Legal Counsel, Litigation

Our Purpose

Mastercard powers economies and empowers people in 200+ countries and territories worldwide. Together with our customers, we’re helping build a sustainable economy where everyone can prosper. We support a wide range of digital payments choices, making transactions secure, simple, smart and accessible. Our technology and innovation, partnerships and networks combine to deliver a unique set of products and services that help people, businesses and governments realize their greatest potential.

Title and Summary

Legal Counsel, Litigation

The Litigation Strategy Coordinator will support the development, execution, and governance of Mastercard's litigation strategy across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EEMEA). The role will act as the central coordination point for significant disputes, regulatory investigations, enforcement actions and strategic litigation matters, ensuring consistency of approach, effective reporting, stakeholder alignment and proactive management of legal risk across the region.
The successful candidate will work closely with internal legal teams, external counsel, business stakeholders, compliance, communications and public policy teams to support the efficient management of contentious matters and litigation-related initiatives.
Key Responsibilities
• Litigation Governance & Coordination
• Coordinate oversight of the EEMEA litigation portfolio, including commercial disputes, competition matters, regulatory investigations and strategic litigation matters.
• Maintain regional litigation trackers, dashboards and reporting mechanisms.
• Ensure timely escalation of material developments, risks, milestones and settlement opportunities.
• Support implementation of consistent litigation management practices across markets.
Strategy Development
• Assist in developing case strategies in partnership with internal legal teams and external counsel.
• Coordinate fact gathering, legal analysis and development of litigation themes.
• Track key legal, regulatory and market developments that may impact litigation strategy.
• Support assessment of litigation trends and emerging enforcement risks across EEMEA.
External Counsel Management
• Coordinate engagement and performance management of external law firms.
• Monitor budgets, forecasts and accruals related to litigation matters.
• Support development of alternative fee arrangements and cost-management initiatives.
• Track outside counsel deliverables and key deadlines.
Executive Reporting
• Prepare concise executive updates for senior leadership and legal management.
• Develop litigation dashboards, risk summaries and board-level briefing materials.
• Coordinate inputs for regional and global legal reviews.
• Support preparation of strategic presentations on significant disputes and investigations.
Cross-Functional Engagement
• Act as liaison between legal, compliance, communications, public policy, finance and business teams.
• Coordinate responses to regulatory inquiries and litigation-related information requests.
• Support preservation, document management and litigation readiness activities.
• Facilitate governance meetings and litigation review forums.
Portfolio Analysis & Risk Management
• Support assessment of exposure, reserves and potential business impacts arising from disputes.
• Maintain a repository of litigation precedents, lessons learned and strategic guidance.
• Track compliance with reporting obligations and governance requirements.
• Identify opportunities to reduce legal risk and improve dispute management processes.

All about you-Qualifications
Required
• Bachelor's degree in Law, Business, Public Policy or related discipline.
• 5+ years of experience in litigation, disputes, investigations, legal operations or a related legal support function.
• Experience coordinating complex, multi-jurisdictional matters.
• Strong project management and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Ability to manage multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Preferred
• Experience in the payments, financial services or technology sector.
• Familiarity with competition law, regulatory investigations and commercial disputes.
• Experience working across multiple EEMEA jurisdictions.
• Knowledge of legal spend management and litigation reporting tools.
• Paralegal, legal operations or project management certification.
Key Competencies
• Strategic thinking
• Strong judgment and discretion
• Executive communication
• Project and program management
• Cross-functional collaboration
• Risk assessment
• Influencing skills
• Attention to detail
• Resilience and accountability
Success Measures
• Accurate and timely litigation reporting.
• Effective coordination of significant disputes and investigations.
• Improved visibility of litigation risks and trends across EEMEA.
• Efficient management of external counsel and litigation budgets.
• Consistent execution of litigation governance processes.
• High-quality executive and leadership reporting.

Corporate Security Responsibility

All activities involving access to Mastercard assets, information, and networks comes with an inherent risk to the organization and, therefore, it is expected that every person working for, or on behalf of, Mastercard is responsible for information security and must:

• Abide by Mastercard’s security policies and practices;

• Ensure the confidentiality and integrity of the information being accessed;

• Report any suspected information security violation or breach, and

• Complete all periodic mandatory security trainings in accordance with Mastercard’s guidelines.