Associate General Counsel - (3 - Positions)

About the role

The positions are eligible for hybrid or in-person work schedule.

Responsibilities

• Assists the General Counsel in providing legal services to the University community and the University President and Board of Trustees as needed.
• Reviews and maintains currency with laws, rules, and regulations affecting higher education and changes to University policy.
• Anticipates, identifies, and helps to resolve legal and strategic risk management issues.
• Provides well-rounded expert advice to management in developing legal strategies and solutions.
• Drafts and reviews policies and procedures, regulations, bylaws, and other documents within legal specialty areas.
• Researches and analyzes laws and regulations and prepares legal documents that include memoranda and correspondence.
• Educates and trains the University community about legal issues.
• Conducts and supervises legal research and analysis.
• Prepares written and verbal opinions of counsel as needed.
• Reviews, prepares, and approves for legal sufficiency contracts, including form and template agreements.
• Collaborates with departments and divisions within areas of legal specialty.
• Represents the University before agencies, boards, committees, commissions, and courts in administrative hearings and litigation.
• Negotiates settlements involving legal issues or transactions on behalf of the University in conjunction with other University officials and the General Counsel.
• Supervises support staff, law student interns or externs, and/or outside counsel on a project basis.
• Represents the Office of General Counsel at meetings and on committees, task forces and work groups as assigned.
• Affords client-focused and mission-oriented legal services to the departments, colleges, officials and employees of the University.
• Performs other related duties as directed by the General Counsel.

Qualifications

• Graduation from an accredited law school.
• Licenses to practice law in the state of Rhode Island and be a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association at the time of appointment, or eligibility and willingness to obtain such admission if also a member in good standing of the bar of any other state and eligible to register with the Rhode Island Supreme Court as an “in-house counsel.”
• Minimum of five years relevant experience as a practicing attorney, or three years of direct relevant experience representing a large university, public sector entity, or similarly complex organization or institution.
• Experience in legal research and writing.
• Written, oral, negotiation, and presentation skills, including the ability to provide clear, practical, risk-informed legal advice.
• Ability to work effectively with a wide range of institutional stakeholders, including governing bodies, senior leaders, administrators, faculty, staff, and external parties.
• Collaborative and flexible work style, and willingness to take on a broad range of responsibilities.
• Ability to independently manage a substantial and diverse legal portfolio and prioritize competing demands in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work with diverse groups/populations.