Center for Professional Responsibility - Associate Counsel Lawyers Manual

American Bar Association; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

The American Bar Association seeks a seasoned legal counsel specializing in professional responsibility law to develop high-level resources for our scholarly treatises and regulatory guidance.

You will conduct in-depth research, write extensively, and analyze court decisions, ethics opinions, and current developments to keep our materials authoritative and timely; travel <15% of the time and collaborate with leaders in the profession.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctorate from an ABA-accredited law school and an active law license.
• Minimum eight years of significant professional legal experience with knowledge of professional responsibility law.
• Illinois license active or eligible for admission in Illinois via Rule 705 Admission on Motion.
• Strong legal research, writing, and analytical skills; ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Produce a large volume of high-level professionally written material for treatises on professional responsibility law.
• Engage in in-depth legal research, writing and analysis on professional responsibility and professional regulation, malpractice, and related issues.
• Review court opinions, ethics opinions, law review articles, and news sources to identify changes and emerging trends.
• Maintain and update the Center’s research files and manage the system for researching ethics opinions with summaries for publication.
• Provide critical analysis of the work of colleagues and outside lawyers; collaborate with professionals in the field.
• Travel as needed, typically less than 15% of the time.

Skills

Legal research

Legal writing

Analytical skills

Multitasking

Team collaboration

Microsoft Word

Adobe Acrobat

Education

Juris Doctorate (JD)

Active law license

Illinois admission (Rule 705)

ABA-accredited law school

Tools

Microsoft Word

Adobe Acrobat

Job description

Job Summary/General Purpose of Job

Serves as legal counsel and provides expertise in the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility professional responsibility law and professional regulation. Develops high-level substantive legal resources for the ABA’s premier scholarly treatises on lawyer ethics and regulation that are relied on and cited as authoritative by courts, regulators, scholars and practitioners.Responsible for producing a large volume of high-level, publishable material based on in-depth substantive legal research, writing, and analysis. Reviews court cases, ethics opinions, law review articles, news sources, etc., to keep abreast of changes in the law and identify emerging trends in the field of professional responsibility law. Maintains and updates the Center’s research files on professional responsibility and regulation; manages the Center’s system for researching and collecting state and local ethics opinions and prepares summaries of opinions for publication.

Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities

Responsible for producing a large volume of high-level professionally written material for the Center’s treatises on professional responsibility law that are relied on by experts in the field. Engages in in-depth, independent legal research, writing and analysis on professional responsibility and professional regulation, legal malpractice, and related issues. Reviews, on an on-going basis, a significant volume of court and ethics opinions, law review articles, news sources, etc. to keep abreast of changes in the law and identify emerging trends in the field of professional responsibility law and incorporate new material into treatises and research files. Management duties include: maintaining and updating the Center’s research files on professional responsibility law and regulation; managing the Center’s system for researching and collecting state and local ethics opinions and preparing summaries for publication within deadlines; providing critical analysis of the work of colleagues and outside lawyers. Collects, analyses, and produces digests of state and local ethics opinions for publication. Performs other related duties as required.

Required Education, Qualifications, Experience

Possession of a Juris Doctorate degree from an ABA-accredited law school and an active law license. A minimum of eight years of significant professional legal experience with a demonstrated knowledge of professional responsibility law and a willingness to develop additional expertise in relevant subject-matter. Highly-developed legal research, writing, analytical skills are essential. Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously and meet all deadlines. Ability to work both independently and in a collaborative team environment. Well-developed and demonstrated skills in working with professionals, editing on a peer basis, and interacting with leaders of the profession. Proficiency in Word and Adobe products. Member in good standing in possession of an active license to practice law in the State of Illinois, or eligible to obtain admission in Illinois via Illinois Supreme Court Rule 705 Admission on Motion.

Preferred Education, Qualifications, Experience

At least 10 years of significant professional legal experience and knowledge of professional responsibility law preferred.

Physical Requirements

Typical office work environment. Extent of Travel Required in the Job As a normal course of business, this job will typically require travel of less than 15% of the time.