Legal Counsel France

BBVA is a global company with more than 160 years of history that operates in more than 25 countries where we serve more than 80 million customers. We are more than 121,000 professionals working in multidisciplinary teams with profiles as diverse as financiers, legal experts, data scientists, developers, engineers and designers.

LEGAL DEPARTMENT BBVA PARIS BRANCH

About the job:

Advising BBVA’s Paris Branch (Business and Support units) and BBVA (other branches and subsidiaries) for French legal topics, in all areas of law relating to their businesses or tasks (products, services, projects and/or transactions), preventing and mitigating BBVA’s legal risks under French Law in France or with French counterparties.

As a Banking and Financial Lawyer the incumbent:

1. Will provide support and legal advice to all BBVA’s Paris Branch departments and areas of business (mainly banking and finance, trade finance and global markets), on domestic and cross border legal issues relating to banking and financial activities, customer relations, commercial contracts, banking services and relationships with French authorities.

2. Will draft, or review and amend, each agreement governed by French Law to be drafted or reviewed by BBVA Paris Branch Legal Department, being standard or bespoken, as for instance:

• project finance, syndicated facilities, bilateral facilities, leveraged finance, fund/capital call finance, structuring financings, commitment/mandate letters, term sheets, secondary loans trading and intercreditor agreements for banking and finance;
• supply chain finance, receivables discounting, trade instrument issuance and distribution through participation agreements in trade finance;
• reviewing, drafting and negotiating French law master agreements for derivatives and repos (FBF IFT, Pensions livrées ISDA, CSA) for Global Markets Units.

The candidate must have a strong command of contractual techniques and be genuinely capable of drafting financing, security, and commercial contracts of various types and levels of complexity. A strong knowledge and command of the law of obligations and security law, along with a particular interest in these areas, are required for this position.

The candidate’s professional experience must have provided him/her with the ability to independently handle legal matters and draft legal documents without, except in exceptional cases, resorting to external counsel

• Will extend this legal support under French Law to BBVA head office and foreign branches or subsidiaries when needed.
• Shall be able to contribute to the legal structuring of specific transactions, negotiate the legal aspects of agreements alongside the business teams, and draft such agreements without the assistance of external counsel in most cases.

The candidate must be able to take a critical view of the proposals and requests made by the business teams, in order to make them legally sound and to limit the resulting risks.

• Shall be able to propose legal innovative solutions while ensuring that legal risks are kept under control.

• Shall contribute to the implementation and updating the BBVA’s Paris Branch contractual documentation and internal proceedings and guidelines for legal aspects.

• Will participate in the legal monitoring assumed by BBVA’s Paris Branch Legal Department.

• Shall ensure that French legal risks are identified, communicated to BBVA Paris branch and BBVA Head Office and monitored.

• Shall manage litigations involving BBVA's activities in France instructing, coordinating, and supervising external lawyers. The candidate must be capable of drafting detailed instructions for the preparation of writs of summons or pleadings in legal proceedings.

• Shall liaise with colleagues and with other BBVA’s lawyers in other jurisdictions than France, in the context of cross border and multi jurisdictional transactions.

• Will report to the General Counsel of the BBVA’s Paris Branch.

• Will participate in BBVA's Paris Branch internal committees when needed.

Qualifications:

• Academic background and knowledge: Master 2 degree in French business law or French banking and finance law in a top French University.

• At least 7/10 years' experience in a similar position in a Law Firm and/or in a financial institution.

• Prior experience of all areas is not required but the candidate must be enthusiastic and keen to learn. T

• he candidate’s professional experience must have provided him/her with the ability to independently handle legal matters and draft legal documents without, except in exceptional cases, resorting to external counsel.

• Deep knowledge of contract law (“Droit des obligations” and “Droit des Contrats Spéciaux”, especially financial) and Securities Law (“Droit des sûretés”). Robust and thorough approach to drafting and reviewing of documentation.

• Good knowledge of French banking and financial law for corporate clients, French insolvency law and French civil proceedings. Knowledge of French public law and French international private law would be a plus.

Language skills:

• Excellent written and spoken skills in French and English.

• Spanish would be a big plus

Soft skills:

• Ability and willingness to learn and to give legal support for many different products (Loans, Trade Finance, Markets etc.).

• Good understanding of commercial needs and constraints.

• Appetite for new legal matters (sustainability, digital assets…), open-minded.

• Great rigor, autonomy, and organizational skills.

• The candidate must be highly organized and capable of handling multiple matters simultaneously, across very different areas.

• Team spirit and aptitude for relationships.

• Ability to convince.

The candidate must be able to provide verifiable references. The resolution of a case study will be proposed during the job interview.

Skills: