Corporate Counsel

Responsibilities

• Draft, review, negotiate, and manage substantive commercial agreements, including, but not limited to: customer agreements, vendor agreements, purchase agreements, non-disclosure agreements, service agreements, license agreements, and consulting agreements
• Draft, manage and keep scopes of work, insurance requirements, service level agreements, and other vendor documents current and in compliance with SMS Assist's risk management policies
• Serve as the point of contact for internal business owners on contractual matters, ensuring timely contract review and approval, efficient contract management, and consistent follow-up on key compliance issues
• Develop and maintain positive working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including those in the legal, sales, and operations departments, as well as our customers, to ensure that the documents tie out with applicable needs, requirements, and expectations, including contracting strategies, business objectives, and other contract conditions
• Communicate and coordinate with stakeholders, including responding to inquiries, requests for clarification, etc. regarding contracts and terms/conditions or other items
• Record key contract data and conduct various analyses and modeling of contract data, as required, to meet Legal department goals and effectively respond to business requests
• Actively contribute to the Legal department's efforts to maintain a database of all contracts, contract statuses, and proactively ensure contract compliance
• Ensure execution of approved and finalized customer contracts, including timely and accurate hand-off to internal partners/stakeholders
• Monitor existing contracts using approved performance methodologies, tools, etc.; including identifying and recommending opportunities for improvement
• Organize and prioritize workload so as to most efficiently enable and facilitate team efforts to accomplish company goals, and anticipate and identify current and future needs
• Keep Corporate Counsel - Director of Commercial Transactions and General Counsel, as applicable and appropriate, apprised of current and potential issues and communicate effectively on a regular basis
• Identify potential risk and liability related to business practices, policies, and deals
• Share information and offer ideas and solutions in a team environment
• Provide guidance to junior attorneys and foster a positive team environment
• Ensure confidentiality of internal and external data
• Perform ad-hoc projects and other duties as assigned

Professional Skills
These are the professional skills we would expect from an individual fully established in this role.

• Customer Service - Advanced
• Verbal Communication - Expert
• Written Communication - Expert
• Teamwork - Advanced
• Relationships - Advanced
• Negotiation - Advanced
• Organizational Awareness - Advanced
• Learning Agility - Advanced
• Analysis - Expert
• Problem Solving - Expert
• Process Orientation - Advanced
• Prioritization - Advanced

Role Specific Skills

• Excellent organization with the ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment under deadline pressure
• Demonstrated attention to detail, with advanced skills in identifying legal and compliance issues
• Ability to proactively take ownership of projects and take initiative to achieve ideal outcomes
• Strong analytical and drafting skills
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Strong persuasive and negotiation skills and high level of professionalism
• Fluent in the Microsoft Office suite, specifically Word, Excel and Outlook

Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications

• Undergraduate Degree required
• Juris Doctor Degree required
• Admission to a State Bar (preferably Illinois)
• 5+ years of legal experience

Other Relevant Qualifications

• Previous law firm or in-house experience is a plus
• Project management experience
• Knowledge of aspects of contract law, tax law, accounting, securities law, bankruptcy, intellectual property rights, licensing, zoning laws, and the laws specific to the business

Please note, this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities, and schedule may change at any time with or without notice.
SMS Assist is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) that welcomes and encourages all applicants to apply regardless of age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identify and/or expression, national origin, disability, veteran status, marital or parental status, ancestry, citizenship status, pregnancy or other reasons prohibited by law.
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