Corporate Counsel, Litigation

General Job Description :

Reporting directly to the Vice President, General Counsel, this position is responsible for protecting the Company by identifying, administering and managing a variety of the Company's legal matters. The position is primarily focused on construction law issues and liability insurance matters, including collection actions and defense against liability claims. It also provides professional and ethical guidance to identify critical, sensitive and complex problems to which the application of legal principals yields the greatest opportunities for minimizing risks to the Company. The Corporate Counsel, Litigation position works with the Company's in-house legal department, risk management, outside attorneys and Company leadership, providing creative, forward-looking solutions to complex legal issues and business compliance issues.

In addition, the Corporate Counsel, Litigation position will draft, review and negotiate a range of contracts, ensuring the Company's contracts are legally sound and consistent with evolving laws in the states where the Company operates. This position may also provide guidance to the Company's Contracts Department over their work product and contract review processes.

Supervises : None

Essential Duties & Responsibilities :

• Supervise the Company's defense against litigation matters, primarily those covered by the Company's traditional insurance portfolio (e.g., General Liability, Auto, Workers' Compensation). This includes making critical decisions on case strategy, responsive evidence, risk assessment, budget approval, and settlement authority recommendations. This function also involves coordinating all aspects of the litigation process with internal stakeholders, claims adjusters, and outside counsel to ensure optimal legal outcomes and cost-effective resolution.
• Supervise the Company's construction litigation claims, focusing primarily on collection actions. This position requires expertise in using statutory remedies available to construction subcontractors to preserve their payment rights.
• Prepare Company witnesses for depositions, and prepare Company documents for review and / or production, while working efficiently with outside counsel.
• Serve as the Company's primary point of contact and subject matter expert for affirmative collection actions, and for the claims handling process for insured claims. This position may be involved in the selection of outside counsel (including panel counsel). This position continuously monitors outside counsel's performance, efficiency, billing practices, and adherence to Company litigation strategy and guidelines.
• Establish and maintain effective communication with outside counsel and insurance carriers to facilitate smooth claims reporting, coverage analysis, and payment of defense and settlement.
• Make outside counsel more effective and more efficient by serving as the Company's in-house expert for litigating insured claims.
• Prepare, review, and / or coordinate discovery responses with Company employees and outside counsel.
• Serve as the Company's corporate representative at selected hearings, arbitrations, and / or trials.
• Using the Company's software, establish and maintain robust processes for tracking, analyzing, and reporting on the status, financial exposure, reserves, and historical trends of all covered litigation. Develop key performance indicators (KPIs) for outside counsel and internal metrics to manage litigation budgets effectively, providing regular, detailed updates to senior management, the legal department, and the risk / finance teams on potential liabilities, and making data-driven recommendations for process improvements and risk mitigation strategies.
• Assist the Company in implementing improvements to Company processes using "lessons learned" from resolved claims.
• Respond to business-records subpoenas on the Company's behalf.
• Provide training on construction contracts and construction law principles to support Project Managers and administrative support roles.
• Draft, review and negotiate agreements with the Company's customers and vendors in the construction industry, including master agreements, change orders, and professional service agreements. The position may oversee the work product of others in their review of legal agreements.
• Facilitate decision making by preparing concise briefing documents with conclusions and recommendations.
• Legal research and prepare opinions that may have significant impact to the Company.
• Assist with corporate matters including the review, drafting and administration of Company contracts policies and procedures.
• Support the legal department as requested and assigned. Such assignments may include briefing documents, preparation of materials for Board and Committee meetings (including resolutions and minutes), preparing, managing and implementing corporate policies.
• Create and maintain in-house legal library of forms and agreement templates.

Position Requirements (Skills, Work Experience, Education, etc.) :

ACCO Competencies :

Physical Requirements :

(The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.)

Hours :

This is an exempt position. Workdays are scheduled from Monday through Friday. Typically, work hours begin and end between 7 : 00 am and 5 : 00 pm as scheduled with the position's supervisor. Occasional overtime may be necessary per business needs.

Travel : 0 -5% of the time to and from the primary office to regional branch offices.

Competitive Wages :

$160,000 to $190,000 Annual Salary. Applicants please note that actual compensation is determined by several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, certifications, relevant education or training, and specific work location, among others. The offered wage or salary is only one aspect of an employee's total compensation.

#ACCO

#LI-AL1