Regional Paralegal - MEA/APAC

Position Summary

The Regional Paralegal – MEA/APAC supports the Legal Department by managing corporate governance and legal entity matters, conducting initial compliance and due diligence reviews, coordinating regional outside counsel, and supporting contract, tender and commercial activities for the Company’s Middle East and Asia-Pacific subsidiaries and operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Entity Management and Corporate Governance

• Manage and coordinate corporate governance and legal entity matters for Company subsidiaries located in the MEA/APAC region.
• Coordinate with regional outside counsel to complete statutory filings, annual renewals and other corporate requirements and to maintain complete and current minute books and corporate records.
• Organize, update and maintain entity information and documentation in the Company’s legal entity management platform.
• Coordinate notarizations, apostilles, legalizations, certified copies, corporate filings and other corporate documents, including the execution of powers of attorney, board and shareholder resolutions, annual filings and related governance documentation.
• Monitor entity deadlines, regulatory renewals and required corporate actions and escalate approaching deadlines or identified compliance gaps to the Legal Department.
• Collaborate with Finance, Tax, HR, Commercial, Operations and other functions to develop and maintain business processes with legal, governance and compliance implications.

Compliance and Due Diligence

• Manage initial due diligence, know-your-customer (KYC) and end-user declaration (EUD) reviews and ongoing screening of third parties, including customers, vendors, subcontractors, suppliers, business partners and commercial intermediaries.
• Maintain applicable screening records, supporting documentation and trackers and escalate higher-risk matters, adverse findings or policy exceptions to the Legal Department.
• Support due diligence involving social donations, gifts and hospitality and other matters addressed by the Company’s ethics and compliance policies.
• Provide support on ethics and compliance matters and assist in promoting adherence to Company policies and procedures.

Contract, Tender and Commercial Support

• Assist MEA/APAC Tender and Commercial teams with corporate and legal documentation required for customer tenders, bids and prequalification processes.
• Conduct initial review of customer and vendor contracts in accordance with the Company’s contract playbook and Legal Department guidance, including preparing contract summaries, redlines and exception tables and identifying matters requiring escalation.
• Coordinate contract comments and responses with Commercial, Finance, Operations and other regional stakeholders and with outside counsel when appropriate.
• Maintain MEA/APAC contract matters, documents, status information and supporting correspondence in the Company’s contract management system and Legal trackers.
• Assist with contract execution, signature coordination and maintenance of complete executed contract records.

Outside Counsel and Project Coordination

• Serve as the Legal Department’s day-to-day coordination point with local counsel throughout the MEA/APAC region.
• Obtain fee proposals, coordinate instructions and required documentation, track deliverables and deadlines, and maintain resulting corporate and legal records.
• Support regional legal projects involving entity formation, branch registration, licenses, leases, tenders and other operational requirements, under the direction of the Legal Department.
• Help monitor outside counsel activity and invoices against approved scope and budget and raise discrepancies for review.

Legal Department Administration

• Provide general administrative and project support to the Legal Department.
• Maintain organized matter files, trackers, templates and supporting records in the designated Legal Department repositories.
• Assist with special projects and assume other related duties as requested.

Qualifications and Experience

• Five or more years of relevant corporate legal or paralegal experience, ideally at a law firm or in-house legal department of a multinational company, including exposure to corporate law, finance and tax matters.
• College degree and/or paralegal certificate from an accredited institution.
• Direct experience with international corporate governance and legal entity management supporting multinational business operations.
• Experience supporting corporate secretarial functions, statutory filings and maintenance of corporate records.
• Experience with legal entity management, contract management and workflow tools.
• Experience supporting third-party due diligence, KYC, compliance screening or end-user declaration processes is preferred.
• Experience reviewing commercial agreements and preparing contract summaries, redlines or exception tables under attorney supervision is preferred.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Highest degree of ethics, sound judgment and ability to preserve absolute confidentiality.
• Excellent organization, prioritization and attention to detail.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and strong interpersonal skills.
• Ability to draft, review and understand complex corporate and commercial documents and to identify issues requiring escalation.
• Ability and willingness to operate independently, take initiative and manage competing deadlines with appropriate Legal Department oversight.
• Ability to interact effectively with individuals at all organizational levels, including executives and senior management.
• Ability to learn and use cloud-based entity management, contract management, screening and workflow tools.
• Ability to work effectively in a cross-functional and geographically dispersed environment with multiple stakeholders and teams.
• Ability to work across multiple time zones and coordinate with the US-based Legal Department, regional stakeholders and outside counsel.
• Ability to work a schedule that supports MEA/APAC stakeholders and coordination with US-based Legal colleagues and outside counsel as business needs require.

Location

Hybrid position based at Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates, supporting the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions and coordinating regularly with the US-based Legal Department.

Role Boundaries

This position supports Legal Department processes and performs initial reviews under established Company guidance. Matters requiring substantive legal judgment, legal advice, material contract deviation, significant risk acceptance or interpretation of law must be escalated to the General Counsel or designated attorney.