Legal Director – Competition, Contracts & Compliance

The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) brings together consumer goods manufacturers and retailers globally in an international, multi-stakeholder and multi-jurisdictional environment. CGF develops initiatives, programmes and collaborative workstreams involving members and external stakeholders across legal, regulatory and compliance-sensitive topics.

The Legal Director provides senior legal and compliance support across contracts, competition law, governance, data protection and compliance-sensitive initiatives in an international and U.S.-oriented legal environment.

This is a senior individual contributor role based in Levallois-Perret, reporting to the Managing Director and forming part of the Management Committee. The role has no direct reports.

Key Responsibilities

• Advise the Managing Director and Executive Team on contractual, governance, competition law, data protection, compliance and legal risk matters arising from CGF activities and member engagement.
• Draft, review and negotiate a broad range of commercial agreements, including NDAs, consultancy, vendor, partnership and data-sharing agreements.
• Act as the main internal point of contact for competition law matters, including review of member-facing initiatives, working group materials, agendas, minutes, presentations, information exchanges and competitor-collaboration parameters.
• Support Board, General Assembly and corporate secretariat activities, including governance documentation, resolutions and corporate policies.
• Liaise with senior legal teams from member companies and support legally compliant collaboration across CGF workstreams, meetings, coalitions and forums.
• Develop and update legal templates, clauses, guidance notes, internal policies and practical training materials, including on competition law and data protection.
• Support internal compliance and whistleblowing processes, including confidentiality, reporting, escalation and coordination with internal stakeholders and external advisers.
• Coordinate external legal advisers on matters requiring additional jurisdictional, privilege or technical expertise.
• Maintain privilege and confidentiality protocols, including document labelling, recipient controls, filing, privilege logs, document review workflows, escalation routes and readiness for the French in-house legal consultation confidentiality regime once applicable.

Profile

• 8 to 10 years of relevant experience in-house, in private practice or in the legal department of an international organisation.
• Admission to practise law and active good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction is required; qualification to practise in France or another relevant jurisdiction is an advantage.
• Eligibility to operate under the French in-house legal consultation confidentiality regime once applicable is required, including applicable law-degree or equivalence requirements and readiness to complete any required ethics training under the French juriste d'entreprise confidentiality framework.
• Strong experience in competition law / antitrust, especially competitor collaboration, information exchange, trade association or multi-stakeholder environments.
• Strong experience in international contracts, compliance-related document review, legal-risk assessment, governance support and data protection matters.
• Understanding of U.S. attorney-client privilege, current French professional secrecy/confidentiality rules, the pending French in-house consultation confidentiality regime and EU limits on in-house privilege, including when to elevate to external counsel.
• Excellent drafting, analytical, negotiation and stakeholder-management skills, with sound judgement and a pragmatic, business-oriented approach.
• Fluent written and spoken English and French.

Candidate Attributes

• Autonomous, reliable, rigorous, well organised and attentive to detail.
• Able to manage multiple priorities and work effectively with senior internal and external stakeholders in an international, matrix-based environment

Compensation and Location

This role is based in Levallois-Perret, France. Candidates must be authorised to work in France. CGF offers a competitive compensation package commensurate with experience, together with applicable benefits in line with local employment conditions and CGF policy.