Corporate Legal Counsel EMEA

Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods. Our activities span the entire value chain from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines, we leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers and consumers around the world. Structured as a matrix organization of six geographical regions and ten platforms, Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries and employs approximately 18,000 people globally.

LDC is looking for a Corporate Legal Counsel to join the EMEA Legal team in Geneva, responsible for supporting the corporate governance of all LDC entities in 27 jurisdictions throughout Europe, Middle‑East and Africa and to provide corporate and legal administrative support to the legal teams on a wide variety of matters. In addition to having proven corporate governance expertise, the successful candidate will be expected to also be familiar with a wide scope of matters, such as regulatory review, IP, leases and service level agreements, commercial matters including procurement and construction advice, compliance/KYC requests in line with LDC policies and familiarity with handling disputes.

The successful candidate will have excellent English and French spoken and written skills, will be based in Geneva and be part of the EMEA Legal Team reporting to the Chief Legal Officer of EMEA, but will work closely with Platforms and Functions as well as providing support to our colleagues in other legal teams, globally. Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail are fundamental to this role, which requires resourcefulness and often extensive liaison with third parties such as notaries, translators and couriers, with meticulous review of legal documentation.

• Coordinator for corporate legal support including drafting, reviewing, coordinating and ensuring correct execution and requisite legalisations of multiple documents required at any time by any Function or Platform regionally and globally including matters, trading, finance and arbitrations, often on an urgent basis. Ensuring systematic saving of electronic copies and original documents in the digital and physical archiving system and being the point person for this resource within the EMEA Legal Team.
• Assessing and responding to KYC requests and coordinating provision of each applicable suite of documentation, including obtaining updated documents, execution and legalisation of the same where necessary.
• Drafting and reviewing general corporate documentation such as Board and Shareholder Resolutions, Powers of Attorney, Engagement Letters, and Forms and Statements for the EMEA region.
• Working with external providers such as corporate secretaries, liquidators, auditors; challenging and refining their advice before liaising with internal stakeholders and active involvement in cost reporting and management.
• Supporting the Group Head of Legal and Chief Legal Officer for EMEA with research on various standalone topics ranging from global to regional and administrative tasks (visa requests).
• Providing support on standalone ad-hoc projects in the EMEA region as required.
• Organizing and maintaining reference materials and databases, by supporting on uploading documents on Virtual Data Rooms and/or keep organized other databases on Corporate M&A projects globally and regionally, in synch with the LDC Legal Operational resources.

• Minimum 3 years PQE gained in well regarded law firm or well-established in‑house environment
• Experience working with African jurisdictions or more broadly in a global environment will be an advantage

• Excellent knowledge of PC operating systems, particularly Microsoft Word, Excel, Share Point
• Good communication skills are essential in providing timely and proactive feedback to stakeholders;
• Excellent organizational skill;
• Team player and collaborative/collegiate approach;
• Strong attention to detail and high levels of accuracy at all times;
• Ability to work quickly and to a high level of accuracy under pressure;
• Ability to work within a small team locally and across geographies in a large global company; and
• English…