Vice President, Counsel

Guggenheim Securities; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Guggenheim Partners seeks an experienced Vice President, Counsel to join the Legal Group as a broad-based generalist. The role covers sanctions, AML, privacy, data security and IP, with involvement in litigation, investigations and enforcement.

You will draft, advise and provide practical solutions across jurisdictions, reporting to a managing director and collaborating with global teams to support a fast-growing financial services business.

Qualifications

• Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.
• Active bar admission in good standing.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant legal experience, in-house or financial services preferred.
• Ability to travel to other locations as needed.

Responsibilities

• Conduct reviews of sanctions screening across OFAC, UK, EU regimes and pre-approve high-risk activity.
• Manage privacy and cybersecurity program, including vendor data processing agreements.
• Lead incident response with CISO: scope incidents and determine notification obligations.
• Handle trademark portfolio filings, renewals, and strategy.
• Provide in-house legal support on disputes, investigations, and enforcement.

Skills

Legal drafting

Independent judgment

Cross-functional collaboration

Policy development

Attention to detail

Education

Juris Doctor degree

Tools

e-discovery tools

Email search platforms

Job description

Job Description

Position Summary

Guggenheim Partners is seeking an experienced Vice President, Counsel to serve as a broad-based generalist reporting to a managing director in the Legal Group. This role will span economic sanctions and AML, anti-bribery and corruption, including political contributions and pay-to-play, data privacy and cyber security, trademark and brand protection, litigation, investigations and enforcement. This role will join a highly collaborative team responsible for supporting various functions at the corporate level. This role will assist with a variety of daily matters faced by the in-house legal group related to the growth of a global, diversified financial services business.

The successful candidate will have independent legal judgment and drafting ability and experience in a variety of subject areas with an eagerness to grow and assist across a broad range of matters, developing broad in-house legal skills. This position presents an opportunity to work on interesting and challenging legal matters while being involved in a dynamic growing organization and department.

The position is located in the firm’s Chicago Office and has the opportunity to report under a Hybrid work arrangement.

Essential Job Functions

• Conduct reviews and administer the firm's sanctions screening program across OFAC, UK, EU, and other regimes, including screening of counterparties, vendors, and prospective employees, and pre-approval of activity involving higher-risk jurisdictions
• Administer the firm's pay-to-play and political contribution pre-clearance process, including legal review, identifying courses of action, and documenting resolutions
• Manage the privacy and cybersecurity program, including ensuring compliance with requirements across the US, UK, EU, and other jurisdictions; negotiating data processing agreements and privacy and security terms with vendors; and supporting the business and IT on related inquiries
• Conduct security and privacy reviews and serve as legal lead in incident response alongside the CISO, scoping incidents, determining notification obligations, and directing next steps
• Manage the firm-wide trademark portfolio, including new filings, jurisdiction strategy, renewals and maintenance deadlines, and addressing issues that arise
• Manage and/or provide legal support to Chief Legal Officer on disputes, regulatory issues, investigation and enforcement and related matters, including arbitration and litigation, conducting document review and e-discovery searches, and reviewing filings and other documents
• Serve as a responsive day-to-day in-house resource on matters, including providing advice, negotiating and drafting a range of documents
• Draft, revise and maintain policies and procedures pertaining to relevant practice areas, and build forms, templates, and playbooks
• Serve as a generalist attorney resource on legal, compliance and business matters and projects as they arise

Preferred Qualifications

• Working knowledge of OFAC sanctions administration and AML/KYC concepts
• Working knowledge of political contribution and pay-to-play pre-clearance regimes, including Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-5 and applicable state and municipal rules
• Substantive familiarity with US state privacy laws and UK/EU GDPR, including cross-border transfer mechanics
• Experience advising on data incident response, including identifying the breadth of an issue and assessing notification obligations across jurisdictions
• Meaningful exposure to trademark, litigation and regulatory investigation/enforcement practice areas, including hands-on experience with e-discovery, and enterprise email search platforms
• Experience working within an organization distributed across geographic locations
• Ability to build templates, playbooks, and processes from the ground up
• Ability to perform independently with exceptional legal judgment, including sound instincts about what to decide and what to elevate
• Ability to operate across legal disciplines in a lean, fast-moving legal department, and to create written procedures and document templates where the process currently lives in institutional memory
• Capacity to manage a mixed workload of deadline-driven transactional work and recurring compliance obligations, while maintaining strict attention to detail and prioritizing issues appropriately
• Proven ability to communicate clearly and effectively
• Strong problem-solving skills and a demonstrated ability to take initiative, work independently, and critically analyze issues associated with sophisticated commercial arrangements and transactions
• Proactive, solutions-oriented, and collaborative; responsive to the needs of internal business partners and stakeholders

Basic Qualifications

• Completion of a Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school
• Active bar admission in good standing
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant legal experience, with in-house or financial services experience preferred
• Able to travel to other locations as needed

Salary

• Annual base salary between $170,000 and $200,000.

The base salary range represents the low and high end of the anticipated base salary range for this position. Actual base salaries may vary depending on factors such as location and experience. The range listed reflects base salary only, and the total compensation package may include other components such as incentive compensation.

About Us

Guggenheim Partners is a diversified financial services firm that delivers value to its clients through two primary businesses: Guggenheim Investments, a premier global asset manager and investment advisor, and Guggenheim Securities, a leading investment banking and capital markets business. Guggenheim’s professionals are based in offices around the world, and our commitment is to deliver long-term results with excellence and integrity while advancing the strategic interests of our clients.

Guggenheim is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Learn more at GuggenheimPartners.com, and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @GuggenheimPtnrs.