Deloitte is a leading global provider of audit and audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services. Our global network of member firms and related entities in more than 150 countries and territories (collectively, the “Deloitte organization”) serves four out of five Fortune Global 500® companies.  Learn how Deloitte’s approximately 312,000 people make an impact that matters at www.deloitte.com 

About the Division

It takes a high-powered network of internal support professionals to keep Deloitte going strong. The internal services function provides a wide variety of support services to our organisation and people.

Rewarding career opportunities are available in:

• Human resources
• Information technology
• Marketing and Communications
• Financial support services, and much more.

As with all the functions in Deloitte, a core set of competencies is associated with each internal service area. An overall understanding of value-added client service, the experience to work in multifunctional and cross-border teams, strong business acumen, and the instinct to think and act globally are essential for advancement within Internal Client Services.

The successful candidate will form part of the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) and will assist with internal legal support to the Firm.  The focus will be on managing Contentious Matters and Resource Relations disputes.

Contentious Matters involves, primarily, managing legal dispute matters in the management of all matters of a contentious, litigious or dispute nature that involve the regional areas of responsibility.

Resource Relations involves, primarily, managing legal issues stemming from the relationship between the Firm and its employees, including disciplinary matters and claims of wrongful termination.

(Role split 50/50 between Contentious Matters and Resource Relations)

Core Technical/Professional

• Presents cogent idea/information using clear and concise messaging leveraging visual mediums
• Anticipates stakeholder responses and modifies communication approach to effectively articulate information
• Forges collaborative relationships through open and impactful facilitation skills
• Manages difficult conversations with internal and external stakeholders by having a calm and professional demeanor
• Recognizes emotions and practices empathy by being an active listener
• Always keeps Deloitte's interest as a key priority
• Supports junior team members in navigating difficult conversations; escalating to more senior team members when necessary
• Responds to unexpected situations by identifying out-of-the-box alternatives and ideas to adapt with agility
• Supports team(s) to understand the need to adapt and subsequently identify ways to adapt, when required
• Anticipates and addresses concerns and motivates others to embrace change
• Operates with resilience by successfully responding to change and disruption in a quick, flexible and innovative manner
• Supports team(s) to develop or enhance resiliency skills
• Prioritizes quality of work over other engagement constraints
• Sets tone by leading teams in application of appropriate tools, methodologies, quality and risk protocols, relevant regulatory frameworks, professional standards and regulatory requirements along with judgment to deliver quality work on engagements
• Guides team members to fill their skills/capability gaps
• Leads by example with integrity and an enquiring mind, despite pressures and circumstances
• Upholds Deloitte's Shared Values, and reports unethical behavior(s)
• Knows when to consult firm experts to seek clarity and ensure compliance with applicable requirements
• Proactively and effectively evaluates problems objectively, separates the cause from symptoms and considers views of multiple, diverse stakeholders
• Employs techniques to connect the dots that enable robust recommendations/solutions
• Anticipates, identifies and articulates the most critical business problems in a proactive and detailed manner that captures specific nuances of the issues
• Gains alignment from internal and external stakeholders on the validity of the problem by articulating root causes
• Presents problem analysis, recommends solutions after evaluating all the pros and cons and develops strategic contingency plans
• Validates recommendations/ideas proposed by teams and provides them with the vision for solutions
• Attends to dedicated internal client consults and other queries with appropriate due diligence 
• Identify risk issues and potential impact on the Practice or Firm and proactively and effectively communicates these.

Specialised Technical

• Ensure that internal clients in region/market receive adequate and appropriate legal and compliance services.
• Regularly engage senior internal client management to identify Deloitte needs and report in emerging risks
• Assist senior management to tailors existing, or develop new, services and products to address existing and emerging internal client needs
• Attend to tasks efficiently to deliver results within specified time frames
• Prioritize competing tasks as per their urgency and importance
• Provide regular feedback in terms of progress
• Handle information with discretion and confidentiality
• Proactively manage conflict
• Accept constructive feedback and learns from it.
• Be approachable
• Set and maintain high standard when dealing with OGC team and internal clients
• Ensuring all the applicable key legal and compliance risks for Resource Relations in region/market are identified and managed
• Demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of general legal principles, in particular in the field of labour and resource relations applicable to region/market
• Take active measures to keep up to speed with the latest legal developments in area of specialization in region/market
• Monitor and manage existing and emerging legal risks related to labour and resource relations in region/market
• Reporting to the Africa Contentious Matters Leader and Africa Resource Relations Leader all contentious, litigious and resource relations matters raised against or by the regional Practices;
• Supporting the Africa Contentious Matters Leader and Africa Resource Relations Leader in legal responses to contentious, litigious and resource relations matters raised against or by the regional Practices, including specialist advice on misconduct & incapacity cases as well as grievances/dispute resolution.;
• Drafting responses to contentious letters and letters of demand as and when required;
• Advising business in relation to legal risks of a contentious or resource relations nature faced by the regional Practices so as to mitigate the occurrence of legal claims and disputes;
• Instructing, engaging and consulting with the Practice’s external attorneys and counsel in respect of contentious and resource relations matters as and when required;
• Assisting in the preparation, review and management of legal defence documents and managing litigation from onset, through the court or alternative dispute resolution process and to conclusion;
• Drafting and reviewing legal defence and claim pleadings;
• Maintaining a database in respect of all contentious and resource relations matters with updates in respect of the status of each matter;
• Preparing reports to various executive and governance forums;
• Managing processes related to the matters of legal professional privilege and confidentiality
• Management of responses to opposing attorneys and/or regulatory authorities when subpoenas or other regulatory demands are received;
• Assisting partners and/or employees to manage subpoenas received including advising on duties to comply with subpoenas and managing compliance with subpoenas timeously;
• Coordinating the collation of subpoenaed documentation and information from business for submission to opposing parties;
• Assisting business and the QRM teams with drafting and reviewing of legal and regulatory responses to be provided by the Firm to various regulators or commissions of inquiry;
• Management of document preservation processes to ensure the comprehensive and timely securing of critical documentary evidence required for the response to contentious matters;
• Issuing of preservation notices as and when required;
• Managing the responses received in respect of preservation notices;
• Maintaining a database of preservation notices sent, recipients of preservation notices and responses to preservation notices;
• Management of document preservation processes to ensure the comprehensive and timely securing of critical documentary evidence required for the response to contentious matters;
• Issuing of preservation notices as and when required;
• Managing the responses received in respect of preservation notices;
• Maintaining a database of preservation notices sent, recipients of preservation notices and responses to preservation notices;

•  

• Assisting in preparing legal cost budgets and forecasts
• Management of the Practice’s Professional Indemnity (“PI”) insurance;
• Notifying the Practice’s PI insurers of new claims or circumstances in accordance with the Firm’s PI insurance policy and protocol;
• Corresponding regularly with the Firm’s PI insurers including updating the insurers and their attorneys on progress and status of matters notified;

• Engaging with the Firm’s PI insurers on legal defence strategy and settlement considerations;

• Advising the QRM teams in relation to legal queries as and when required;
• Advising on an ad-hoc day-to-day basis in relation to contentious matters;
• Assisting the Firm’s contracting team with contractual queries relating to arbitration, litigation, liability clauses and other legal risk issues, confidentiality and legal privilege etc;
• Reviewing and commenting on, and occasionally drafting agreements, hold harmless letters and terms & conditions.
• Provide internal support to the regional Practice by managing the relationship between the employer and the various employment related issues and disputes.
• Draft and review employment related agreements, including permanent employment agreements, fixed term employment agreements, temporary employment services (labour broking) agreements, vendor agreements and secondment agreements.
• Ensuring employee compliance of with Firm policies and procedures.
• Assisting with employee disciplinary proceedings and ensuring compliance with the principles of substantive and procedural fairness.
• Management of employment related litigious and contentious matters before judicial forums.
• Assisting with and advising the business on matters related to employee grievances, performance management matters, redundancies and restructures,  compensation fund claims, restraints of trade and fair labour practices.
• Attending to employee relations training.
• Ensuring compliance with and interpretation of the terms and conditions of employment and prevailing labour relations and employment legislation.
• Conduct internal investigations under the direction of the Africa Resource Relations Leader.
• Support the Africa Resource Relations Leader with discrimination and harassment matters.
• Assist the Africa Resource Relations Leader with workplace disputes, including redundancies and dismissals.
• Assist the Africa Resource Relations Leader with the roll-out of applicable training, legal alerts and presentations.
• Drive compliance of contracting protocols across region/market.
• Identify risks and develop effective ways to mitigate such risks.
• Managing benefits, and terms & conditions of non-permanent workforce in region/market
• Assess requests for contracts using and issuing appropriate contracts
• Identify loopholes in the system that have resulted in non-permanent relationships not being assessed for the non-permanent workforce
• Manage region/market reporting on utilisation of non-permanent workforce arrangements.
• Assist Africa Resource Relations leader in researching, developing and implementing Policies & Procedures that are legally compliant, represent best practice and are accepted by the business in the region/market
• Apply new policies as well as updates/amendments to existing Policies & procedures
• Ensuring that Policies & Procedures are consistently applied in region/market.

Minimum Experience and Qualifications

• Honours Degree in Law
• 5 years post articles experience in civil litigation, civil dispute resolution and resource/labour relations disputes
• 2-3 years’ experience legal dispute case management
• 2-3 years resource/labour relations disciplinary and termination matters

Desired Experience and Qualifications

• Masters Degree in Law
• 5-7 years post articles experience in civil litigation, civil dispute resolution and resource/labour relations disputes
• 3+ years’ experience legal dispute case management
• 3+ years resource/labour relations disciplinary and termination matters

Technical Capabilities

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal  
• Excellent time management skills; ability to work on multiple simultaneous activities, apply prioritization, and negotiate deadlines. 
• Sound industry and business knowledge 
• Management capabilities 
• Ability to manage and execute projects  
• Strong legal skills in areas of litigation, dispute resolution and resource relations.
• Excellent inter-personal skills, including facilitation, presentation skills and ability to manage conflict  
• Excellent analytical, research, problem solving and critical thinking skills 

Behavioural

• Ability to manage high stress incidents in a calm and structured manner.
• Ability to work well in a team environment 
• Leadership skills
• Ability to influence stakeholders
• Effective interpersonal and relationship building skills 
• Good mentorship and coaching ability with desire to develop self and others  
• Adaptable, managing change and ambiguity 
• Focus on quality and risk 
• Problem solving ability 

At Deloitte, we want everyone to feel they can be themselves and to thrive at work—in every country, in everything we do, every day. We aim to create a workplace where everyone is treated fairly and with respect, including reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. We seek to create and leverage our diverse workforce to build an inclusive environment across the African continent.