Legal Counsel

Role Overview : The role requires a proactive individual with strong expertise in the retail industry, stakeholder management, property due diligence, and legal advisory. The ideal candidate should have worked on retail leases, leave and license and related agreements with a keen eye for detail, a strong commercial acumen, and the ability to drive legal processes efficiently while safeguarding the organization's interests. Role Description : 1. Contract Lifecycle Management - Manage end-to-end lease agreement lifecycle, including drafting, vetting, negotiating, and execution of agreements with internal as well as external stakeholders, adhering to defined TATs and the approved financial terms. - Conduct due diligence of the properties proposed to be taken on lease. - Highlight and mitigate legal risks in the lease and related agreements or due diligence ; coordinate with internal stakeholders for deviation approvals where necessary. - Manage registration process of the lease / license agreements - Monitor renewals of leases and ensure timely execution to avoid disruptions in operations. - Periodically review and update standard templates as well as SOPs to reflect evolving legal and business requirements - Ensure compliance with SOPs for signoff of agreements and for termination of leases - Ensure complete usage of the contract management system for agreement workflows; train business teams on usage and processes. - Continuously enhance drafting standards, with a focus on clarity, commercial detailing, and risk mitigation. - Maintain organized legal databases and contract repositories for easy retrieval and compliance tracking. 2. Due Diligence - Conduct title due diligence of the proposed retail store - Prepare and signoff due diligence report of the property 3. Template Updating & Version Control - Periodically review and update standard templates for Lease agreements to reflect evolving legal and business requirements - Define and enforce exit processes for retail stores in collaboration with stakeholders - Keep the SOPs updated for onboarding retail stores, aligned with both legal and business considerations - Drive complete migration of historic contracts and related data to the contract management tool. 4. Knowledge Management & Advisory - Stay abreast of legal developments, regulatory changes, and judicial pronouncements relevant to the e-commerce and beauty industry. - Actively participate in learning programs for professional development. - Foster collaboration within the legal team and cross-functionally with business stakeholders. - Provide proactive, commercially pragmatic legal advice for new business initiatives, projects, and collaborations. - Conduct thorough legal research and analysis to strengthen contract negotiations and legal advisories. Knowledge and Qualification Requirements : - LLB/LLM from a reputed law school. - 6+ years of post-qualification experience, preferably in an in-house legal role within Retail, Logistics, or Telecom industry. - Demonstrated expertise in retail leases drafting and negotiation with landlord/ mall teams, due diligence, registration process and legal risk assessment - Strong stakeholder management and communication skills. - Ability to work independently with a problem-solving mindset and a focus on delivering timely results. - Ability to work in a fast paced environment - Team player - Good presentation skills