Formula 1 is enjoying a golden era. The demand to participate in Formula 1 is at record high levels across all dimensions – amongst fans, sponsors, broadcasters and host cities. With heroism, passion, precision, glamour, cutting-edge innovation and edge-of-the-seat thrills, all delivered on a global stage featuring some of the world’s most enticing locations, no other sport captures the imagination quite like Formula 1, which is both the world’s most prestigious motor racing competition and the world’s most popular annual sporting series.
Dispute Resolution Team
We are seeking a highly motivated dispute resolution lawyer (1-2 PQE) to join Formula 1’s Dispute Resolution team within the Group Legal function. The team advises on a wide variety of risk and dispute-related matters in multiple different jurisdictions involving a broad range of subject matter and law. The team is often involved when agreements are first being negotiated and drafted, through to the early stages of dispute management and beyond to settlement or court or arbitration processes in some cases. The team handles matters involving contractual counterparties, third party individuals and businesses, regulators and authorities, and disputes may arise in areas including contracts, debt and insolvency, intellectual property, health and safety, insurance, competition and regulatory, consumer law, tax, and human rights. The team also advises on the legal aspects of F1’s insurance arrangements and higher-risk areas such as health and safety and security. The team handles many matters in-house and instructs external counsel where necessary. You will join a small team comprising a Legal Counsel and a paralegal, overseen by a Legal Director.
As a lawyer in the Dispute Resolution team, your responsibilities may include:
- Investigating disputes internally, fact-gathering and document collection and taking instructions and evidence from internal clients;
- Reviewing documents, identifying those of importance and drafting chronologies and summaries;
- Reporting to Lead Counsel and discussing options and strategy;
- Researching and preparing notes on legal or factual issues that arise;
- Preparing instructions and collating documents for provision to external counsel;
- Taking attendance notes of calls and meetings with internal clients or external counsel;
- Drafting or reviewing correspondence including pre-action letters and breach and termination notices;
- Drafting or reviewing settlement agreements, termination agreements, variations, releases, and waivers;
- Reviewing and advising on contractual dispute-relevant clauses including law and jurisdiction, termination, liquidated damages, indemnities and liability exclusions;
- Proofreading documents and correspondence;
- Working alongside other team members including supervising and working with the team’s paralegal;
- Creating and using spreadsheet interest calculators;
- Keeping track of ongoing matters and important case deadlines and providing regular updates;
- Keeping electronic dispute resolution files organised and up to date;
- Creating and updating departmental know-how documents, templates and resources;
- Monitoring legal developments and attending know-how seminars; and
- Drafting updates for the team and running department-wide training sessions to share know-how.
Candidates will be able to demonstrate that they:
- Have trained and qualified as a lawyer at a leading law firm (e.g. City, US or West End law firm) and benefited from high quality training and supervision;
- Following qualification, have worked as a junior lawyer in a leading law firm or as part of a reputable in-house team;
- Have a sound knowledge of English law and legal system;
- Are familiar with commercial contracts;
- Are proficient in working with document review platforms; and
- Have experience in IP (especially trade marks) and/or insurance.
We would like to meet candidates who:
- Thrive in a fast-paced environment, are agile, and can manage and prioritise multiple workstreams simultaneously and effectively and deliver results under pressure to a deadline;
- Have excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively communicate legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders;
- Take ownership of and responsibility for their own workstreams and are proactive problem-solvers;
- Pride themselves on having a high degree of attention to detail, a thorough approach to work, and high personal standards;
- Are team players and understand the importance of building relationships with internal clients, peers and external partners;
- Are enthusiastic, have a strong “can-do” attitude and a willingness to expand their skillset; and
- Are prepared to invest in learning about the business of Formula 1.
Due to the high volume of applications expected, we are unfortunately unable to respond to everyone individually.