Senior Legal Counsel, Commercial Lawyer

Why we're hiring:

An exciting opportunity for a commercially astute Senior Legal Counsel to join WPP's global Legal team in London. This pivotal role will provide practical, focused legal expertise to our agency commercial and client teams worldwide. It requires a proactive professional who can not only draft and negotiate complex contracts but also strategically support and lead commercial contract negotiations, ensuring WPP's practices uphold both legal requirements and ethical obligations in a dynamic environment. Flexibility is key as assignments evolve, and some agreed-upon travel may be required.

You'll join a global WPP Legal team of around 70, with a core team of 20 based in London. We're looking for a passionate and energetic individual who thrives on autonomy and responsibility within a fast-paced in-house legal environment, working alongside exceptional lawyers.

What you'll be doing:

• Drafting, negotiating, and advising on a wide range of complex commercial contracts, including client agreements (particularly for media planning and buying services) and vendor contracts (such as advertising and advertising technology services, and influencer engagements).
• Providing global legal support and expert advice to WPP agencies, particularly media agencies and new business teams.
• Training stakeholders on critical legal issues impacting the media and marketing industry (advertising, data privacy, AI, IP).
• Actively supporting client pitches, renegotiations, and developing user-friendly legal templates.
• Advising on litigation risk mitigation, including contract and data privacy compliance.
• Collaborating with the global WPP Legal team to ensure consistency and uphold high professional standards.

What you'll need:

• Qualified solicitor (or equivalent) with a minimum of 7 years’ post-qualification experience.
• Essential proven experience in drafting commercial contracts, media experience is preferred but not essential.
• Strong working knowledge of contract law, data privacy law, artificial intelligence regulations, and intellectual property.
• Demonstrated ability to lead negotiations and develop strategic approaches for complex commercial transactions.
• Excellent collaboration skills, working effectively across multidisciplinary teams and jurisdictions.
• Fluent English is essential.

Who you are:

You're open: We are inclusive and collaborative; we encourage the free exchange of ideas; we respect and celebrate diverse views. We are open-minded: to new ideas, new partnerships, new ways of working.

You're optimistic: We believe in the power of creativity, technology and talent to create brighter futures or our people, our clients and our communities. We approach all that we do with conviction: to try the new and to seek the unexpected.

You're extraordinary: we are stronger together: through collaboration we achieve the amazing. We are creative leaders and pioneers of our industry; we provide extraordinary every day.

What we'll give you:

Passionate, inspired people – We aim to create a culture in which people can do extraordinary work.

Scale and opportunity – We offer the opportunity to create, influence and complete projects at a scale that is unparalleled in the industry.

Challenging and stimulating work – Unique work and the opportunity to join a group of creative problem solvers. Are you up for the challenge?

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