Description

ICF is a growing, USD $2 billion strategic advisory and digital services provider (NASDAQ: ICFI), but we are not your typical consultants.

Founded in 1969, ICF is a purpose-driven company with a strong culture and underlying values that prize collaboration, open communication, opportunity for growth, and mutual respect. Smart, compassionate, innovative, and committed, we combine unmatched expertise with cutting-edge engagement capabilities to help our global clients crack their most complex challenges, navigate change, and shape the future. Working at ICF means applying a passion for meaningful work with intellectual rigour to solve the leading issues of our day; we are in the business of Making Big Things Possible. Guided by our deeply held values and enduring commitment to corporate and global citizenship, we share a passion for building a more prosperous and resilient world for all.

The Corporate Counse l – Europe & Asia, provides generalist in-house legal and business counsel to ICF’s Europe & Asia (E&A) business which works primarily in the United Kingdom (UK), Belgium, Spain, India, but also beyond, with a focus on work for the European Commission (EC) and the UK government. ICF provides services in wide-ranging geographic markets, subject matter areas, and clients. As such, we seek a practical, experienced lawyer/solicitor (notably with demonstrated experience of working in-house within the industry) willing to provide legal operations support throughout the diverse ICF E&A business and across wide-ranging legal topics.

The Corporate Counsel will report directly to the Assistant General Counsel, Senior Director E&A within ICF’s Office of General Counsel (“OGC”) who is based in London. This position is based at the company’s Europe & Asia headquarters in either London or Brussels and is open to hybrid or remote work arrangements for the right candidate. The role does require SRA admission to practice as a Solicitor (PQE 4+) or equivalent in Belgium. It is a fast-paced, rewarding position, and you will work with a fantastic legal team and outstanding business leaders in ICF E&A. 

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

You will interact directly with ICF business leaders and corporate professionals to support work with government clients (national, state/province, and local), commercial clients, inter-governmental clients, and NGO clients of ICF. We seek a candidate with experience and interest in operating independently to effectively partner with business leaders, contracts and procurement professionals, human resources, other in-house lawyers, finance and tax professionals, and various stakeholders within the company, as well as externally with clients and in managing outside counsel. You need excellent judgment, integrity, and the ability to build strong relationships of trust. 

The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience reviewing and advising on legal matters involving government contracts, as well as commercial clients. Some international experience is also desirable. Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Legal

• Serving as a legal advisor on all legal matters facing ICF’s E&A business and ICF’s contracts team, including coordinating with other in-house and external counsel, to offer pragmatic legal and business advice to leadership and corporate functions.

• Providing legal advice to ICF business and contracts professionals on work with the European Union/Commission and the variety of Directorates-General (DGs) particularly including advising on EC procurement matters, challenges to EC procurement decisions, client and subcontractor disputes, meeting EU regulatory requirements, conflicts of interest, hiring of former government employees, and helping to defend the company’s business, legal, and contractual interests.

• Familiarity with managing cross-border legal matters and providing legal and corporate governance support to remote ICF offices: Exploring legal entity registrations in new jurisdictions; evaluating legal and employment implications of short-term projects in foreign jurisdictions; providing general support on local governance matters; issue-spotting cross-border compliance matters (anti-corruption, sanctions, trade, tax, etc); and obtaining local counsel advice.

• Supporting with any litigation, legal demand letters, legal disputes, or similar that may arise within the ICF E&A business, and utilizing the assistance of external litigation counsel and OGC leadership as appropriate.

• Providing high-level employment law advice or comfortable in coordinating employment-related legal matters with a strong internal Human Resources team and external employment counsel, as appropriate

• Where needed, supporting the strong ICF Contracts, Subcontracts, Procurement, Facilities, Human Resources, and other ICF corporate teams in their review of a wide range of business agreements, lease agreements, consortium agreements, non-disclosure agreements, employment-related agreements, subcontract documents, and client contracts with commercial, government, and inter-government clients.

• Supporting corporate transactional matters, including M&A due diligence and integration activities and coordinating corporate governance matters.

• Staying current on assigned regulatory and legal issues affecting the company.

Compliance

• General support to the overall execution of the ICF Ethics and Compliance program, particularly in relation to UK and EU government compliance (strong familiarity with UKBA), and applicable inter-governmental compliance requirements (ie EC).

• Where appropriate, assisting HR and ICF Compliance teams on internal reviews of employee misconduct.

• Working with leadership to develop legal policies and procedures.

• Providing targeted live training on key legal, regulatory, and compliance topics.

Basic Qualifications

• Appropriate law degree level, legal accreditation, and active qualification for the jurisdiction in which you are qualified to practice law (UK, with Belgium considered). If you are located in or qualified in Belgium, experience is required in English Law.

• Minimum of four (4) years of professional legal experience or similar PQE experience, with a mixture of law firm and/or in-house experience preferred.

• General experience with EU and UK regulatory laws, public procurement law, litigation/dispute process, competition law, anti-bribery legislation, data privacy law and commercial contracts law will be needed to varying degrees (further support will be available through specialist in-house and external law firms).

• Proven experience delivering legal advice to support business needs.

• Demonstrated ability to work within time constraints, prioritise numerous deadlines, and work independently, as well as in a team environment.

• Strong legal experience capable of working with a high degree of autonomy.

Professional Skills/Abilities:

• Proficiency in French is preferred, but not essential.

• Intellectual agility, curiosity, and confidence to learn quickly on the job and learn to manage legal issues outside your current experience and skill set.

• Demonstrated ability to implement sound solutions and effectively and professionally resolve complex business and legal issues.

• Flexibility of style and willingness to engage and balance a wide variety of tasks as a member of a multi-disciplinary team.

#indeed #LI-CC1

About us:

Working at ICF means applying a passion for meaningful work with intellectual rigor to help solve the leading issues of our day. Smart, compassionate, innovative, committed, ICF employees tackle unprecedented challenges to benefit people, businesses, and governments around the globe. We believe in collaboration, mutual respect, open communication, and opportunity for growth.

We can only solve the world's toughest challenges by building an inclusive workplace that allows everyone to thrive. We are committed to creating a culture where we embrace our differences in ideas and identities. Together, our employees are empowered to share their expertise and collaborate with others to achieve personal and professional goals.

Learn more about what we do (https://www.icf.com/) and our commitment to inclusion (https://www.icf.com/company/about/diversity-inclusion) .

The benefits of joining ICF:

Our people at ICF are our most important asset, so we invest in them from the moment they arrive. When you join our team, you’ll have access to a vast array of benefits to help you live your life well.

We offer a hybrid working policy, which will provide you with the flexibility to collaborate in the office, as well as in the comfort of your own home, ensuring you are able to successfully deliver the requirements of your role.

To support you, our employee wellbeing hub is designed to provide highly personalised support across a comprehensive range of wellbeing issues, such as mind, body, finances, community, career programs and HR support.

We enjoy celebrating success, which is why we have a competitive recognition program called ‘You Matter’, which awards points as a ‘thank you’ for your work achievements. These can be spent on a large variety of high-quality items, as well as online or high-street vouchers, all with zero tax payable by the employee.

ICF also offers a range of competitive benefits, which include:

• Single Private Medical Insurance cover with no restrictions on existing conditions.

• Dental insurance and an online GP service.

• 25 days annual leave, plus UK bank holidays (annual leave increases with years of service).

• Pension scheme with 5% of salary employer contribution

• Life assurance paying 4x annual salary and Group Income Protection paying 66% of salary for up to 5 years if you are off work on long-term sick.

• Enhanced parental leave policies, enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental pay.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

At ICF, we are committed to ensuring a fair and equitable interview process for all candidates based on their own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools to generate or assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is not permitted. This policy is in place to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the interview process.

However, we understand that some candidates may require accommodations that involve the use of AI. If such an accommodation is needed, candidates are instructed to contact us in advance at candidateaccommodation@icf.com . We are dedicated to providing the necessary support to ensure that all candidates have an equal opportunity to succeed.

London (GB80)