Senior Legal Counsel

About the role:

We have a great opportunity for an individual to join our General Counsel team as a Senior Legal Counsel in Birmingham. 

Within this role no two days are the same as you'll be involved in a wide range of stimulating work, including:

• Advising on complex regulatory and legal issues, including SRA regulation, data protection and anti-money laundering, sanctions, and compliance obligations.
• Supporting and mentoring colleagues on conflicts of interest and confidentiality matters.
• Involvement in firm-wide projects and collaborating with business support teams to ensure compliance is embedded in everything we do.
• Working with overseas offices to navigate cross-border regulations and maintain our global licences.
• Designing and delivering training, both in-person and online, to keep our teams ahead of regulatory expectations.
• Advising on commercial tenders, client engagement terms, and responding to client complaints.
• Supporting our internal audit function and helping shape our data protection programme.
• Representing the firm at events and staying at the forefront of regulatory developments.

About the team:

Join a Team Where You'll Thrive

Are you ready to take your compliance expertise to the next level in a collaborative, forward-thinking environment? At Gowling WLG, we believe our people are the cornerstone of our success. We foster a culture that's supportive, ambitious, and innovative—where teamwork and respect empower everyone to flourish.

Why You'll Love Working With Us

• Supportive & Friendly Team: Our General Counsel Team is known for its approachable, inclusive atmosphere, where mentoring and personal development are at the heart of what we do.
• Global Impact: As part of an international law firm with a presence across Canada, the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, you'll collaborate with colleagues and clients worldwide, tackling challenges that span jurisdictions and sectors.

About you:

• A qualified lawyer with significant experience in a regulatory role (in-house, private practice, or regulatory authority).
• Strong communication skills and confidence in advising senior lawyers.
• A broad understanding of business issues and the drive to find practical, compliant solutions.
• Excellent IT skills and a commercial mindset.

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm that has been recognised as one of best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work for 25 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment.  The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity, national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.  This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work.  Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Meg Astley at  

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