| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Legal and Compliance |
| Level | Manager |
| Reports to | Head of Legal |
| Direct reports | Legal Officer, Legal Executive |
| Experience | 4 to 8 years in legal practice or in house |
Legal Counsel job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: Legal Counsel
Department: Legal and Compliance
Reports to: Head of Legal
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A Legal Counsel is an in house lawyer who advises the business, drafts and negotiates contracts, and handles disputes and legal questions. The role reports to the Head of Legal or General Counsel. A good legal counsel gives clear, practical advice that helps the business move safely, turns contracts around quickly with sound risk terms, flags real risks without blocking everything, manages disputes and external counsel well, and becomes a trusted adviser the business brings in early rather than after a problem has already grown.
Key responsibilities
- Advise business teams on legal and commercial questions clearly and practically.
- Draft, review and negotiate contracts and protect the company on key terms.
- Handle notices, disputes and pre litigation matters and instruct external counsel.
- Assess legal risk in decisions and propose ways to manage it, not just block it.
- Support transactions, agreements and business arrangements from the legal side.
- Interpret laws and regulations that affect the business and explain them simply.
- Maintain contract and matter records and track obligations and deadlines.
- Manage a panel of external lawyers on the matters they handle.
- Support governance, policy and compliance work across the business as needed.
- Guide the legal officers and executives on their work.
Requirements
- LLB, with an LLM an advantage
- Enrolled with the Bar Council of India
- Experience in corporate or commercial law
- 4 to 8 years in legal practice or in house
KRAs and KPIs for a Legal Counsel
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Advisory quality | Legal advice accepted as clear and practical above the agreed level |
| Contract turnaround | Contracts reviewed within the agreed service time above target |
| Risk protection | Key protective terms present in contracts above the agreed level |
| Dispute handling | Disputes and notices handled within cost and outcome expectations |
| Obligation tracking | Contract obligations and deadlines tracked without misses |
| Turnaround | Legal queries answered within the agreed service time |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: Contract lifecycle software, Legal research databases, MS Office, Matter management tools, e-signature tools.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Head of Legal, Legal Manager, General Counsel
Interview questions for a Legal Counsel
- How do you give advice that helps the business move rather than only saying no?
- Which contract terms do you never concede, and why?
- How do you decide when to settle a dispute and when to fight it?
- How do you manage external counsel to control cost and quality?
- How do you get the business to involve you early rather than late?
- How do you keep track of obligations across many contracts?
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What does a Legal Counsel do?
A Legal Counsel is an in house lawyer who advises the business, drafts and negotiates contracts, and handles disputes and legal questions. They assess legal risk, protect the company on key terms, manage external counsel and interpret laws for the business, giving clear, practical advice that helps it move safely.
What is the difference between a Legal Counsel and a Corporate Lawyer?
The titles overlap. A Legal Counsel is a broad in house lawyer advising the business across contracts, disputes and regulation. A Corporate Lawyer focuses on corporate and commercial work such as transactions, governance and company law. In practice a counsel may handle corporate work and vice versa, depending on the company.
What qualifications does a Legal Counsel need?
Most roles ask for an LLB and enrolment with the Bar Council of India, with an LLM an advantage, and four to eight years in corporate or commercial law. Employers value strong drafting, negotiation and advisory skills, sound risk judgement, and the ability to explain the law in plain business terms.