Job Description

Jefferies’ Sales & Trading Legal department in London provides legal and transaction support to the markets and trading divisions of Jefferies operating in UK, EU and Asia markets. The department is looking to make their first hire outside of London, due to significant investment in Asian markets and expected increase in the related trading business.

This will be an SVP role based in Jefferies’ Asian headquarters in Hong Kong, reporting into the Head of Sales & Trading Legal in London and locally to the Head of Asia Legal & Compliance.

Jefferies is looking for a lawyer with experience in markets and trading activities in some or all of cash brokerage or derivatives (equities and/or fixed income) in some Asian markets as well as UK/EU/US, but it is not expected that the candidate will necessarily have experience in all markets and products. Experience could have been gained either in-house or in private practice. Preference would be for a UK and/or Commonwealth qualified Solicitor, but other applicants with relevant experience may be considered.

Roles And Responsibilities

The successful candidate will provide general legal and transactional support to trading desks within Jefferies’ Markets, Sales & Trading divisions located primarily in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia and India. These desks currently cover Cash FI and Equities structuring and trading, FI and Equity Derivatives, Repo and Securities Finance in a broad (and expanding) range of Pan-Asian markets.

This is an exciting opportunity to join an established and rapidly expanding business and provide significant value-add to the Asian operation. This will be a diverse role for a confident and self-motivated candidate. The ideal candidate would have as many of the following skill sets as possible:

• Familiarity with legal and regulatory framework relevant to the trading environment in UK and/or Asia;
• General understanding of cross border trading flows and market practice in Asia markets;
• Experience of assessing new products and/or markets from local and cross border legal and regulatory perspective;
• Experience of working with both business and internal support functions, including senior and junior stakeholders, on approval and implementation of processes and projects that satisfy legal and regulatory requirements and meet internal business, operational, capital and accounting constraints;
• Experience advising business and other internal stakeholders regarding legal issues, controls and mitigants in a commercial manner;
• Experience of advising and negotiating documentation related to brokerage relationships, client onboarding, diligence and trading terms of business, research and commission sharing agreements, NDAs, term sheets, engagement letters, and executing and introducing broker arrangements.
• Experience of advising and negotiating market documentation such as exchange memberships, electronic trading agreements, give up agreements, clearing and custodial agreements.
• A general understanding of derivatives trading (OTC, exchange traded or both) of any asset classes and a working knowledge of market standard documentation such as ISDA, GMRA, GMSLA. Negotiation of this documentation will not form part of the day-to-day role.
  
  

About Us

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (‘‘Jefferies,’’ ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’ or ‘‘our’’) is a U.S.-headquartered global full service, integrated investment banking and securities firm. Our largest subsidiary, Jefferies LLC, a U.S. broker-dealer, was founded in the U.S. in 1962 and our first international operating subsidiary, Jefferies International Limited, a U.K. broker-dealer, was established in the U.K. in 1986. Our strategy focuses on continuing to build out our investment banking effort, enhancing our capital markets businesses and further developing our Leucadia Asset Management alternative asset management platform. We offer deep sector expertise across a full range of products and services in investment banking, equities, fixed income, asset and wealth management in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East and Asia.

At Jefferies, we believe that diversity fosters creativity, innovation and thought leadership through the infusion of new ideas and perspectives. We have made a commitment to building a culture that provides opportunities for all employees regardless of our differences and supports a workforce that is reflective of the communities where we work and live. As a result, we are able to pool our collective insights and intelligence to provide fresh and innovative thinking for our clients.

Jefferies is an equal employment opportunity employer, and takes affirmative action to ensure that all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, pregnancy, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, genetic information, reproductive health decisions, or any other factor protected by applicable law. We are committed to hiring the most qualified applicants and complying with all federal, state, and local equal employment opportunity laws. As part of this commitment, Jefferies will extend reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities, as required by applicable law.

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