Working for equality of opportunity

JOB DESCRIPTION
Trainee Solicitor
BBC Legal Division

Organisational Context
The BBC Legal Division is responsible for developing and implementing the BBC's legal strategy and for
providing legal advice to the BBC. The Division is made up of the following departments : Programme Legal
Advice; Intellectual Property; Workplace and Information Rights; Employment; Litigation and Commercial Legal
(encompassing Fair Trading, Competition and Technology/Engineering Legal). Its purpose is to enable the BBC
to deliver content that enriches peoples lives through the provision of high quality, business-focused, trusted
legal advice.

BBC Commercial Rights and Business Affairs (CRBA) is a separate team providing tailored legal advice
directly to the business supporting production and commissioning teams across the organisation whether in
Television, Radio, News, Sport, Film or Future Media. Immersed in the business, CRBA is an integral part of
delivering BBC output for a variety of audiences.

BBC Studios is the newest arm of the BBC and is responsible for the production of television programmes that
provide distinctive, world-class content for a global market.

BBC Worldwide Limited is the main commercial arm and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC. BBC
Worldwide exists to support the BBC public service mission and to maximise profits on its behalf. It does this
through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC in the UK and around the world.

Introduction to the job

We wish to recruit four trainee solicitors to work with the BBCs Legal and Business Affairs teams in London.
The trainees will rotate through four six month placements. All trainees will complete a seat with the IP team
which advises and acts in respect of the protection and enforcement of the BBCs intellectual property rights
and provides advice on all aspects of intellectual property law across all parts of the BBC Group. In addition
trainees will complete two commercially-focused placements, probably with BBC Worldwide and CRBA, and a
contentious seat, likely to be in a private practice firm.

Main responsibilities
The posts are offered as two year fixed-term contract roles and the trainees will be exposed to a wide variety of
legal activities within their training contract, leading to qualification with the SRA as a solicitor. Under close
supervision these tasks may include:

Completing legal research and providing advice notes on a variety of legal and commercial topics
to internal clients.
Providing drafting, negotiation and contract management for a wide range of deals.
Providing corporate legal support generally.
Helping generate, revise and develop precedents, training and other documentation.
Investigating and advising on claims of infringement in relation to trade marks, passing off,
copyright, confidential information, programme formats and patents.
Advising on all aspects of IP matters including those arising from online matters and brand and IP
protection.
Drafting contract and Court documentation.
Assisting senior lawyers in bringing and defending High Court and County Court proceedings.
Liaising with external lawyers providing advice to the BBC

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Assisting mitigation of legal, contractual and business affairs risk.

Working with relevant colleagues to ensure that all deal making is consistent with BBC policy and
guidelines, rights frameworks and the BBCs fair trading commitments.

Trainees will be required to complete the Professional Skills course during their training contract (funded by the
BBC).

Person Specification
All applicants must have completed their LPC before the contract start date in September 2017. In addition the
ideal candidate for this position will have:

A sound understanding of English contract law.

Experience of corporate legal and/or company secretarial matters. This experience may be satisfied
through the completion of the corporate elements of the LPC.
Knowledge of and demonstrable interest in IP and media law.
Knowledge of the structure, objectives and values of the BBC and Broadcasting issues generally.
Experience of undertaking legal research.
Computer literacy, an interest in the internet and new technology and familiarity with variety of online
public and proprietary legal databases (eg PLC, Lexis Nexis, etc).
Commercial awareness
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Ability to identify potential issues in advance and develop pragmatic commercial solutions.
Ability to work collaboratively within a small team.
Strong eye for detail and effective time-management and self-scheduling skills.
A can-do attitude, willing to support other members of the legal team where appropriate.
Enthusiasm for developing new knowledge and skills.

Competencies
The following competencies (behaviours and characteristics) have been identified as key to success in the job.
Successful candidates are required to demonstrate these competencies.

Drive (Delivering Results) Can maintain personal effectiveness by managing own emotions in the face of
pressure, setbacks or when dealing with proactive situations. Can demonstrate an approach to work that is
characterised by commitment, motivation and energy when dealing with all types of work including routine or
repetitive tasks

Planning and organising - Ability to work under pressure and to work independently, to be self-motivated and to
establish an efficient and appropriate course of action for self and others. Prioritises and plans activities taking into
account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines and resources.

Communication - able to get ones message understood clearly by adopting a range of styles, tools and
techniques appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information.

Influencing and persuading - able to present sound and well reasoned arguments to convince others. Can draw
from a range of strategies to persuade people in a way that results in agreement or behaviour change.

Managing relationships and team working - able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a
range of people. Works co-operatively with others to be part of a team.

Flexibility adapts and works effectively with a variety of situations, individuals or groups. Able to understand and
appreciate different and opposing perspectives on an issue, to adapt an approach as the requirements of a
situation changes, and to change or easily accept changes in ones own organisation or job requirements.

Analytical thinking - able to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts explore and
evaluate them systematically.

Resilience Can maintain personal effectiveness by managing own emotions in the face of pressure, setbacks or
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when dealing with proactive situations. Can demonstrate an approach to work that is characterised by
commitment, motivation and energy when dealing with all types of work including routine or repetitive tasks.

Disclaimer

A job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal
accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of
performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.

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