Job Description

This role shall be responsible for coordinating with various divisions/business units/departments of Landmark Group for ensuring adherence to legal provisions and providing legal advice, to minimize and effectively manage legal exposure. The role holder also provides support in the contracting and renewal of commercial leases for the Group.

The candidate should be well capable of managing such high- value high-exposure litigation across GCC. This would entail, among others, strategizing, drafting, vetting and finalization of pleadings as well as briefing of external counsels, and keeping track of matters.

As a part of the legal team, the in-house counsel will need to work closely with the property and concept finance teams of the Company to collate relevant information and documents, strategize, draft, vet and finalize the leasing contracts etc. for the desired results.

Key Responsibilities

• Negotiate, draft, review and advise upon, all required legal documentation in relation to real estate matters, including leases (commercial, residential and retail), facilities management agreements, property management agreements, development agreements, assignment agreements, settlement agreements, confidentiality agreements, hotel management agreements, MOUs, LOIs, preparing notices and response to notices and all other related and ancillary documents.
• Draft & review routine leases and amendments.
• Ensure that appropriate approvals are in place before lease contracts/ real estate transactions are executed.
• Ensure proper compliance by Group companies with all property laws and regulations including, but not limited to, Dubai Landlord and Tenant Law. The Legal Counsel will also need to be familiar with applicable laws in respect of Group retail & hospitality businesses operating in the region and beyond.
• Act as a legal officer to the Landmark Group.
• Counsel management on appropriate resolution of legal issues.
• Clarify specific legal issues referred to legal by other business or support units within the Landmark Group.
• Review and vet documents/ contracts, settlement and proposed settlements received and offer options/suggestions as to the legal standing and legality of points.
• Provide advice in respect of more general commercial matters as well as advising on the management and conduct of various contentious matters. To also provide advice, as and when required, on construction related matters.
• Exhibits familiarity with terms and conditions of the different types of contracts for Landmark Group and third party and applies such understanding of the terms and conditions in the work processes by means of verification against known or standardized practices
• Performs pre-contract activities including drafting/review of the terms and conditions of contracts, property leases and agreements, etc.
• Leads the negotiation with third parties, on terms and conditions, for high-value, high-risk contracts and drafts/ amends these contracts, for internal review and sign-off.
• Keeps abreast with all regulatory and local law related updates/changes which might impact the legal terms and conditions for contracts, analyzes the impact of the regulatory amendments and redrafts the terms and conditions for the best interests of Landmark Group.
• Develop and oversee control systems to prevent or deal with violations of Contractual requirements and internal policies.
• Evaluate the efficiency of controls and improve them continuously.
• Revise procedures, reports etc. periodically to identify hidden risks or non-conformity issues.
• Collaborate with corporate counsels and Property /Finance departments to monitor enforcement of standards and regulations.
• Strategize, draft, vet, finalize and execute case briefs for the external counsels for and on behalf of the Company to be filed before the Courts and arbitration tribunals.
• The in-house counsel will be required to co-ordinate with external counsels, including the leading law firms to arrange and finalize pleadings, including petitions, replies, rejoinders, appeals, counters etc. well within limitation and the dates fixed etc.
• The in-house counsel will be required to deeply analyze the merits of the cases for the purposes of risk assessment.