Legal Associate

Description:

Legal Associate📍 Location: Cape Town (On-site) |

📅 Start date: ASAP

💼 Seniority: Mid-level In-house Legal

About the Role
Our client, a dynamic global commodity trading and investment company, with a focus on the mining sector, is seeking a Legal Associate to join their in-house legal team in Cape Town. This is a full-time, on-site role ideal for a commercially minded, detail-oriented legal professional with excellent drafting skills.

The Legal Associate will play a key role in contract drafting and management, supporting the business across a wide range of legal and commercial matters. The successful candidate will report into senior legal leadership and collaborate closely with trading, operations, and finance teams.

Key Responsibilities • Draft, review and negotiate a broad spectrum of commercial agreements (including service level agreements, coal sale and purchase agreements, loan and finance agreements, acquisition agreements, etc.).
• Manage inter-company agreements and support corporate governance documentation.
• Assist with legal support in transactions such as M&A, JV structuring, and other investment activities.
• Provide pragmatic legal advice to internal stakeholders and support risk identification and mitigation.
• Liaise with external counsel on litigation and regulatory matters as needed.
• Stay up to date on relevant developments, particularly in mining and commercial law.

Requirements:

Candidate ProfileWe’re looking for someone:

• With a minimum of 2 years post-articles experience in a law firm and/or in-house setting.
• Confident in managing end-to-end legal drafting and review processes.
• Comfortable working independently and engaging with commercial teams.
• With commercial exposure, ideally including some experience in the mining sector (an advantage but not a prerequisite).
• Eager to grow within a lean and high-performing legal team.


Qualifications & Experience • Admitted attorney in South Africa.
• Minimum 2 years PQE, with a strong foundation in commercial law and contracts.
• Strong legal drafting, research, and communication skills.
• Familiarity with the regulatory landscape applicable to commercial transactions and the mining industry is advantageous.