Private Equity Resource Attorney

About the role

Cooley is a leading global law firm with offices across the US, Europe and Asia. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to emerging companies to private equity funds and their portfolio companies to Fortune 50 corporations, partnering with us on transformative deals, complex IP and regulatory matters and high‑stakes litigation where innovation meets the law. As part of our commitment to support practitioners, we augment selected practice groups with resource attorneys whose overarching responsibility is to enable our practicing attorneys to be more informed and efficient. These attorneys do not work directly with firm clients and therefore do not bill time.

Responsibilities

• Experience Management – work with the M&A resource attorney and knowledge management team to assist with M&A/PE data and experience input and maintenance.
• Form and Precedent Drafting/Management – prepare drafts (or revise existing precedent) of template documents; curate and organize the PE group’s forms, precedents and other know‑how; cross‑check the overlay between PE and other practice groups.
• Legal Updates – monitor legal and regulatory developments relative to PE practice and the firm’s core industry verticals (software and SaaS, fintech, telecom, education); prepare summaries and alerts; ensure new legal requirements are reflected in practice resources.
• Internal Practice Page – develop and maintain the internal landing page for the PE group.
• Legal Education – coordinate with Cooley’s legal education team to brainstorm and prepare content for associate trainings and other firmwide training efforts related to PE.
• Marketing/Business Development – work closely with the PE/M&A marketing team to strategize on Cooley PE promotion (including content for the PE blog); assist the marketing team with creation of content for pitches and teach‑ins (PPTs, articles, books, etc.); tailor PE pitch materials to key industry verticals.
• Coordinating Activities – work with the quantitative analyst group on PE‑fund and sponsor‑initiated transaction matters; collaborate with resource attorneys in other practice groups on best practices and overlapping initiatives; partner with the innovation team on AI and tech‑enabled processes and workflows; assist with individual attorney requests for precedents, templates, and other resources; contribute to new initiatives in resource, knowledge management and practice innovation; perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements

The PE resource attorney must be a licensed attorney with at least 7+ years of experience in a US PE corporate/transactional practice. The ideal candidate would have a basic handle on private equity including M&A, general portfolio company management (including applicable regulatory issues), general familiarity with partnership‑based equity compensation and related tax issues (including with respect to the award of partnership interests (including “profits interests”)), general familiarity with M&A acquisition financing (including mid‑market LBOs), general corporate and alternative entity matters, and other financial transactions.

Skills

Strong drafting, communication and organizational skills are required.

Qualifications

• Mastery of the substantive area of practice undertaken by the Private Equity practice group
• Knowledge of the industries that Cooley regularly advises
• Excellent written and verbal communication and drafting skills
• Confident and engaging presenter
• Strong intellectual ability, interpersonal and technical skills
• Self‑starter
• Team player
• Organizational and time management skills; attention to detail

Pay

The expected annual pay range for this position is $220,000 - $315,000. Final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate.

Benefits

• Medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan)
• Dental
• Vision
• Health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts
• Pre‑tax commuter benefits
• Life insurance
• AD&D
• Long‑term care coverage
• Backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits
• Firm‑paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short‑term medical benefits
• Accruing vacation time at the rate of four weeks per year
• Sick time at the rate of two weeks per year
• 10 paid holidays each year
• Generous parental leave and fertility benefits
• Detailed benefit orientation for new employees