Global Head of Litigation

About the role

LyondellBasell is a leader in the global chemical industry creating solutions for everyday sustainable living. With a nearly 70-year legacy that includes a Nobel Prize in Chemistry and our proprietary MoReTec recycling technology, LYB is enabling a more sustainable future for generations to come. LYB develops high-quality and innovative products for applications ranging from sustainable transportation and food safety to clean water and quality healthcare. LYB places high priority on diversity, equity and inclusion and is Advancing Good with an emphasis on our planet, the communities where we operate and our future workforce.

The Global Head of Litigation will lead the company’s global litigation and arbitration docket, within Company and Department guidelines, policies, and procedures. This attorney will have enterprise-wide responsibility for the strategy, management, and resolution of significant existing and potential legal disputes. The position is based in Houston and will report to the Deputy General Counsel.

Responsibilities

• Lead global litigation strategy and oversight for the company’s litigation and arbitration docket, including handling the highest profile cases and resolving disputes across regions, businesses, functions, and legal jurisdictions.
• Analyze complex factual, legal, commercial, technical, and strategic issues in disputes globally, including working with business leaders, technical teams, company executives, and regional legal teams to assess complexity, value, exposure, and options for resolution or continued litigation.
• Prepare and present clear litigation analyses, reports, and recommendations to the Deputy General Counsel and/or General Counsel, senior executives, legal leadership, and other senior leaders, including assessments of risk, exposure, strategy, budgets, and settlement authority.
• Coordinate with regional and business legal leaders to identify global litigation trends, recurring risks, common needs, and opportunities to improve dispute prevention, early resolution, and litigation readiness.
• Retain, manage, and collaborate closely with outside counsel globally to drive case strategy, review court and arbitration submissions, manage legal spend, ensure quality and consistency, and identify legal trends and risks to the company.
• Develop and implement global litigation governance, mitigation strategies, matter-management practices, reporting protocols, and consistent implementation of company policies and practices, including those relating to litigation, arbitration, investigations, appeals, document preservation, and dispute resolution.
• Serve as the primary global litigation resource for legal and business teams by providing strategic legal advice on pre-dispute matters, active disputes, threatened claims, significant investigations, enforcement matters, and cross-border litigation risk.
• Lead, coach, and develop litigation attorneys and other staff members where applicable, and act as a senior global resource for colleagues on complex litigation, dispute resolution, risk management, and legal strategy.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer with significant litigation, arbitration, and dispute-resolution experience, including substantial in-house experience
• 15+ years of post-qualification experience in a major law firm or corporation, with demonstrated experience leading significant litigation or arbitration matters
• Experience managing disputes across multiple jurisdictions; cross-border litigation and international arbitration experience preferred
• Experience in the chemical, energy or engineering industry is preferred
• Strong leadership, management, coaching, communication, and executive-advisory skills

Qualifications

The successful candidate will have the following competencies:

• Instills Trust and Exemplifies Integrity: Gaining the confidence and trust of others through honesty, integrity and authenticity.
• Demonstrate Courage: Stepping up to address difficult issues, saying what needs to be said, acting with integrity, doing what is right.
• Building Effective Teams: Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals.
• Ensures Accountability: Holding self and others accountable to meet commitments.
• Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances.
• Collaborates: Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives, within and across functions.
• Cultivates Innovation: Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful. Uses lateral thinking. Questions the status quo.
• Customer Focus: Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions. Focuses on internal and external customers.