The Senior Legal Counsel provides comprehensive in-house legal support for Air Products’ operations across Asia, with a primary focus on China. This is a broad, hands-on role covering litigation and disputes, commercial contracts, corporate and M&A matters, regulatory issues, risk management, compliance (including anti-bribery, competition law, conflicts of interest, compliance training), internal policy drafting, and the rollout and implementation of global corporate and regional initiatives.
The successful candidate will have proven experience to deliver practical solutions-oriented advice, support corporate administration, and operate effectively with a high degree of autonomy under remote supervision while collaborating closely with Asia General Counsel, the legal team in China (and other countries in Asia) and other stakeholders. Strong interpersonal skills, cultural fluency and the ability to maintain legal professionalism in a fast-paced, dynamic and challenging environment are essential.
Asia, including China, is an important growth region for Air Products’ industrial gases, chemicals, electronics, steel and petroleum / petrochemical businesses. This role involves providing strong legal and compliance support for the manufacturing, processing and sale of industrial gases and related equipment and services, including significant projects relating to joint ventures and business partnerships with multinational companies and state-owned enterprises.
In view of the businesses that we support, the attention to risk management within sales contracts is important. To achieve this can be challenging, both internally and externally, in an environment that has previously been more focused on relationships than contractual language. The Senior Legal Counsel will be expected to actively contribute to the development of a systematic and accessible database of legal knowledge and precedents for China and Asia.
The Senior Legal Counsel will actively participate in negotiations with customers, suppliers, authorities and other related parties and he / she must also be able to provide strategic guidance to business with respect to the direction and content of such discussions where legally necessary. The Senior Legal Counsel must be able to “reality check” commercial proposals, manage complex internal and external negotiations, oversee external counsel and legal spend, and report risks and advise on potential mitigation measures in a timely manner.