Senior Legal Counsel

Job Description

About the role:

Reporting to the Associate General Counsel for North America, the Senior Legal Counsel will be heavily involved in providing legal counsel and assistance to the Firm's U.S. offices as well as working with OGC colleagues in EMEA, LatAm and APAC on additional international projects. The successful candidate for this role will be an enthusiastic qualified lawyer with a background in mergers & acquisitions, high volume international commercial contract negotiations and with exceptional drafting skills. You will have experience in managing projects as well as compiling and delivering training. Ideally you will already be in an in-house role or have a strong desire to move in-house.

About the team:

The Office of General Counsel is one of the corporate teams supporting the firm's core business. The team assists with a wide range of transactional, company secretarial and advisory legal work, including tenders; commercial contracts (clients and suppliers); employment; property; professional regulation; compliance; sanctions; M&A; and litigation. As part of the team, you will work with OGC and non-OGC colleagues around the world as well as with local advisors supporting Fragomen in various locations.

How will you make a difference as Senior Legal Counsel at Fragomen?

• Assisting with the development, approach and strategies for the Firm's global expansion initiatives, including lateral hires, mergers and acquisitions, legal and corporate governance in opening new offices or entering into joint ventures and pursuing other innovative expansion opportunities
• Leading international commercial contract matters: Drafting, reviewing and negotiating client and vendor contracts and commercial leases.
• General corporate transactional matters: Complex MSAs, RFPs & NDAs
• Responding to client compliance requests
• Third party due diligence: The Firm undertakes a very thorough due diligence of its vendors (especially local counsel) through a program overseen by the Office of General Counsel
• Third party vendors: Responding to inquiries from vendors and Fragomen client teams regarding third party contractual/compliance obligations
• Corporate secretarial: Attending to key governance functions
• Ad hoc projects, including working on future new office openings

Leverage your valuable skills and experience to make an impact at Fragomen:

• JD required and active US bar license required
• Dual Qualified in an additional EU location ideal (not required)
• 4-8 years of experience with high volume international commercial contracts (drafting, reviewing and negotiating) and transactional M&A work essential
• Experience practicing at a large or mid-sized law firm, preferably one with a substantial global practice supporting global clients with cross border legal issues; ideally augmented by experience in-house.
• Entrepreneurial quickness balanced with professional acumen. Able to deal effectively with strategic issues as well as tactical operational details. Desire to create more efficient processes and ways of working
• Familiarity laws and regulations relevant to client onboarding
• Excellent time management skills and ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Attention to detail and commitment to producing high quality work product
• Excellent interpersonal, relationship management and communication skills. Understanding of cultural differences and ways of working
• Requires gravitas, credibility and self-confidence, but also considerable collaboration. Must be a team player
• Work with a strong sense of professional pride, possess a strong work ethic, be proactive, enthusiastic and flexible, and have exemplary personal and professional integrity and business ethics, as well as a commitment to diversity and a respect for others
• Superior writing and oral communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to adapt style and format while maintaining substance to the audience