Legal Counsel

Microsoft's Corporate, External and Legal Affairs team (CELA) works on complex business, legal and regulatory issues around the world, playing a proactive role and applying creative strategies to advance business goals and benefit customers, industry partners, and the communities where we live and work.
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The roles are ideally located in Redmond, Washington but can be located in one of our hub cities for the right role.ResponsibilitiesLegal Advice and Counsel:

• Acts as the primary legal contact (generalist or subject matter expert) for a product, product feature, sales team, business team, or corporate function; executes and/or resolves moderate-impact legal matters.
• Serves as an important contributor to clients and colleagues by providing actionable advice on legal and related business matters (e.g., privacy, intellectual property, regulatory compliance) grounded in in-depth understanding of product.
• Identifies and anticipates legal risks in the client's business, technology, and/or public policy, and develops solutions to mitigate future risk.
• Manages day to day interactions with outside counsel or other service providers to address and resolve issues.
• Structures, drafts, and negotiates transactional documents (e.g., standard agreements with third parties).
• Conducts, reviews, interprets, and analyzes legal information; cultivates an understanding of legal principles within primary legal practice area and a basic understanding of legal principles outside of primary area.
• Monitors business activity to ensure legal compliance policies/standards are followed; advises and helps clients understand compliance issues, identifies risks including anti-trust/anti-corruption, and offers solutions.
• Identifies and engages appropriate stakeholders in Legal and Corporate Affairs and business to escalate issues.

Representing Microsoft:

• Actively participates in legal, work, or industry associations (e.g., presenting at meetings, conferences, hearings, consultations, assisting in planning or preparing presentations); contributes to external outreach initiatives and recruiting.
• Develops positive relationships with external legal professionals, customers, or partners in an effort to protect and advocate Microsoft's interests; coordinates with government affairs professionals to obtain alignment in policy strategy for public entities.

Operational Excellence:

• Engages with legal and other business colleagues (e.g. business desk, finance, tax and trade, compliance) to identify and share best practices.
• Provides continuous feedback and contributes to the improvement of project operational efficiencies; provides recommendations to improve efficiencies within work group and for the delivery of legal services to clients.
• Manages project work expenses according to budget and proposes efficiencies.
• Models compliance and maintains confidentiality, attorney-client privilege, privacy, and the security of data.
  Communication:
• Collaborates effectively within work group and across Legal and Corporate Affairs functions on client issues.
• Organizes and simplifies issues and ideas in written and verbal communication.

Other:

• Embody our culture and values

QualificationsRequired/Minimum Qualifications:

• Juris Doctorate Degree or Equivalent International DegreeOR Completion of a Legal Apprenticeship.
• Active license to practice law in a jurisdiction and capable of meeting admission requirements in relevant jurisdiction.
• 3+ years experience as a practicing attorney OR equivalent practice of law.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications:

• 1+ years experience as an attorney in a specialized practice area.

#CELA
Legal Counsel IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $101,200 - $194,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $130,000 - $213,200 per year.
Microsoft has different base pay ranges for different work locations within the United States, which allows us to pay employees competitively and consistently in different geographic markets (see below). The range above reflects the potential base pay across the U.S. for this role (except as noted below); the applicable base pay range will depend on what ultimately is determined to be the candidate's primary work location. Individual base pay depends on various factors, in addition to primary work location, such as complexity and responsibility of role, job duties/requirements, and relevant experience and skills. Base pay ranges are reviewed and typically updated each year. Offers are made within the base pay range applicable at the time.
At Microsoft certain roles are eligible for additional rewards, including merit increases, annual bonus and stock. These awards are allocated based on individual performance. In addition, certain roles also have the opportunity to earn sales incentives based on revenue or utilization, depending on the terms of the plan and the employee's role. Benefits/perks listed here may vary depending on the nature of employment with Microsoft and the country work location. U.S.-based employees have access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) plan and company match, short-term and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, and wellbeing benefits, among others. U.S.-based employees also receive, per calendar year, up to 10 scheduled paid holidays, and receive up to 2 weeks holistic health time off (front-loaded). Additionally, hourly/non-exempt employees accrue up to 15 paid vacation days, and salaried/exempt employees have Discretionary Time Off (DTO).
Our Commitment to Pay Equity
We are committed to the principle of pay equity - paying employees equitably for substantially similar work. To learn more about pay equity and our other commitments to increase representation and strengthen our culture of inclusion, check out our annual Diversity & Inclusion Report. ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/inside-microsoft/annual-report )
Understanding Roles at Microsoft
The top of this page displays the role for which the base pay ranges apply - Legal Counsel IC3.
The way we define roles includes two things: discipline (the type of work) and career stage (scope and complexity). The career stage has two parts - the first identifies whether the role is a manager (M), an individual contributor (IC), an admin-technician-retail (ATR) job, or an intern. The second part identifies the relative seniority of the role - a higher number (or later letter alphabetically in the case of ATR) indicates greater scope and complexity.
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Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.