Job Description

Your Responsibilities

The Junior Legal Counsel – Corporate, North Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, and other countries in North Asia when the business expands) position reports to Senior Legal Counsel - APAC and is responsible for providing legal supports to corporate functions across North Asia while contributing to the continuous improvement and standardization of legal service delivery across the APAC region.

The key goals are: Providing proactive, effective, and practical and commercially sound legal support on corporate and commercial matters, supports legal compliance, and helps develop scalable legal support models.

Core Legal Advisory and Commercial Support

• Provide day-to-day legal support and consultancy to North Asia corporate functions, including Indirect Procurement, Communications, HR, Tax, Treasury, Finance and other enterprise support activities.
• Review, draft, negotiate, and advise on a broad range of commercial agreements and corporate documents and other legal matters within the assigned scope.
• Partner with internal stakeholders to identify legal risks and provide practical, business-oriented legal solutions while balancing legal risk and business objectives.
• Manage legal matters independently, engaging external counsel where appropriate and coordinating cross-functional support on complex matters.
• Participate in regional and global legal projects, corporate restructuring, and cross-BU and/or cross-functional initiatives.
• Monitor relevant legal and regulatory developments and provide timely guidance to business stakeholders, and support compliance with applicable laws, regulations, company policies, and internal governance requirements.
• Support the management of various corporate legal matters, including licenses and permits management, corporate secretarial work, and other legal entity governance requirements.).
• Cooperate with the US headquarters or other regions (EMEA/North America/South America) for required legal support, where necessary.
• Perform other legal support responsibilities as assigned from time to time.

Legal Excellence and Continuous Improvement

• Analyze recurring legal work and identify opportunities to simplify, standardize, automate or streamline legal support process and standards.
• Develop, maintain and continuously improve contract templates, clause libraries, playbooks, legal review & approval SOPs, legal guidance materials and self-service legal resources.
• Partner with APAC Legal colleagues to establish consistent legal support standards and promote alignment of legal practices across jurisdictions.
• Promote knowledge sharing and best practices across the APAC Legal team.
• Support legal training, awareness programs, and implementation of legal policies and guidance materials.

City

Shanghai

State

Shanghai

Location Country

China

Your Profile

• LLB or LLM from reputable law school and passed Bar examination in China (oversea study experience will be a plus);
• At least 3 years PQE with experience in international/leading domestic law firms and/or in-house work experience; in-house experience with MNCs in similar industry would be preferred but not necessary;
• Experience supporting commercial, corporate, procurement, HR, or other corporate functional matters, and experience reviewing, drafting, and negotiating commercial agreements;
• Have business sense and capability to develop and maintain a good relationship with internal and external clients, and drive desirable outcomes through influence;
• Strong problem solving and negotiation skills;
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively in a regional and global team environment;
• High degree of organizational ability, ability to manage multiple matters simultaneously and prioritize matters effectively;
• Highest ethical standards and strong integrity;
• Excellent communication, analytical and negotiation skills;
• Prior exposure to legal support excellence, process improvement, knowledge management, or contract lifecycle management initiatives is highly preferred;
• Fluent in both verbal and written English.

Other required or desirable attributes:

• Strong sense of ownership and accountability;
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and positively influence outcomes;
• Highly motivated, proactive, self-disciplined, team-oriented and willing to learn;
• Demonstrates curiosity, innovation, and a continuous improvement mindset, proactively seeking opportunities to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and consistency of legal service delivery; Comfortable working across different jurisdictions, cultures, and stakeholder groups;
• Committed to ADM values: integrity, respect, excellence, resourcefulness, teamwork, and responsibility;
• Ability to work under pressure in a fast-paced and dynamic environment while handling multiple competing tasks simultaneously to closure;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

About ADM

At ADM, we unlock the power of nature to provide access to nutrition worldwide. With industry-advancing innovations, a complete portfolio of ingredients and solutions to meet any taste, and a commitment to sustainability, we give customers an edge in solving the nutritional challenges of today and tomorrow. We’re a global leader in human and animal nutrition and the world’s premier agricultural origination and processing company. Our breadth, depth, insights, facilities and logistical expertise give us unparalleled capabilities to meet needs for food, beverages, health and wellness, and more. From the seed of the idea to the outcome of the solution, we enrich the quality of life the world over. Learn more at www.adm.com.