Legal Counsel

LEGAL COUNSEL, INDIA

WOLTERS KLUWER GLOBAL LAW & COMPLIANCE DEPARTMENT

Wolters Kluwer OVERVIEW:
Through its five global operating divisions (Tax & Accounting, Legal & Regulatory, Corporate Performance & ESG, Financial & Corporate Compliance and Health), Wolters Kluwer provides information, tools and solutions that help professionals make their most critical decisions effectively and improve their productivity. The Company operates under well-known brand names such as CCH®, CT Corporation, Kluwer Law International, Wolters Kluwer Health, Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, UpToDate®, Ovid®, Health Language, TeamMate®, Lexi-Comp, Facts & Comparisons®, Medi-Span®, Wolters Kluwer Financial Services, Bankers Systems, Gainskeeper®, and ARC Logics.

POSITION LOCATION AND REPORTING STRUCTURE:
The individual will be based at one of Wolters Kluwer’s offices in India. The position will be expected to travel within India to meet with WK stakeholders, as well as customers and partners, and to attend court hearings pertaining to Wolters Kluwer’s businesses. The position will be part of the Wolters Kluwer Asia-Pacific Region Legal team and will report to the Managing Legal Counsel, India.

BASIC FUNCTIONS AND PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
This Legal Counsel will be a member of the Asia-Pacific Region legal team and will work closely with the senior management teams of several business units based in India. This position also will support other general commercial, corporate and contractual matters, and will advise on intellectual property, regulatory compliance and dispute matters.

Specific accountabilities and responsibilities are expected to include the following:

- Serve as legal advisor to Wolters Kluwer’s customer-facing Health and Tax & Accounting businesses in India, including direct negotiation of contracts with customers and vendors and advice on regulatory issues applicable to that business.
- Provide legal and compliance support to Wolters Kluwer’s India-based internal software-development and business-support functions.
- Advise people managers and India-based Human-Resources teams on issues pertaining to Wolters Kluwer’s 4,000 approx. employees in India.
- Manage external counsel supporting Wolters Kluwer’s businesses in India, including in the context of regulatory compliance, commercial transactions, employment law and real estate;
- Work closely with contract managers, corporate secretary and compliance professionals in India to ensure effective and efficient support for those functions;
- Providing comprehensive legal counseling regarding a broad spectrum of corporate, commercial, and intellectual property matters impacting the businesses, including matters and legal issues related to on-premise and cloud-hosted software and software-related services.
- Counseling on regulatory and compliance matters impacting the businesses.
- Helping to educate the business teams about Wolters Kluwer’s Code of Business Ethics and related policies, contracting forms, intellectual property rights and obligations, commercial and legal risks and internal contract review and approval procedures.
- Developing an in-depth knowledge and understanding of Wolters Kluwer, its people, organization, markets, products, customers, competitors and regulatory environment, in order to identify trends and provide high level legal/commercial advice to the businesses.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
This experience should include negotiation of commercial contracts involving information technology, as well as support of a large workforce in India and advising managers and human-resources professionals on issues of labor and employment law. Experience with real-estate transactions also is desirable.

ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES:

- Fluent in English_
- Licensed to practice law in India._
- Strong intellect, excellent legal acumen and rigorous analytical skills, including_:

- demonstrated proficiency in accurately evaluating, understanding and translating complex legal concepts, and converting that understanding into customary contractual terms or, when needed for enforcement or defense in contested situations, pleadings;
- the willingness, talent and capability to be both an effective hands-on lawyer and a proactive manager of teams that may include internal cross-disciplinary business managers and outside counsel;
- sound and well-respected legal and business judgment.
- Excellent legal drafting and negotiating skills, including competencies in_:

- eliciting critical technical, financial and business information from diverse client constituencies (including business managers across all levels and positions/roles);
- understanding legal requirements and contractual provisions and their foreseeable, practical consequences, allowing management to make informed decisions regarding risk/compliance issues; and
- translating business objectives into clear, pragmatic and legally comprehensive and protective agreements.
- A “can do” solutions orientation,