Legal Counsel (Commercial, IP & Advertising Clearance)

Overview

As Legal Counsel at WPP, you will provide practical, solution-focused legal support to commercial, production, creative and marketing teams, with a focus on IP, content production and advertising clearance. You’ll partner with agency and business stakeholders to enable creative campaigns while managing risk. This role blends legal expertise with commercial judgement to scale creative work across multiple channels in a fast-paced environment. You’ll contribute to templates, guidance and governance to uplift legal practice across the business.

Responsibilities

• Advise on copyright, trademarks, designs, passing off and other IP issues in creative and production activities
• Review campaign concepts, scripts, storyboards, assets and production materials to identify IP risks and advise on ownership, licenses and exploitation
• Draft, review and negotiate IP licences, assignments and permissions
• Review third-party content arrangements including photos, music, stock assets and AI-generated content; advise on talent and contributor agreements from an IP/rights perspective
• Support production teams on legal and clearance aspects; negotiate production, talent, location and supplier contracts
• Advise on rights acquisition, chain of title and usage rights; assist with risk management during production and exploitation
• Provide regulatory clearance and risk guidance on advertising, including CAP/BCAP, consumer protection, promotional rules and influencer marketing
• Review substantiation for advertising claims and clearance across TV, digital, social, print and experiential channels
• Draft and negotiate commercial agreements (client services, SOWs, production and supplier agreements, NDAs, licenses); assist with pitches and renewals
• Deliver training on IP, advertising clearance and risk; develop guidance notes, playbooks and templates; monitor regulatory developments

Key requirements

• Qualified solicitor in England & Wales or equivalent
• 5-6 years PQE in leading law firm or in-house
• Strong experience in commercial contract drafting and negotiation
• Demonstrable IP expertise
• Experience providing advertising clearance and marketing law advice
• Knowledge of content production, media and creative industries
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication
• Ability to assess risk quickly and provide practical solutions

• commercially minded
• pragmatic
• strong communication with senior stakeholders
• intellectual property law
• advertising clearance and regulatory compliance
• commercial contract drafting and negotiation

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