Pre-legal Collections Counsel

Pre-legal Collections Counsel

The Pre-Legal Collections Counsel serves as the primary legal liaison between the Account Receivables (AR), Finance, and Legal functions across multiple countries and Maersk entities. The role is responsible for driving debt recovery through pre-litigation strategies, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), payment negotiations, and legal collection processes with the objective of maximizing recoveries while minimizing litigation costs and risk.

The incumbent will manage disputed and delinquent accounts, engage with customers and third-party service providers, oversee pre-legal recovery efforts, recommend litigation where necessary, and support continuous improvement of collections policies and procedures.

Key responsibilities:

Outstanding Follow-up

• Maintain communication with Global OTC team for weekly reports on incoming accounts to legal from AR.

• Maintain communication with In-country & GSC collections teams for supporting documentation as well as information on collection actions taken before tagging accounts under legal and customer responses (if any).

• Send demand letters to customers detailing the nature & extent of their debt and follow up to ensure the outstanding amounts are paid.

• Handle disputes from customers in coordination with Collectors, GSC teams and ensure the issues are resolved.

• Attend meetings as required and provide detailed reports of amounts under your management.

• Follow up with the payment application team to ensure all payments received from customers are correctly applied in timely fashion.

• In coordination with the GSC OTC team, perform waiver and write off after getting proper approvals.

• Visit customer premises and follow up for payment of overdue invoices where necessary.

• Where customers are non-responsive/unreachable, contact cx/sales teams in the various countries to provide alternative contacts/visit the customers.

• Maintain a record of all accounts under your management with a current update on their status.

Private Investigators/Collection Agencies

• Instruct private investigators/collection agencies to trace/attempt collection where collection options have been exhausted without response/payment.

• Ensure reports on status of investigation/collection are shared regularly by the respective vendors.

• Maintain a record of all accounts under the management of Private Investigators/Collection Agencies with a current update on their status.

• Review reports and recommendations shared by the vendors and ensure they are sound.

• Vet & process invoices for said vendors to ensure payment in accordance with agreed terms.

• Address any vendor issues/complaints.

External Lawyers

• Instruct external lawyers to collect/file suit against customers who refuse to pay/default on payment plans and have ability to pay as per investigation report received.

• Provide relevant supporting documentation to the external lawyers, including investigation reports where relevant.

• Review pleadings being filed in court and ensure the best approach/strategy is taken in each case.

• Maintain a diary of court dates and ensure witnesses appear in court and no unnecessary adjournments are taken.

• Ensure updates are received after each court attendance and regular reports are received from External lawyers on the status of cases under their management.

• Vet & process invoices as per fee agreements.

• Address any vendor issues/complaints.

Waivers, Payment Plans & Write-offs

• Proffer waivers where relevant in accordance with the laid-out waiver matrix and obtain the relevant approvals.

• Agree on payment plans, obtaining relevant approvals where necessary and monitor compliance with agreed plan.

• Recommend write-off for accounts where a customer is established to be bankrupt/deceased/untraceable despite all efforts to trace the customer directly and through private investigators.

• Review recommendations from Private investigators/ Collection agencies /external lawyers on write off and make internal recommendation to write off where relevant.

• Send accounts for write off to the relevant collector(s) with a clear recommendation for the collector(s) to write off.

Periodical tasks

• Draft/review policies relating to pre-legal collections and make recommendations for policy amendments/changes.

• Ensure compliance with pre-legal collections policies and other procedures relating to pre-legal.

• Ensure payments are correctly applied on time and customers removed from NMB after payment.

• Ensure Pre-legal folder and other reports are correctly & regularly updated.

Secondary Areas of Responsibility

• Identify areas of improvement for the Pre-legal collections process as well as other processes and pro-actively engage with your direct manager and stakeholders to explore same.

Who We Are Looking For:

Someone with:

• Bachelor's Degree in Law (LLB) or equivalent legal qualification.

• Admission to the Bar/Legal Practice Certificate preferred where applicable

• 3–7 years' experience in debt recovery, commercial litigation, collections, legal practice, or credit risk management.

• Experience managing external legal counsel, collection agencies, and investigators.

• Experience working within a multinational organization is advantageous.

• Knowledge of cross-border debt recovery and commercial dispute resolution is preferred.

#RPO

Maersk is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace, and we embrace different styles of thinking. Maersk is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants without regard to race, colour, gender, sex, age, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy or parental leave, veteran status, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with all legal requirements.

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