Legal Counsel Asset Management Germany

Always wanted to challenge the obvious and make great things happen? At Goodman we create space for your greatness.

As a Legal Counsel for the stabilized logistics portfolio in Germany your primary objective is to manage, in consultation with the other legal counsels, all legal matters relating to Goodman’s stabilized assets in Germany.

Goodman Continental Europe is a leading real estate company that develops, owns and manages high-quality logistics properties and data centres across Europe.

As part of our Asset Management team, you will contribute to driving initiatives, ensuring strategic and operational alignment to deliver qualitative, sustainable properties and processes within Asset Management.  

As part of the European Legal Practice, you will contribute in maintaining CE-wide and Germany specific legal standards, tools, templates, knowledge sharing, training and external legal panel governance enabling Goodman’s Legal Counsels to deliver consistent, efficient and high-quality legal support to the business.

More concretely, this means you will get the opportunity to:

• Negotiate, draft and review agreements relating to the management of Goodman’s German portfolio ensuring commercially balanced and legally robust outcomes :
• Lease agreements, addenda and lease related correspondence with customers and other stakeholders
• Agreements for renewable energy and related sustainability initiatives
• Construction works and service-related agreements
• Facility management agreements
• Asset management legal advisory
• Advise the business on legal matters arising from the day-to-day management of stabilized logistics assets in Germany with a focus on applicable law, regulatory and contractual requirements and Goodman standards
• Legal horizon scanning by monitoring relevant laws, regulations, case law and market developments affecting German asset management, proactively advising the organisation
• Practice preventive law & legal awareness by training and educating colleagues in Germany on relevant legal and compliance matters, fostering a culture of legal awareness, early risk identification and practical preventive law.
• Selecting, instructing and managing external legal advisors effectively in line with the European legal panel of law firms.
• Advise and coordinate on disputes & litigation
• Coordinate legal disputes and litigation in Germany, ensuring clear strategy, effective stakeholder alignment, appropriate escalation and efficient management of external counsel
• Legal Practice
• Own and maintain German legal templates in line with CE-agreed standards, including leases, general conditions, framework agreements and other key documents used as negotiation starting points.
• Participate actively in the legal practice and in the development and maintenance of CE legal templates and internal legal policies
• Support the Legal Practice in strategic projects and initiatives across the business
• Prepare relevant reporting for General Counsel CE as and when required.
• Governance & quality assurance
• Flag deviations from Goodman standards in quality assurance and corporate governance processes, helping the business make informed decisions on risk, approvals and mitigations.

Do you recognize yourself?

• German qualified lawyer or minimum first state exam
• Knowledge of real estate contract law with a strong interest in energy law relating to real estate and a broad spectrum of relevant regulatory changes
• At least 3 years of relevant proven experience as a legal counsel or a similar role in a real estate company or law firm
• Strong analytical, communication, negotiation and drafting skills
• Ability to work in an agile environment with non-legal stakeholders on multiple projects in parallel with a strong eye for meeting deadlines;
• Proactive, adaptable and eager to learn;
• High ethical standards and professionalism;
• Excellent knowledge of both written and spoken German and English;
• Critical and challenging owner-mindset

Who will you be working with?

You will join the Asset Management team consisting of +60 professionals managing Goodman’s logistics properties across Continental Europe from a financial, technical and commercial point of view. Within Germany we have an active team of +20 colleagues working closely together ensuring we have a profitable, compliant and sustainable portfolio managing +50 properties with around 80 different leases linked to this. The team in Germany already has one experienced legal counsel asset management who will be the main sparring partner on a day-to-day basis.  

You will also join the European Legal Practice team which consists of close to 20 experienced legal counsels based across Duesseldorf, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and Milan, working closely with the General Counsel and the Risk and Compliance teams. The team plays a key role in maintaining CE-wide legal standards, tools, templates, knowledge sharing, training and external legal panel governance enabling Goodman’s Legal Counsels to deliver consistent, efficient and high-quality trustworthy and timely legal support to the business consistent with Goodman Group’s risk profile.

How will we reward you?

We offer a competitive total reward package aligned with the scope and responsibilities of the role, including fixed compensation, short-term incentive (STI) opportunities, and participation in long-term incentive (LTI) plans, a company car or car allowance, mobile phone and subscription, life insurance and the possibility to work 1 day/week from home.  In addition, the role offers the possibility to work in the capacity of “Syndikusrechtsanwalt”.

Compensation decisions are based on objective, transparent and gender-neutral criteria, considering factors such as internal benchmark, relevant experience, skills, qualifications, market benchmarks and the scope of the role.

But first, let us introduce ourselves a little more:  

Goodman Group develops, owns and manages the infrastructure that keeps goods moving and data flowing. We build and operate logistics facilities and data centres in strategic locations across the world. Together with leading institutional investors, we invest in and manage these assets to support long-term growth and the digital economy

Goodman operates in key consumer markets in 15 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. We are the largest property group listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and invest significantly alongside our capital partners in our investment Partnerships. Our Continental European headquarter is based in Belgium and we are active in 7 European countries, including offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Madrid, Barcelona, Milan and Paris. 

Our culture is based on collaboration, ownership and a mindset of seizing the opportunity. We take ownership of our decisions, work together to achieve shared success, create an environment where everyone is empowered to learn, grow and have impact. 

How do we look at the world of tomorrow?

Building and operating essential infrastructure comes with a real environmental impact. At Goodman, we don't shy away from that. We see it as a responsibility we owe to the generations who'll come after us, and as an opportunity to keep doing better, project after project. In practice, that means taking a long-term view of how what we build holds up over time, and building teams where different perspectives are genuinely valued. Because words only carry us so far, what counts is what actually gets achieved. It's an ongoing effort, made of small decisions as much as big ones, and one where the right people can push what's possible even further.