Senior Legal Counsel

Reporting to the Vice President, Deputy General Counsel (based in United States) who leads the commercial legal team for the Intellectual Property business segment, the Senior Legal Counsel will be based in Belgrade and will be a key member of a highly respected global Legal, Risk and Compliance Group, with team members located in the US, UK, Europe and across APAC. In this role, you will independently lead complex legal matters, critical commercial negotiations and strategic initiatives for the Intellectual Property business segment. You will provide strategic, practical and business-focused legal advice to global stakeholders; formulate legal and risk-mitigation strategies; influence business decisions; oversee legal workstreams and resources where appropriate; and develop creative solutions to complex or ambiguous issues. You will build trusted relationships with senior stakeholders, anticipate business needs, and contribute to improvements in legal-service delivery across the IP Segment and Legal, Risk and Compliance Group (LRC). 

About You – experience, education, skills, and accomplishments

• Legal qualification – minimum 5 years’ post-qualification general corporate/commercial legal experience. 

• Demonstrated experience independently leading complex commercial negotiations and significant legal matters, preferably for an information, data, software, SaaS, technology or intellectual property business. 

• Strong contractual negotiation and drafting skills, with experience formulating legal and risk-mitigation strategies for complex commercial arrangements. In-house experience is a strong plus. 

• International experience and/or time spent at a multinational corporation preferred, including exposure to cross-border transactions and cross-functional teams. 

• Ability to advise and influence senior business stakeholders, translate legal analysis into clear and actionable business recommendations, and communicate complex issues persuasively to legal and non-legal audiences. 

• Sound independent judgment in complex or ambiguous situations, with the ability to understand business drivers and prioritize matters according to materiality, risk and impact. 

• Experience leading cross-functional projects or workstreams involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities and practical implementation requirements. 

• Experience improving contracting practices, legal processes, templates, knowledge resources or technology-enabled workflows. 

• Attention to detail is critical; professionalism and customer-centricity are a must. 

• Enthusiastic, hardworking self-starter with the ability to work independently, exercise good judgment, and change direction or priorities on short notice. 

• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines while maintaining high-quality legal analysis and practical business advice. 

• High ethical, professional and governance standards, with the judgment and confidence to ask questions and raise concerns when appropriate. 

• Ability to mentor or provide substantive guidance to less experienced legal professionals in a collaborative, non-managerial capacity. 

• Proficient with Microsoft Office applications, including Word, and Salesforce. General familiarity with Copilot or other legal AI tools and contract management systems such as Conga CLM is a plus. 

• Highly proficient in spoken and written English. 

What will you be doing in this role?

• Lead, draft, advise on and negotiate complex and high-impact agreements with customers, vendors, partners, content providers, agents, distributors, resellers and other third parties, including service agreements, data and content licenses, software/SaaS agreements, intellectual property licenses, strategic relationships and other material commercial arrangements. 

• Own the legal strategy for assigned matters, identify material legal and commercial risks, and develop practical mitigation approaches that balance legal risk, commercial objectives, operational feasibility, customer needs and Clarivate’s broader priorities. 

• Lead the legal response to strategic customer RFPs and tenders, advising on deal structures, legal commitments, licensing terms and commercially workable proposals. 

• Provide independent, strategic legal advice on critical and complex commercial, contractual, intellectual property, privacy, regulatory, dispute, corporate and compliance matters affecting the Intellectual Property business segment. 

• Act as a trusted advisor to commercial, product, operational and functional leaders, influencing strategic and operational decisions through clear, risk-balanced and business-focused counsel. 

• Lead significant cross-functional projects and legal workstreams, establish objectives, coordinate stakeholders and resources where appropriate, and drive matters to timely completion. 

• Build strong relationships with Sales and other business teams to enable responsible commercial outcomes while protecting Clarivate’s legal, contractual and strategic interests. 

• Identify, design, lead and implement improvements to templates, playbooks, workflows, approval structures, knowledge resources, automation and legal technology that improve legal-service delivery for the IP Segment and Legal, Risk and Compliance Group. 

• Contribute to IP Segment and LRC-wide strategic initiatives, including initiatives that improve contracting practices, governance, knowledge management and operational effectiveness. 

• Guide and mentor less experienced legal professionals by providing substantive advice, practical feedback and support on complex legal and commercial issues, without formal people-management responsibility. 

• Select, brief and manage external counsel as required, including scope, strategy, quality, timing and cost-effectiveness. 

• Maintain and apply relevant legal, regulatory, industry and technology expertise, and identify ongoing personal training and developmental needs as part of continuous career and professional development. 

Hours of Work

Full-time, permanent role based out of our Belgrade office on a hybrid basis.

At Clarivate, we are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all  qualified persons with respect to hiring, compensation, promotion, training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. We comply with applicable laws and regulations governing non-discrimination in all locations.