Job description

Job title:General Counsel

Reporting to:Chief Executive

Job family:Legal

Pay level: H

NMC leadership behaviours

As a senior leader you are collectively and individually accountable for demonstrating and modelling the behavioural standards aligned to our organisation’s valuesin all aspects of your role,to drive organisational excellence and enable delivery of the highest standards of service. You are expected to communicate a compelling vision both internally and externally, articulating the corporate agenda to a diverse stakeholder group with awareness of and sensitivity to a range of perspectives. As a member of the leadership team you will be held accountable for performance within your areas of responsibility in achieving the NMC’s strategic priorities and for building staff engagement and empowerment, promoting trust, mutual respect and operating at all times with the utmost integrity.

Role purpose

To oversee the delivery of strategic legal services and regulatory legislation advice across the organisation in order to add value to, and be the ‘backbone’ of, our regulatory work. You will seek to ensure that the NMC operates within the law at all times, offer expert and strategic legal advice to the chief executive and executive team, and seek to limit the organisation’s exposure to legal risk.

You will be responsible for driving forward improvements and change to the NMC’s regulatory legislation to meet the NMC’s goal of protecting the public.

You will provide leadership and oversight of an internal legal team which will work to identifythe legal issues in all departments and their interrelation, and identify proactive solutions that will eliminate or mitigate legal and policy risks.

Your will oversee the strategic management of any significant legal claims or litigation involving the NMC.

Key accountabilities

  • Share collective responsibility for the NMC’s performance in protecting the public in a manner that is fair, efficient and effective.
  • Challenge and support directors to make evidence-informed decisions in the public interest, leading on discussions about areas of own expertise and providing options and clear recommendations.
  • Provide compelling, consistent and corporate leadership which creates clarity for all staff and builds a clear sense of shared accountability for the success of the organisation.
  • Develop and maintain excellent external relationships, acting at all times as a corporate ambassador for the NMC and building the organisation’s reputation and profile as a provider of high quality regulatory and public protection services.
  • Share collective leadership of equality and diversity across the organisation,overcoming barriers and embedding good practice in all organisational activities.
  • Undertake any other duties that may reasonably be required by the Chief Executive]

Teamleadership

  • Provide visible, inspiring and motivational leadership and clear direction, modelling the NMC’s values and behaviours and empowering and enabling staff in all areas of responsibility to deliver excellence.
  • Encourage leadership and innovation among management staff, respecting their expertise and setting an appropriate balance between autonomy and accountability.
  • Manage financial, human and other resources efficiently and effectively, ensuring there is the capacity and capability to discharge the team’s functions.
  • Review the structure and processes of the team, to enable effective working and promote performance improvement.
  • Devise appropriate performance targets for the team, closely monitoring achievement against them.
  • Provide effective performance management and development, managing issues related to conduct and capability as needed.
  • Monitor and control the team’s resources, producing timely and accurate financial and management information.
  • Oversee the preparation of the legal team’s annual business plans and budget.

Functional responsibilities

  • Lead the review and development of a new approach to the delivery of legal advice services across the NMC to improve cost-effectiveness andeliminate or mitigate any significant legal and policy risks.
  • Ensure continuous improvement in the provision of efficient and cost effective legal advice across the organisation.
  • Provide expert and strategic legal advice to CEO & Executive Team
  • Anticipate legal issues and estimate risks strategically and identify proactive solutions that will eliminate or mitigate legal and policy risks
  • Base all your decision-making on ethics and integrity
  • Create associations of trust and respect with key stakeholders and deal with external parties (regulators, external counsel, politicians, clients)
  • Attract, develop, direct, motivate and drive performance from the in-house legal team and other legal colleagues.
  • To introduce and maintain robust legal business partnering for various directorates across the NMC.
  • Oversee the use of external legal resources.
  • Identify proactive solutions that will eliminate or mitigate legal and policy risks and oversee the strategic management of any legal claims or litigation involving the NMC.
  • Take a lead role in the design and implementation of new regulatory legislation in all areas of the organisation.
  • Drive forward longer term improvements and changes to the NMC’s regulatory legislation to meet the NMC’s goal of protecting the public.
  • Oversee the NMC’s corporate legislative development work.
  • Ensure the production of timely and accurate management information to support wider corporate policy formulation and decision-making.

External Relationships

  • Ensure the NMC meets its obligations to our accountability stakeholders, including the NMC’s Council, the parliamentary Health Committee and the Professional Standards Authority.
  • Build and maintain effective relationships with the Department of Health, other regulators, representative bodies concerned with patients and public, registrants and employers, for the purposes of intelligence gathering, collaboration and reputation management .
  • Represent the NMC as brand ambassador on public platforms.

Quality assurance, learning and improvement

  • Establish a culture and systems that help the NMC to assess the quality of its work accurately, learn from mistakes and improve its performance.

Standard responsibilities

People management

  • Provide visible leadership and direction and keep performance under review to ensure that performance targets are met, facilitating and supporting teams to work collaboratively in achieving team, directorate and corporate objectives.
  • Provide supportive, consistent and robust performance management to direct reports by providing regular feedback, conducting formal reviews, and identifying and addressing business-focussed training and development needs.
  • Manage issues relating to conduct and capability, ensuring that such issues are dealt with in a focussed and timely manner.

Other responsibilities

There are a number of standard duties and responsibilities that all employees, irrespective of their role and level of seniority within the NMC, are expected to be familiar with and adhere to.

  • Comply at all times with the requirements of health and safety regulations to ensure their own wellbeing and that of their colleagues.
  • Promote and comply with NMC policies on diversity and equality both in the delivery of services and treatment of others.
  • Ensure confidentiality at all times, only releasing confidential information obtained during the course of employment to those acting in an official capacity in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and its amendments.
  • Comply with NMC protocols on the appropriate use of telephone, email and internet facilities.
  • Comply with the principles of risk management in relation to individual and corporate responsibilities.
  • Comply with NMC policies and procedures as compiled on the organisation’s intranet.

This job description is not exhaustive and as such the post holder is expected to be flexible. Any changes will only be made following a discussion with the post holder.

Person specification

Job title:General Counsel

Qualifications and experience

  • Educated to degree level with BA or MA degree in Law or equivalent with a professional legal qualification
  • Substantial experience of working at director level in a high profile, complex environment, skilled in understanding and responding to different perspectives and taking a cross-organisational perspective.
  • Overall broad legal knowledge and proven general legal experience in a regulatory environment
  • In-depth understanding of how legal issues affect organisations and an ability to anticipate legal issues or risks and to “see around the corner”
  • Ability to develop legal strategy and objectives
  • High degree of professional ethics, integrity and gravitas
  • Excellent judgment and highly developed analytical skills
  • First class interpersonal and communication and presentation skills

Knowledge, skills and abilities

  • An understanding of the NMC’s regulatory and social policy environment.
  • The ability to manage a complex, high profile, highly political and multi-faceted portfolio of work
  • Strong intellectual skills, innovative thinking, and the ability to think critically and analytically to draw sound conclusions.
  • Proven track record of building and maintaining strategic relationships and working in partnership.
  • Excellent people leadership skills and proven ability to motivate, develop and hold to account diverse teams.
  • Clear evidence of working effectively as a collaborative and supportive team member.
  • Sound understanding of the importance of corporate governance
  • Excellent financial acumen and proven ability to manage budgets and resources tightly and prudently.
  • Ability to articulate complex technical concepts with clarity to diverse stakeholders.

Personal qualities

  • Resilient and self-confident to engage with diverse stakeholders to drive through change.
  • Willingness to challenge underlying assumptions and the status quo.
  • Visible, motivational and inspirational leadership skills
  • Committed to public protection.

Key working relationships

  • NMC Council members
  • Executive team
  • FTP Assistant Director – Legal Services
  • All NMC Directorates
  • Government departments
  • Other regulators
  • External suppliers and networks

Management dimensions

  • Responsibility for the annual external legal services budget (excluding FTP)
  • Number of directly managed staff: approximately 3-4 (to be confirmed)
  • Assistant general counsel
  • In-house lawyers ( 1-2 FTE)
  • Executive assistant
  • Matrix management/oversight of other regulatory legal staff:
  • Head of Policy and Legislation, ESP
  • Head of FTP Legislation and Policy

Head of Policy and Legislation, Registration

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