Assistant General Counsel Corporate Services Government Governance And Communications

Profile

Assistant General Counsel, Corporate Services, Government, Governance, and Communications

The candidate will actively participate as a member of the foundation’s legal team and work cross-functionally and collaboratively with other team members to represent the entire foundation. Contribute to team goals and ensure the sharing of information. Understand and support the programmatic, operational, and business objectives of internal client groups, develop creative solutions, and resolve issues using the appropriate legal framework, consistent with our values and our risk philosophy, with a particular focus on foundation governance and the Global Policy and Advocacy and Communications Divisions. Review concept briefs, grant proposals, articles, and other public communications and advise on a wide range of legal issues with a focus on government engagement, advocacy, and public awareness campaigns, including compliance with private foundation rules on self-dealing, lobbying, and electioneering, communications and media engagement issues, rights clearances, branded campaigns, digital media, website, and data privacy issues. Structure, negotiate and draft legal documents, including funding agreements, memoranda of understanding, media releases, license agreements, advertising services agreements, publication agreements, campaign, and trademark agreements. Manage conflict of interests (COI) and COI Policy questions, certification tracking and enforcement. Structure and draft legal documents related to foundation governance, including records of action, foundation policies, and guidance documents. Support the foundation in responding to third party Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and public records requests. Manage applicable federal and state requirements and registrations (including charitable registration requirements), oversee trademark, copyright, and IP registration. Respond to wide variety of questions posed by foundation staff, relating to self-dealing, engagement with affiliates and trustee-owned entities, conflicts of interest, communications and media-related issues, delegation of authority and related legal issues. Maintain current knowledge of, and monitor compliance with, relevant laws and regulations and advise on the same. Support training and education of foundation personnel on legal issues. Support all the above for the foundation’s affiliated entities. Be responsible for high quality interactions and clear and consistent communications with foundation staff as well as grantees and partners in the field. Other responsibilities and projects as assigned and will require working proactively and taking the initiative to support the varying needs of the foundation. Experience with law applicable to tax-exempt organizations and rules governing advocacy and political activity. Experience with governance practices, managing policies, compliance systems and processes to improve efficiency. Experience with advising on copyright, publicity rights, publication, digital media, and branding issues. Planning and project management skills and ability to communicate, meet and manage deadlines. Excellent writing and editing skills. Experience developing and delivering training and education materials in a concise and consistent manner. Ability to work in a complex and fast-paced work environment. Detail-oriented and self-motivated. Flexibility to multi-task and agility to advise internal clients at all levels in the organization. Ability to communicate difficult legal concepts clearly and non-legalistically to business clients verbally and in writing. Ability to prioritize work in context of the foundation’s risk tolerance framework. Excellent collaboration skills in an environment that requires diplomacy, maturity, and good judgment. JD and U.S. bar membership (required) and 6-8 years of practice as: in-house counsel at a global organization, well-regarded law firm government enforcement agency, or a combination of both. Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

Additional Information

Job ID; B018054.

Company info

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PO Box 6176 Ben Franklin Station
Washington
District of Columbia
United States 20044
Website : http://www.gatesfoundation.org/