Legal Advisor

Liberty, a prominent financial services group, is seeking a dedicated Legal Advisor to join their Corporate Benefits division in Johannesburg. This role is crucial for navigating the complex legal and regulatory landscape within the employee benefits sector, ensuring that Liberty's operations align with legal frameworks and contribute to overarching business objectives.

About the Role

The primary purpose of this position is to safeguard Liberty Corporate Benefits from legal, regulatory, and commercial risks. This involves providing clear, accurate, and timely legal counsel and support to the business unit. The Legal Advisor will be instrumental in developing legally sound solutions for products, services, and legislative matters, all while ensuring these solutions actively support the business's strategic goals and aspirations. This is a role that demands a proactive approach to risk management and a keen understanding of how legal considerations intersect with business strategy.

The responsibilities within this role are diverse and require a comprehensive legal skillset, particularly within the financial services and pension funds industry. Key duties include:

• Assisting the Chief Specialist in the formulation and execution of the legal strategy for Corporate Benefits.
• Providing expert legal advice on a range of technical and legal matters, including but not limited to divorce and maintenance orders, section 37C distributions, fund rules, complaints handling, and product-specific queries.
• Maintaining an up-to-date understanding of new legislation, evolving case law, and regulatory changes, proactively advising stakeholders on their potential impact. This includes staying abreast of significant legislation such as the Pension Funds Act (PFA), Long-Term Insurance Act (LTIA), the proposed Two-Pot system, Treating Customers Fairly (TCF), Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act, Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services (FAIS) Act, Income Tax Act (ITA), and the Financial Sector Regulation (FSR) Act.
• Offering essential legal and regulatory support to Liberty Group-sponsored funds.
• Collaborating with the Complaints Management team to address queries and complaints from regulatory bodies like the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), Pension Funds Adjudicator, and various Ombudsmen.
• Providing legal and technical expertise to the Rules Drafting team, including reviewing and approving fund rules and amendments.
• Vetting and approving crucial documentation, such as policy documents, member communications, application forms, reports, and marketing materials.
• Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts and service level agreements pertinent to the business unit.
• Conducting research on complex legal issues and providing legal opinions for business projects and new product development.
• Delivering exceptional legal service that anticipates and meets client needs through innovative and appropriate solutions.
• Researching and preparing quarterly publications on legal and regulatory developments.
• Conducting training sessions for internal staff on various legal matters as needed.
• Cultivating and managing professional relationships with external parties, including attorneys, counsel, industry bodies, and regulators, acting as a brand ambassador for Liberty.
• Working collaboratively across Liberty to ensure effective and cohesive legal advice.
• Championing a TCF service excellence culture, fostering positive client relationships and encouraging feedback.
• Ensuring compliance with administrative procedures related to litigation, including statutory documentation and registers, and adhering to specified deadlines.
• Managing costs effectively within the legal function.

What They're Looking For

Candidates should possess a strong academic background, evidenced by an LLB degree, and be an admitted attorney. A minimum of 3-5 years of relevant legal experience is required, with a specific emphasis on the financial services sector, particularly within the pension funds industry. Essential technical competencies include contract management, a solid understanding of the financial industry's regulatory framework, legal advisory and interpretation skills, legal drafting capabilities, and broad legal knowledge.

Key behavioural competencies include the ability to articulate information clearly, attention to detail in checking facts and documenting information, establishing rapport with colleagues and stakeholders, examining information critically, following procedures diligently, interacting effectively with diverse individuals, being open to feedback, managing tasks efficiently, meeting deadlines, working collaboratively in a team, and upholding high professional standards. A practical understanding of pension funds, insurance, and the broader financial services sector, along with relevant legislation, is paramount.

In South Africa, a Legal Advisor role with this level of specialisation in financial services and employee benefits can command a competitive salary, often reflecting the significant expertise and responsibility involved. Typical employers include major financial institutions, asset managers, and large corporate entities with extensive employee benefit programmes. Career progression could lead to senior legal counsel positions, head of legal roles, or specialisation in specific areas of financial regulation and compliance.

Type of Qualification: LLB, Admitted Attorney
Field of Study: Legal

Experience Required
Macro Generic
Legal

• Minimum 3-5 years’ legal experience in Financial Services especially in the pension funds industry;
• Technical and practical knowledge and understanding of the pension funds industry, insurance and financial services sector;
• An understanding of relevant financial services legislation.

Responsibilities

• Assist Chief Specialist in achieving and executing Legal strategy relating to Corporate Benefits;
• Provide legal advice to the business on various legal and technical matters in line with legal framework and best practice (including divorce and maintenance orders, section 37C distributions, fund rules, complaints, product queries);
• Keeping abreast of new legislation, case law and regulatory changes and advising Business stakeholders of potential impact (including the PFA, LTIA, Two-Pot, TCF, POPI, FAIS Act, ITA, FSR Act; Insurance Act);
• Provide legal and regulatory support to the Liberty Group sponsored funds;
• Support and assist the Complaints Management team with FSCA, Pension Funds Adjudicator, and Ombudsman complaints and queries;
• Provide legal and technical support to the Rules Drafting team and review Rules and amendments when required;
• Review, vetting and approval of policy documents, member communication, forms, reports and marketing material relating to the Business;
• Drafting, vetting and negotiation of contracts, and service level agreements relating to the Business;
• Researching complex legal matters and providing legal opinion into business projects and product development;
• Deliver exceptional legal service that exceeds customers’ expectations through proactive, innovative and appropriate legal solutions;
• Research and issue quarterly publications on legal and regulatory issues;
• Training of internal staff as and when required on legal matters;
• Cultivate and manage objective working relationships with a variety of stakeholders, including
  external attorneys and counsel, industry bodies and regulators and act as ambassador of the
  organisational brand;
• Work collaboratively across Liberty to provide excellent and effective legal advice;
• Contribute to a TCF service excellence culture, which builds positive relationships and provides
  opportunity for feedback and exceptional service;
• Complete specific reports, statutory documentation and registers, in order to ensure that
  administrative procedures associated with litigation functionality are complied with and specific
  deadlines are adhered to; and Cost management.