MetLife Australia needs to hire a talented lawyer in its Australian Legal Team to help with its mission to advance the enterprise’s business strategy and mitigate legal risk.

The Australian Legal team is proud of its reputation as a leading in-house team due to its expert insights, effective client engagement and customer centric approach. The recipe lies in our culture, which values collaboration, openness, hard work and having fun.

The local legal team is small but dynamic, which naturally gives rise to a great deal of autonomy. However, in the normal course, there will be a particular emphasis on partnering with the Claims and Underwriting teams in Sydney and Melbourne, with the tasks set out under Role Definition below.

Australia Legal is fully integrated with the MetLife Global Government and Legal Affairs (GaLA) operation. GaLA’s vision is to be recognized throughout MetLife for being globally astute and locally effective.

Summary of Responsibilities

• Provide legal advice and assistance to all our business partners and the enterprise’s global legal function.
• Take proactive steps to ensure that the activities of the business are conducted in accordance with applicable laws and MetLife policies and procedures.
• Assist the Company Secretary of MetLife Insurance Ltd.

 Role Definition:  

• Provide concise, commercial and timely legal advice and guidance on legal issues in the following areas:
  • claims and underwriting
  • commercial, including general contracts and procurement, IT, property, and IP
  • marketing/advertising and communications
  • Financial Services (Chapter 7) and financial product distribution 

• Participate as legal stakeholder in product launches and rolls and new distribution arrangements and tenders - including Stakeholder and Due Diligence Committees, and other working groups
• Review and amend PDS, and other disclosure and policy documents
• Support the business to evaluate the impact of new laws and regulations and with implementation of required business changes to effect compliance
• Provide support to the Company Secretary for Board and governance matters
• Assist with regulatory reviews, requests and investigations 
• Assist Head of Legal and other senior colleagues with the management of MetLife’s complaints and external disputes 
• Assist MetLife’s Compliance and Risk Management teams as required
• Liaise with external legal firms as required and help optimise MetLife expenditure on legal fees

  Knowledge/Skills/Competencies Required: 

• Life insurance, corporations and financial services law, regulation and policy
• Customer centric
• Concise, innovative and practical solutions 
• Thrives working with teams and on committees
• Engaged, self-motivated, proactive and flexible
• Commitment to learning and growth as a practitioner
• Autonomous and able to manage her or his own practice
• Desire to be actively involved in industry seminars, discussion groups, and forums to raise own and MetLife’s profile 

  Qualification Required: 

• LLB/Dip Law or equivalent and entitlement to legal practice in New South Wales
• 4 years’ minimum experience as a solicitor or legal officer in a law firm, insurance company or other financial services organisation

  Key Business Contacts 

• Heads of Legal Australia and Asia
• Australian Leadership Team
• Claims and underwriting team heads, Distribution leads and their associates