising on a broad range of legal agreements.

Your ability to communicate complex legal matters clearly and persuasively is essential, as is your aptitude for working independently and managing competing priorities effectively. You’ll also be a confident collaborator, able to build trusted relationships across the institution, influence decision-making, and deliver pragmatic, solutions-focused advice that supports the University’s strategic goals.

Experience in the higher education or public sector, or in intellectual property and research contracting, would be advantageous but is not essential.

**Principal accountabilities**

### **Legal Advice and Support**

Provide timely, high quality and pragmatic and commercially focused legal advice and guidance on a wide range of legal, commercial, contractual and transactional issues.

Draft, review and negotiate legal agreements.

Support the development of the University’s contracting processes and procedures; and

Support regulatory matters relevant to the University and the associated risk mitigation measures.

### **Contract Advice & Co-ordination**

Provide advice and guidance to colleagues on contracts to be entered into by the University or its subsidiaries, including drafting and negotiating contract terms and conditions.

Provide professional advice/guidance, review and risk assessment of a wide range of contractual documents.

Support the maintenance of a standard suite of precedent agreements.

Provide training to colleagues on a wide range of legal issues.

Use Legal Services’ matter management system.

Coordinate guidance and support from external legal advisors where necessary.

Manage and assess legal risk with respect to commercial contracts; and

Advise insurers where required of contractual/commercial risk and liaise with the same on a wide range of matters.

### **Governance**

Provide legal advice to the University’s Governance Services team.

### **Litigation**

Student disputes – advise the University in respect of disputes with current or former students.

Manage other litigious matters as and when they arise.

### **General**

Leases/Licences – review and negotiate real estate leases/licences and offer advice and guidance on related legal issues.

Contractual disputes with supplier/customers.

Work with colleagues across the University, including the Executive and Leadership Team, to prepare, negotiate and manage a wide variety of agreements; and

Build effective working relationships with colleagues.

**Person specification**

### **Essential Criteria**

#### **Qualifications**

• Qualified to practise as a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales

#### **Experience**

• Demonstrable experience practising as a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales
• Experience of commercial law and contracting

#### **Skills, Knowledge & Abilities**

• The ability to work autonomously
• Knowledge of contract law and commercial practice
• Strong communication skills
• Strong organisational, presentation and training skills
• Ability to use administrative systems and complex databases
• Well-developed IT skills (including experience of spreadsheets, word processing and presentation software packages)
• Excellent time management and flexibility to respond to urgent deadlines
• Ability to provide high quality and timely advice and guidance on changes to legislation and case law which affect the University
• Draft, review and negotiate agreements to ensure the legal risks faced University are adequately mitigated

### **Desirable Criteria**

#### **Experience**

• Experience of Higher Education (HE) sector IP commercialisation and research contracting
• Experience of the educational sector
• Experience of public sector procurement

**Benefits**

• Generous annual leave entitlement of 42 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
• Discounted onsite gym
• Access to employer-funded Private Health Insurance
• Holiday purchase
• Cycle to Work scheme
• A flexible working environment
• A commitment to personal and professional development

**Key contact**

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Kate Webster, Senior Legal Counsel via k.webster@derby.ac.uk

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

**Important information**

#### **Visa Sponsorship Eligibility**

This role is eligible for sponsorship by the University, however, your individual circumstances must meet the criteria set out by UKVI; this includes meeting the English Language requirement and earning a salary that meets the highest of either the going rate for the SOC code or the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker route (£41,700 per annum, as of 22nd July 2025).

If the role is eligible, but the offered salary is less that the going rate for the role, you may still be able to apply for a Skilled Worker visa if:

• Your job is on the Immigration Salary List
• You’re under 26, studying or a recent graduate, or in professional training
• You have a PhD level qualification that’s relevant to your job
• You have a postdoctoral position in science or higher education

Please note that the University cannot confirm your eligibility for sponsorship until an offer is made and your individual circumstances have been considered.

For more information, please visit Applying from Overseas.

#### **Equity, diversity and inclusion**

The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.

We are Disability Confident Employers, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invite applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.

Further, we are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non-binary-inclusive for all our staff, students, partners, and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training.

When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender-neutral title 'Mx'. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns. This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non-binary candidates. Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system.

The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.

However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.

Read more about equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Derby.

#### **Environmental Sustainability**

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

**Don’t miss your chance – join the team and make a difference today!**

**How to apply**

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You can apply by submitting an online application. Once you have signed in or registered with us you will be able to begin your application. If you are creating an account for the first time, please ensure you provide an email address that you access regularly as this will be our main means of contacting you regarding your application.

**The University reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.**

If you require any assistance, including the provision of any documentation in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment team at recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

Please note all applications must be submitted online by Midnight GMT on the closing date of the vacancy.