Job Summary

We are seeking a highly motivated individual to join our Legal team at Standard Chartered Bank in New York. The Americas Legal team is seeking an attorney to work on complex lending transactions (including structured loans, back-leverage transactions, project finance, commercial real estate, fund finance and other specialized lending transactions), syndicated and bilateral lending, and private credit transactions.  The successful candidate will advise on complex lending structures, provide coverage on syndicated and bilateral loans generally, and provide general support to the Global Banking business. The successful candidate will be working directly with the Head, Legal, Global Banking, US as well as other team members in the Legal Department.

We are seeking a highly organized and proactive Legal Counsel to support our team. The Legal Counsel will provide expert and strategic legal advice to the business and other stakeholders on a wide range of topics. The successful candidate will ensure that the Bank operates within the law, offer counsel on legal issues, and facilitate business strategies by minimizing legal risks.

We value candidates who are self-motivated and demonstrate excellence in several core areas, including contract negotiation, advisory services, strategic planning, and risk mitigation. Moreover, an eagerness to learn and develop new skills is considered essential, as it will further enhance the candidate’s effectiveness and contribution in this role.

Day-to-Day Tasks

• Advise the business on all aspects of lending transactions (including bespoke lending structures, specialized lending products and structured loans (e.g. loan-on-loan financings)) and transactions with private credit funds.
• Advise the business on syndicated and bilateral loans generally, including syndicated transactions where the Bank acts in an agency role.
• Advise trading desks on secondary sales of loan assets.
• Broad range of legal support for the Global Banking business, including direct negotiations with clients and their counsel.
• Provide additional support within the Americas Legal team, as needed, to support the wholesale banking businesses in the Americas Region.
• Identify and address legal, policy, regulatory and commercial issues and risks.
• Negotiate and draft contractual arrangements within a transaction.
• Manage all aspects of external counsel relationships and engagement.
• Coordinate with internal stakeholders including risk, compliance and audit teams to ensure adherence to firm policies, procedures and best practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Be aware of, and understand, relevant policies and procedures applicable to Legal, Global Banking and other businesses (as applicable).
• Assist in the creation and implementation of firm policies, procedures and guidelines, as needed.
• Work in collaboration with risk and control partners.
• Ensure a full understanding of the risk and control environment in area of responsibility.
• Maintain awareness and understanding of the top risks faced by the Group in the Americas Region.
• Work with other Legal staff to provide legal coverage for US businesses within Global Banking and general Legal support for all New York / US / Americas (as applicable) law matters as needed.
• Assist Global Banking lead lawyer on syndicated and bilateral loans, working with external counsel.
• Work with other members of Americas Legal and front office to address legal issues for the Region, including direct negotiations with clients and their counsel.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
•  Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.
• Work closely with Head of Legal, Americas; Head of Legal, Global Banking Americas; Relationship Managers/Sales/Products for Global Banking Americas; Credit Americas; Compliance Americas; Lending and Trade Operations Americas; External Law firms.

Skills and Experience we look for

• Juris Doctor or other equivalent Law degree.
• 4-6 years of relevant experience at a large law firm or an in-house legal function at a financial institution.
• Corporate Law.
• Banking/Finance Law.
• Admission to the New York Bar.
• Ability to identify legal risks relevant to the applicable businesses, services and documentation.
• Strong leadership/mentorship, strategic thinking, exceptional communication.
• Proven ability to manage and negotiate complex transactions and guide senior leadership in dynamic environments.
• Awareness and understanding of the regulatory framework in which the Group operates and the regulatory requirements relevant to the Americas region.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.

Recruitment Assessments

Expected annual base pay range for the role is 183,220 USD to 255,000 USD. The final offer will be determined on an individualised basis using a number of variables, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience and education, internal relativity, and specific work location. At Standard Chartered Bank, Base pay is only part of the total compensation package. Discretionary variable pay and a range of attractive bank sponsored benefit programs are available and designed to foster employee overall health and well-being including, but not limited to, a best in class 401k plan with up to 8% employer match, robust medical plan coverage with employer funded Health Savings Accounts, inclusive family building benefits, and flexible/hybrid working arrangements for many of our positions subject to role specific considerations.

Some of our roles use assessments to help us understand how suitable you are for the role you've applied to. If you are invited to take an assessment, this is great news. It means your application has progressed to an important stage of our recruitment process.

Visit our careers website www.sc.com/careers