Senior Counsel IP & Innovation - APAC

About Us:

With over 200 brands sold in nearly 180 countries, we're the world's leading premium drinks company. Bring your passion and use your curiosity as you explore, collaborate, and innovate to build brands consumers love. Together with passionate people from all over the world, you'll test new ideas, learn and grow, and unlock a brighter, more exciting future.

Join us to create a career worth celebrating.

About You:

Diageo is looking for a talented, independent and enthusiastic lawyer to join its global legal team and lead the brand Intellectual Property agenda in the Asia Pacific region. We're looking for an individual who can deliver exceptional commercial advice, lead a team of legal professionals and help drive forward the market strategy in India, China, Australia, and other Asian markets.

About the Role:

The Diageo IP team comprises 29 roles, based across GB/Europe, Asia and the Americas. This pivotal role is one of those 29 and will lead a team of 5 lawyers and paralegals, all of whom have responsibility for all IP issues (other than patents) across a significant number of key territories. It will advise on the creation, protection and enforcement of Diageo's brand IP, and provide broader legal support to the innovation, commercial and marketing teams.

The role reports into the General Counsel, IP. The role will entail day to day support of the Marketing and Innovation agenda for South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Diageo Global Brands in India, supported by counsel, as well as oversight of counsel supporting Greater China, North Asia, and India (USL owned brands.) In addition to traditional IP, it will advise on advertising laws and industry specific regulations and may incorporate oversight of other regions and/or global brands, as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Leading, mentoring and developing a team of four IP counsel and one paralegal based in Bangalore and Shanghai
• Key counsel to the Innovation Director for APAC, inputting on the critical innovation agenda for our brands in Asia
• A seat on the IP Leadership Team and a role in helping to develop the broader global IP team and strategic agenda
• Ensure that the team provides creative, pragmatic and cost effective support for Diageo's growth by blending world class legal risk management with bold, fit for purpose solution-oriented commercial advice
• Partnering with the Global Technical IP Counsel to ensure seamless cover with related technical/patent issues
• Building effective working relationships with other senior internal stakeholders such as the GCs for India and Asia, and the Global Head of Brand Protection
• Leading the APAC IP budget
• Maintaining strong relationships with key specialist IP law firms in Asia to ensure they understand business needs and provide fit for purpose advice at the right level of staffing and cost
• Clearing the path for our innovation and marketing teams to grow market share

This role offers extraordinary IP work in a vibrant industry, as well as the opportunity to lead and shape a team. It brings with it an opportunity to work with brands that have centuries of heritage as well as helping to create and protect the next generation of global beverage brands.

Market Complexity:

This role oversees the IP registration, management and protection in all Asia markets, for all Diageo brands, with widely varying degrees of sophistication and complexity in terms of protection offered and enforcement of rights permitted, particularly in developing markets in Asia where the protection offered can be limited and the ability to implement subject to the vagaries of local politics and influence.

Greater China includes some complex JV arrangements where those entities hold local brands in addition to Diageo brands. Some of these JV partners are also competitors of Diageo and collaboration (especially in Innovation) must be very carefully managed.

We operate in India via United Spirits Limited, a majority owned subsidiary with a significant number of local brands. The India market is challenging and unique, and requires strong legal judgment that is commercially focussed, and well-developed leadership skills.

China and India are notorious for systemic and sophisticated parasitic copycats and trade mark squatters, and in China weak IP enforcement by legal authorities, so creative thinking is required to protect the equity of our brands.

The IP team is also a critical contributor to the innovation agenda which is particularly challenging in India, both territories that this role will oversee.

Experience:

We are looking for a qualified lawyer/solicitor/barrister with at least 10 years' post-qualification experience in brand/trade mark and design IP work. You will have a broad range of expertise, covering litigation, commercial IP contracts, portfolio management and IP aspects of M&A deals, and ideally experience advising on advertising and product development. You will have spent time in private practice at a leading law firm and ideally have in-house experience working with / at large corporates. Line management experience is highly desirable.

The role also requires:

• Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to interact confidently with a diverse range of senior stakeholders.
• A proven ability to work with agility and pace.
• Someone who enjoys working with ambiguity and can think creatively.
• An ability to manage demanding workloads and timelines, and to prioritise what matters most.
• A willingness to take responsibility for "end-to-end" delivery of legal support.
• An ability to work with minimum supervision.
• A desire to lead and coach a team of high performing lawyers and paralegals.
• Deep personal accountability for great performance, moving effectively between strategy and operational detail, understanding commercial priorities and critical agenda.

Working with Us

Flexibility is key to success. From part-time and compressed hours to different locations our people work flexibly in ways to suit them. Talk to us about what flexibility means to you and we'll work together so that you're supported from day one.

We recognise and value performance, offering our people a highly competitive Rewards and Benefits package including:

• Contemporary work life balance policies and wellbeing activities
• On site gym or subsidised gym membership
• Contributary pension scheme
• Comprehensive health insurance for you and your family
• On site nursery or vouchers
• Annual bonus of circa 20% of your base salary (dependent on performance)
• Share options
• 28 days' vacation per annum

Our purpose is to celebrate life, every day, everywhere. And creating an inclusive culture, where everyone feels valued and that they can belong, is a crucial part of this.

We embrace diversity in the broadest possible sense. This means that you'll be welcomed and celebrated for who you are just by being you. You'll be part of and help build and champion an inclusive culture that celebrates people of different gender, ethnicity, ability, age, sexual orientation, social class, educational backgrounds, experiences, mindsets, and more.

Ourambitionistocreatethebestperforming,mosttrustedandrespectedconsumer products companies in the world. Join us and help transform our business as we take our brands to the next level and build new ones as part of shaping the next generation of celebrations for consumers around the world.

Feel inspired? Then this may be the opportunity for you.

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