General Counsel

Description:

Who we are:
We are a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering a more accountable and trustworthy marketplace. As the foremost thought leader on industry self-regulation, we are shaping the way that businesses and consumers interact with one another. As the home of U.S. independent industry self-regulation, we are currently operating more than twenty globally recognized programs that have been helping enhance consumer trust in business for more than 50 years. Our programs provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services that address existing and emerging industry issues, create a fairer playing field for businesses, and a better experience for consumers. We continue to evolve our work and grow our impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in areas such as advertising, child-and-teen-directed marketing, data privacy, dispute resolution, automobile warranty, technology, and emerging areas.

Your Impact:
As the General Counsel, you will advance our mission as a member of the Executive Leadership Team reporting to the President and Chief Executive Officer. You will develop, implement, and lead A Non-Profit Organization's legal function, serving as a solutions-oriented advisor, partnering closely with the leadership team across a variety of legal disciplines. This role will be part of an entrepreneurial environment and contribute to the growth of our organization.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Serve as a strategic advisor and thought leader on organizational strategy and plans from a legal, regulatory, and reputational risk perspective.
• Help advance our mission and grow the organization's impact as a member of the Executive Leadership Team
• Provide hands-on legal advice on contracts, vendor agreements, technology, employment, intellectual property (trademark), marketing, antitrust, risk, government engagement, and data privacy.
• Mitigate the risk of litigation, respond to third-party subpoena requests, and represent the organization in litigation matters. Manage outside counsel where appropriate.
• Build and maintain scalable and effective processes for providing legal input related to risk, vendor management, AI, technology, and corporate governance and to monitor such policies.
• Serve as hands-on legal counsel to our BBB Autoline and Dispute Resolution Programs including program rules, audits, compliance, class actions , and consumer complaints.
• In partnership with the office of the Chief Financial Officer, manage, review, and negotiate contracts across the organization, including program participation agreements, licensing agreements and vendor contracts, to negotiate best terms and mitigate risk.
• Maintain IP portfolio, including trademark searches, filing trademark applications, and responding externally on behalf of the organization.
• Provide strategic guidance and lead legal diligence efforts in relation to inorganic growth, M&A, strategic partnerships, and other transactions.
• Develop and implement effective corporate, legal, and risk management policies and procedures.

What you will bring:
Must Have:

• 10+ years of experience in corporate or non-profit legal department either as in-house counsel and/or as outside counsel providing support to corporate and/or nonprofit clients
• Juris Doctor (JD) Degree
• Experience advising C-suite executives or leadership teams on a variety of legal matters using fact-based, data-driven, and analytically sound approaches
• Strong business acumen, and a demonstrated ability to think strategically and creatively about proposed resolutions
• Knowledgeable about legal operations, with a successful track record of adopting technological solutions to automate and scale legal department processes
• Experience navigating questions at the strategic and operational level
• Ability to anticipate legal issues or risks and see around the corner
• Creative problem-solving ability and excellent analytic skills
• Extraordinary ability to communicate information effectively internally and externally - on the fly or with prepared remarks - to drive cross-functional alignment and action
• Fluent with Microsoft Office applications; ability to learn new applications and skills quickly

• Fortune 500 in-house counsel
• Non-profit in-house counsel
• Litigation defense
• Generative AI, specifically from a legal/regulatory oversight perspective
• Dispute resolution, lemon-law, warranty, mediation, arbitration, and class action litigation
• New business model development
• Serving on a non-profit Board
• Government affairs

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