General Counsel New

Legal Services NYC; New York, Northern (NY, KY); Hybrid; USD 172,000 - 222,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision plans

403(b) plan

Generous leave time

Job summary

Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) seeks a seasoned General Counsel to lead our legal strategy across labor and employment law, governance, and regulatory compliance. The role reports to the Executive Director and collaborates with senior leadership to guide risk management and policy.

Requirements: JD from an accredited law school, New York bar eligibility, at least 10 years of legal experience, and strong advisory and supervisory skills in a nonprofit, unionized setting.

Qualifications

• JD from an accredited law school.
• New York bar admission or eligibility for immediate membership.
• Minimum of 10 years of legal experience.
• Labor and employment law experience, including supervisory/managerial experience in a nonprofit, unionized environment.
• Experience with corporate governance and regulatory and compliance issues.

Responsibilities

• Provide labor and employment law advice to senior leadership and outside counsel.
• Advise on grievances under the CBA and represent the organization in arbitration or in collaboration with outside counsel.
• Assist with collective bargaining and responding to union information requests.
• Provide guidance for risk management and proactive legal solutions.
• Represent the organization or assist with litigation and other matters with outside counsel.
• Advise and train on professional responsibility and conflicts of interest.
• Review real estate leases and draft organizational agreements.
• Review and negotiate grants and contracts with funders and vendors.
• Supervise Compliance department to ensure nonprofit regulation compliance.
• Develop and update office policies.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Skills

Labor law

Management experience

Governance

Communication skills

Education

Juris Doctor (JD) and NY bar eligibility

Job description

Bronx Legal Services; Brooklyn Legal Services; Legal Services NYC; LSNYC Central Office; Manhattan Legal Services; Queens Legal Services; Staten Island Legal Services

Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) fights poverty and seeks racial, social and economic justice for low-income New Yorkers. For over 50 years, we have challenged systemic injustices that trap people in poverty and provided legal services that help our clients meet basic needs for housing, income and economic security, family and immigration stability, education, and health care. LSNYC is the largest civil legal services provider in the country; our staff of more than 600 people in neighborhood-based offices and outreach sites across all five boroughs helps hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers annually. We partner with scores of community-based and client-run organizations, elected officials, public agencies, pro bono lawyers, and the courts to maximize our effectiveness. Our work fights discrimination and helps to achieve equity for all low-income New Yorkers.

LSNYC employees have numerous opportunities for growth and professional development, including access to our internal Justice Learning Center, which provides opportunities to earn free CLEs and gain experience as a trainer.

General Counsel

About Legal Services NYC

Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) fights poverty and seeks racial, social, and economic justice for low-income New Yorkers. As the largest civil legal services provider in the country, our staff of 700 people in neighborhood-based offices across all five boroughs provides high-quality, free legal assistance to more than 100,000 New Yorkers annually. For almost 60 years, we have challenged systemic injustice and helped New Yorkers meet basic needs related to housing, income, immigration, family, education, and health. We partner with scores of community-based and client-run organizations, elected officials, public agencies, pro bono lawyers, and the courts to maximize our effectiveness. Our work fights discrimination and helps to achieve equal opportunity for all low-income New Yorkers.

LSNYC currently has a staff of over 700, including attorneys, paralegals and social workers as well as administrative professionals. We are a unionized program with over 500 of those employees belonging to a wall to wall union, LSSA 2320.

LSNYC seeks a highly motivated and dedicated attorney to join its team as General Counsel. A new position, the General Counsel will report to LSNYC’s Executive Director and work closely with the LSNYC’s Senior Leadership team to provide high-level guidance to the organization

This is a challenging role, requiring a high level of expertise in multiple areas of law, as well as strategic thinking skills. The ideal candidate will have strong labor law and employment law experience and supervisory/management experience in a nonprofitunionized environment, and must have the ability and desire to stay up-to-date with legal trends and development and if needed, learn new areas of the law so as to best serve the organization.

Duties and Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be responsible for performing and/or supervising staff executing the following duties and responsibilities:

• Providing labor and employment law advice to LSNYC’s Executive Director and senior management, and, when appropriate, in consultation with outside counsel.
• Advising senior management on grievances under the CBA, conducting grievance hearings as requested and representing the organization in arbitration or collaborating with outside counsel in preparing for arbitrations.
• Assisting with collective bargaining, including responding to union information requests.
• Providing guidance for the organization in risk management including proactive solutions to manage risk.
• Representing the organization or assisting with litigation and other matters in which LSNYC and/or its employees are parties, including working with outside counsel.
• Advising and training on professional responsibility matters and identifying and resolving client conflicts of interest.
• Reviewing real estate leases;
• Drafting agreements for the organization.
• Reviewing and negotiating grants and contracts with funders, vendors, and subcontractors.
• Supervising LSNYC’s Compliance department which ensures compliance with applicable laws governing New York nonprofits, including New York’s Not-for-Profit Corporation Law.
• Developing and updating office policies.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school and state bar admission in New York or eligibility for immediate membership.
• Minimum of 10 years of legal experience.
• Labor and employment law experience, including supervisory/managerial experience in a unionized environment.
• Experience with corporate governance and regulatory and compliance issues.
• Excellent judgment and discretion, and the ability to balance legal risks with business demands.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to further the goals of a mission-driven organization and to be guided by its values.
• Ability to work well with diverse constituencies.
• Demonstrated commitment to public interest work and/or supporting work for social change.

LSNYC offers an excellent benefits package and highly competitive public interest salary. Our benefits include health, dental and vision plans, contributions to a 403(b) plan, and generous leave time.

Salary Range

$171,978.00 - $222,343.00 USD,commensuratewith experience.

Work Location

This is a hybrid position based in New York City with a minimum of 5 in-office days over each two-week period.

Only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted. No telephone calls, please.

Legal Services NYC is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, people over 40, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are strongly encouraged to apply.

Dependent on work history and experience.

Salary Range

$171,978 - $222,343 USD

All employees are strongly encouraged to continue to receive and maintain up-to-date COVID vaccinations unless they are unable to for medical or religious reasons.

Legal Services NYC is an equal opportunity employer. People of color, women, people with disabilities, people over 40, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people are strongly encouraged to apply.