Legal Advisor - Development Bank of Southern Africa

Job Description

To proactively advise and support clients on the legal aspects of financing activities. The Legal advisor supports the DBSA with timely legal advice on all financing matters including, contract, commercial, governance and regulation.

Key Responsibilities

• As a member of core project teams, assist Investment Officers in the structuring of various investment projects, with an emphasis on project finance transactions
• Conduct comprehensive legal due diligence investigations
• Conduct advanced research into a wide variety of legal issues relating to various investment projects
• Provide advice and make legal inputs into the drafting of Appraisal Reports
• Serve and participate in various credit committees of the DBSA
• Prepare/review or negotiate full Term Sheets in respect of all investment projects with emphasis on project finance transactions
• Lead negotiations with clients/co-funders and stakeholders
• Draft/vet and review a wide variety of complex legal documents and agreements
• Provide substantial legal advice, support and opinions to various corporate support units of the DBSA
• Ensure compliance with various legislation, policies and regulations
• Monitor developments in the legal field and provide updates to colleagues and management
• Liaise with external attorneys and prepare comprehensive brief to attorneys where necessary
• Assist in the execution and implementation of different investment projects from a legal and security point of view
• Provide general legal support to the operational and corporate small units of the Bank

Expertise & Technical Competencies

Minimum Requirements

• LLB degree or other relevant post-graduate qualification
• Admitted Attorney/Advocate of the High Court of South Africa
• At least 2 years post-qualification experience.
• Private Public Partnership experience will be an added advantage.
• A minimum of 4 years experience gained at a commercial bank/specialist law firm/corporate or similar institution.

Required Personal Attributes

Behavioural Competencies

Conceptual Thinking

• Uses knowledge of theory or of different past situations to look at current situations.
• Applies learned concepts across various situations

Decisiveness

• Acts promptly to address urgent needs, taking quickly those decisions which need to be taken.
• Thinks on their feet when necessary
• Assesses available information to reach a clear view of key options and selects the best option at the time.

Customer Service orientation

• Makes self fully available, especially when the customer is going through a critical period.
• Requests on-going feedback from customers and takes action in response to it; manages to retain and capitalize on existing customers.
• Is aware of the level of service offered by the competition and provides more for customers than they expect
• Takes the “extra step” to resolve customer issues appropriately, even in the case where they do not fall under own area of responsibility.

Information Seeking and Analysis

• Investigates the problem or situation beyond routine questioning.
• Breaks down problems into simple lists of tasks or activities

Integrity

• Takes pride in being trustworthy, serves all equally, respects others and embraces diversity.
• Is honest in all relations (internal/external relations).

Organizational Awareness

• Recognises and/or uses the informal structure of an organisation.
• Recognises key actors, decision influencers, etc. and applies this knowledge when the formal structure does not work as well as desired.