Legal Counsel at Interswitch Group

Interswitch is an Africa-focused integrated digital payments and commerce company that facilitates the electronic circulation of money as well as the exchange of value between individuals and organisations on a timely and consistent basis. We started operations in 2002 as a transaction switching and electronic payments processing, and have progressively evolved into an integrated payment services company, building and managing payment infrastructure as well as delivering innovative payment products and transactional services throughout the African continent. At Interswitch, we offer unique career opportunities for individuals capable of playing key roles and adding value in an innovative and fun environment.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Legal Counsel

Location: Lagos
Job type: Full time

Job Summary

• To handle legal tasks concerning the Interswitch group covering contracts review, intellectual property protection, litigation management, company secretariat, engagement with law enforcement authorities and other tasks as advised by the Head, Company Secretariat, and/or the Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary.

Key Accountabilities

• Attending to assigned legal and company secretarial tasks within agreed OLAs.
• Processing payments to External Solicitors as agreed in engagement letters to ensure non interruption of external legal services and prevent reputational risks.
• Implementing approved intellectual property protection strategies and litigation strategies.
• Engaging law enforcement authorities concerning criminal matters to ensure the Group’s interest is covered.
• Preparing monthly reports covering legal and company secretarial activities for the period.
• Ensuring efficient board operations/administrative processes.
• Implementation of Board/Board Committee's decisions
• Holding of all statutory Board Committee and Management meetings and as contained in charters
• Customer Service & Quality of Board Support
• TAT in obtaining Board/Board Committee's approvals
• Timely circulation of documents (Board & Committee papers, notice of meetings, etc) to members as contained in charters
• Timeliness and completeness of filing returns for all Group entities

Key Responsiblities

• Perform company secretarial duties for Interswitch entities.
• Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements by maintaining accurate and up-to-date statutory records and documentation for Interswitch’ entities, adhering to relevant laws, policies, and guidelines set by regulatory bodies (e.g., Companies and Allied Matters Act, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Communications Commission, Financial Reporting Council, etc.), pertaining to board activities and corporate governance.
• Facilitate seamless statutory and regulatory processes by managing changes in Board membership, share allotments, registered office address alterations, and all pertinent statutory/ regulatory matters. This includes maintaining shareholder registers, issuance of share certificates, managing share transfers, and handling corporate filings, consents, and other statutory returns.
• Set up annual general meetings or extraordinary general meetings of shareholders of entities within the Interswitch Group and prepare and keep minutes of such meetings.
• Maintain current knowledge of alterations in legislation and provide legal opinions on such legislation where necessary
• Prepare Board & Board Committee minutes, collate and follow up on Board papers/ reports for the various meetings.
• Review legal rights and obligations arising from the Company’s relationships with group companies and third parties
• Legal risk management
• Contract management
• Business Continuity Management
• Dispute resolution and dispute avoidance
• Communicate and negotiate with external parties (regulators, external counsel, public authority etc.), creating relations of trust
• Review drafts and solidify agreements, contracts and other legal documents to ensure the company’s full legal rights
• Deal with complex matters with multiple stakeholders and forces
• Provide clarification on legal language or requirements to internal stakeholders
• Conduct work with integrity and responsibility

Board Operations & Meetings Management:

• Develop the Board Annual Schedule of meetings and training plan.
• Organise Board meetings for Interswitch Group entities, in consultation with the Managing Director of each group entity and the Chairman of the Board and keep records of such meetings.
• Attend and write minutes for Board and Board Committee meetings of Interswitch Group.
• Communicate the Board and Committees resolutions to relevant parties as authorised by the Board Chair.
• Provide continuously improving secretarial practices to the Board.
• Monitor the implementation of Board directives.
• Ensure that individual Board members and Executives execute tasks assigned to them by the Board.
• Maintain strict confidentiality of all information regarding Interswitch and its business and/or pertaining to its functions which is, confidential and/or proprietary in nature and/or not in the public domain and shall not use or disclose to others any of such information, save as may be strictly necessary in the carrying out of its duties and functions hereunder.
• Ensure that Interswitch policies and procedures are in accordance with legislation and applicable corporate governance standards.
• Provide secretarial services at shareholders’ meetings (i.e., agenda, notices, attendance, collation of meeting papers, and minutes).

Requirements

• A First Degree in Law from an accredited university.
• Certificate of call to the Nigerian Bar.
• Any other relevant qualification such as ICSAN is a plus.
• A qualified lawyer with more than 5 years of legal experience as a practice lawyer in a commercial law firm and/or as an in-house counsel; with significant experience in company secretarial practice.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.