General Counsel

Description:

Job Overview:
The West Region General Counsel provides expert & strategic legal advice to support the growth & success of the business. This key leader anticipates issues, assesses risk strategically, and provides hands-on counsel to executives & business teams to address critical legal and business challenges. The West Region General Counsel understands the tension between business realities and legal protections, effectively navigates the most difficult questions at the strategy level, and guides teams to avoid pitfalls at the operations level. The West Region General Counsel brings a proven ability to contribute to overall profitability.

Compensation: $225K-$250K plus 20% bonus

FirstService Residential will compensate the successful candidate in accordance with the posted range. The salary or wage paid to the successful candidate will be commensurate with experience, education, and specific job responsibilities. For positions designated at a client's property, the salary or wage will also be premised upon the client's directive. The base pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future

Your Responsibilities:

• Guidance & Strategy
• Analyze all manner of legal & business issues, develop strategy alternatives, recommend effective courses of action, and lead the legal implementation
• Litigation and Claims
• Effectively manage litigation & claims brought against FirstService, including:
• Developing and vetting defense strategies
• Minimizing defense spend & settlement outlays
• Ensuring the value of insurance defense firms' and specific attorneys' billing & deliverables, including case analyses, litigation strategy, status updates, litigation budgets, and well-thought-out discovery, motion practice & settlement approaches
• Managing discovery, preservation & privilege
• Advise the business on asserting & resolving disputes
• Insurance
• Protect the company by leveraging a deep understanding of insurance principles, coverage types, tendering imperatives, triggers to coverage, managing adjusters & third-party administrators, and avoiding actions that may jeopardize coverage
• Contracts
• Expertly draft & edit contracts to protect FirstService while also achieving the company's business objectives
• Successfully negotiate agreements to balance protecting FirstService's interests with obtaining or retaining the business
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Pre-acquisition: Serve as part of the acquisition team, effectively analyzing a target's agreements, suits, claims & other risk factors as well as business ‘fit' factors. Assist in the preparation, review, and negotiation of documents for complex transactions.
• Post-acquisition: Serve as part of the post-acquisition integration team, managing various integration initiatives
• Mergers & entity formation: Plan & project-manage the efforts, bringing the right voices to the table & considering operational, financial, tax, insurance, human resources & regulatory questions.
• Employment Law
• Leverage a solid working knowledge of employment law to provide sound legal advice related to wrongful termination, harassment, discrimination & other employee matters. Team with outside employment counsel & insurance defense counsel to address such matters as appropriate.
• Operations & Legal Liability
• Leverage a deep understanding of the business & operating departments as well as in-depth knowledge of homeowner association law in the West Region states in order to navigate the legal / operations interface effectively.
• Train managers, executives and others to minimize legal liability for FirstService.
• Partner with operating executives & others to develop & adjust company processes as FirstService provides new services and as statutes & case law evolve.
• Guide the company with regard to regional compliance matters and public policy advocacy as needed.
• Other responsibilities as assigned

Skills & Qualifications:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Personal qualifications

• Overall broad legal knowledge (corporate law, litigation, labor law, etc.)
• Ability to develop legal strategy & objectives
• Impeccable professional ethics & integrity
• Ability to anticipate legal issues or risks and to ‘see around the corner'
• Creative problem-solving ability & excellent analytic skills
• The ability to apply sound business & legal judgment to a wide variety of legal questions
• Extraordinary interpersonal and communication skills; ability to communicate information effectively internally and externally – whether on the fly or with prepared communications - and to drive cross-functional alignment and action
• High degree of initiative; growth-minded & collaborative
• Execution-oriented mindset with the drive to get things done
• Able to work under tight deadlines, handle multiple, detailed projects simultaneously and anticipate needs in advance
• Fluent with Microsoft Office applications, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Windows; Ability to learn new applications and skills quickly

Leadership qualifications

• A self-aware leader with a growth mindset who seeks to understand, fosters trust, and develops his or her own leadership skills
• Ability to build talent in the organization through coaching and staff development, giving and receiving feedback, motivating, empowering and leading by serving
• Ability to strengthen the organization by influencing, establishing alignment, and skillfully managing change

Education and Experience:

• JD from an ABA accredited law school
• Member in good standing of the California State Bar
• Litigation & employment law experience required
• 12+ years licensed legal practice experience
• Proficient in English.
• Excellent general math skills.

Physical Requirements and Working Environment: