ACC San Diego - Association of Corporate Counsel · 20 hours ago
Associate General Counsel – Contracts & Legal Operations
Naperville, IL
Contract
Hybrid
Mid Level
4+ years expACC San Diego - Association of Corporate Counsel is seeking an Associate General Counsel specializing in Contracts and Legal Operations. This role involves providing legal counsel and strategic contracting support, focusing on third-party and vendor engagements while developing and maintaining contract standards.
Law Practice
Responsibilities
Reviews and negotiates technology, vendor, and service provider contracts, applying consistent standards and appropriate legal risk judgment, with an emphasis on technology and outsourced services (e.g., SaaS, cloud/hosting, managed services, professional services/SOW’s, data processing, and strategic vendor arrangements)
Develops, maintains, and continuously improves a contracting standards framework (e.g., checklists, contract playbooks, and escalation thresholds) that enable efficient, consistent contract review
Provides timely, practical legal advice to internal business partners to enable business objectives while managing legal and regulatory risk
Makes risk-based decisions on contract terms, including liability allocation, indemnification, intellectual property, confidentiality, data security, audit rights, and dispute resolution
Approves legal risk exceptions where contracts deviate from organizational standards, documenting rationale and any compensating considerations
Partners with members of the Legal team to ensure efficient intake, triage, and turnaround of contract review and negotiation requests., Handles escalated negotiations with third parties when standard terms are rejected or when business needs require non-standard agreements
Responsible for the organization’s inventory of commercial and agricultural lending contract templates, including loan agreements, security instruments, guarantees, and related documents
Responsible for the effort to harmonize the organization’s legacy forms to standardize provisions, align risk management approaches, and ensure template documents work together coherently
Manages the periodic review cycle for legal forms, coordinating and contributing to in-house and outside counsel review according to established schedules and risk tiers
Partners with the Legal team members on version control, metadata management, and template distribution processes
Serves as backup legal counsel to the organization's commercial finance and capital markets teams, providing contract review and legal advice against defined legal standards on a portfolio of complex commercial syndicated and participated middle market, large corporate, and institutional loans
Supports the review of loan pool purchases when the organization purchases pools of commercial or agricultural loans
Works closely with other members of the Legal and Compliance department, providing contract review support during periods of absence or high volume
Champions the brand; serves as a role-model for the vision, mission and values of the organization. Supports Compeer’s strategic initiatives
Assists leadership in defining the legal team’s strategic direction and goals
Keeps abreast of industry best practices. Identifies and executes efficient and effective practices that enhance the team’s value
Qualification
Required
Juris Doctor from an American Bar Association accredited law school
Admission to practice law in at least one U.S. State (and the ability to obtain admission in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Illinois within the first year)
Intermediate-level experience (4+ years) in commercial transactions, contracts, or lending, whether in a law firm or corporate law department
Process orientation, including a demonstrated ability to build systems, standards, and repeatable processes
Strong attention to detail and high accuracy
Analytical, critical thinking and decision-making skills
High level of integrity
Flexibility in a fast-changing environment
Strong interpersonal skills to establish and maintain effective working relationships with others using tact, courtesy and good judgement; capable of influencing without formal authority
Presentation, negotiation, influencing and organizational skills
Strong oral and written communication skills to effectively communicate complex topics to a variety of audiences and to write legal contracts and documents
Creative problem-solving ability
Ability to remain objective in balancing business needs and risk
Ability to prioritize assignments and work independently in a timely manner
Preferred
Experience developing or improving contract processes, templates, playbooks, or clause libraries, and driving measurable cycle-time improvements
Background in financial services, lending, or other regulated industries, with exposure to audit or exam-driven contracting requirements
Exposure to third-party risk management, vendor management, or procurement legal processes
Experience with legal forms management or contract harmonization projects
Familiarity with technology consulting, including SaaS agreements, data security terms, and service level agreements (SLA's)
Understanding of contract law, risk allocation, and commercial terms in vendor and technology agreements
Familiarity with lending documentation, security instruments, and commercial finance transactions
Company
ACC San Diego - Association of Corporate Counsel
As the leading in-house counsel association in San Diego, ACC San Diego promotes the interests of in-house counsel across the region through the sharing of information, education, networking, and advocacy, while demonstrating innovation and leadership for the benefit of the profession.
Founded in 1992San Diego, California, US
2-10 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageCompany data provided by crunchbase