Regional General Counsel, Na

Closing Date: December 15, 2023 at 5:00 pm EST

Expected Start Date: February 1, 2024

Location: Hybrid/Remote

Salary Range:  $148,000.00 - $175,000.00 annually

Process: 2 interviews

Reports to the Chief Legal Officer and matrixed to the North American Managing Director

CDP is an equal employment opportunity employer seeking diversity in qualified applicants for employment. We welcome you to inform us confidentially if you may require any special accommodation in order to participate fully in our recruitment process by sending a message to the recruiter connected to the role. They may be contacted directly by responding to any message you receive through our system after applying.

Who we are

At CDP, we are on a mission to solve our planet’s biggest environmental challenges: climate change, water scarcity and deforestation. We believe you can’t manage what you don’t measure – so we run the world’s largest environmental disclosure system. For the past two decades, our team has worked tirelessly to create a thriving economy that works for people and planet in the long term – we accomplish this by engaging the global actors who wield the greatest influence in driving environmental change: companies, cities, governments, and the capital markets.

CDP’s cascading global impact is powered by our tight-knit team of smart, savvy, curious and committed individuals, who share a common passion for creating a sustainable future. It is our people who make our work possible. And we provide our people with a working environment that empowers each individual to reach their full potential: one that is committed to equity; one that provides equal access for growth and development; and one that supports each individual throughout the full employee life cycle.

The Regional General Counsel, NA will have regional accountability for CDP’s regulatory and legal compliance, providing extensive legal advice and guidance to local teams to enable informed decision making. In addition, the Regional General Counsel, NA, will be the central point of contact for all legal matters for the region. They will need to work seamlessly with their colleagues and centers of global expertise and shared services.

Who you are

• Must reside and be eligible to work in the United States of America without employer sponsorship.
• Admitted to the NYS Bar Association or eligible for in house counsel waiver.
• 501(c)(3) experience.
• Possess knowledge of contractual/commercial law, litigation, IP, data privacy and broad legal and regulatory compliance experience.
• Can advise on and ensure fulfilment of all legal obligations applicable to a charity/not for profit and for directly supporting Trustees/Boards.
• Ability to work with and present to Trustees, Boards, Committees and senior leadership.
• Keen understanding of company secretarial/governance work or and ability to oversee this responsibility.
• Strong ability to provide legal advice to stakeholders and influence decision-making.
• Developed communication and relationship management skills.
• Ability to foster collaboration and build relationships with regional internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent judgement with integrity.
• Adept at dealing with challenges and disputes in an effective and efficient way without losing sight of business goals.
• Organized, methodical, and able to deliver against a varied workload, managing competing priorities under your own initiative.
• Proactive, with a solution orientated attitude to resolving commercial/ business issues.

Your day-to-day

• Lead on the regional implementation of CDP's strategy.
• Ensure that the appropriate members of leadership are briefed on any existing or emerging issues or risks.
• Contribute to the creation and maintenance of precedents, template agreements, playbooks and know how.
• Guide the Grant and Development teams, provide legal advice on Grant arrangements, Service Agreements and other philanthropic engagements to support these teams to obtain external funding.
• Draft, negotiate and support the Grant and Development team in engagement with sponsorship arrangements with governments, regulatory bodies and other sponsors to deliver partnerships for CDP projects that deliver its mission.
• Work across the Regional Counsel Team and to prepare and deliver handbooks and training on grant arrangements including standard inter-group arrangements for sub-grants, working with the finance team to ensure that all arrangements are tax effective and appropriately documented.
• Collaborate with other teams involved in innovation, change, and ecosystem partnerships to ensure that legal risks are understood and mitigated for funding opportunity approval and new project initiatives.
• Maximize on the deployment of legal resources within the region, leverage the expertise within the global legal function effectively and provide guidance to regional stakeholders enabling delivery of CDP’s mission.
• Work closely with the global centers of expertise to implement internal policies, processes, procedures, and training on a regional level; to ensure regions are effectively supported.
• Lead on all corporate/charitable governance matters relating to the entities established within the region (US 501(3)(c)).
• Work with the Company Secretariat or local company secretarial services to act as a gatekeeper and advocate of the CDP governance framework.
• Advise and support effective systems regionally to ensure compliance and adherence to data privacy requirements, and other statutory local rules to minimize CDP’s exposure.
• Keep the Chief Legal Officer informed, manage litigation and dispute resolution processes within region in order to assess and recommended appropriate courses of action.
• Drive legal compliance within region with applicable laws, regulations, and regional standards; to ensure alignment within the global legal function.
• Collaborate with the Head of Commercial, Legal to manage the drafting and review of complex contracts and agreements within region where subject to local laws or which require local regional knowledge.

Theperks

• Generous PTO. Tackling the world’s biggest environmental challenges is no easy feat – we offer a generous 20 days of annual leave to keep our employees energized.
  
• Paid holidays. We recognize 15 paid holidays, including winter break, and pay homage to our diversity by offering one additional floating holiday of your choice for religious or cultural celebrations, per year.
  
• Health and wellness. We strive to ensure the health and wellbeing of our staff –employees receive excellent health, dental and vision benefits and paid sick leave.
  
• Learning and career growth. We are committed to the growth and development of each individual team member. We offer continuous learning opportunities and training for personal development.
  
• Future planning: We know it is important to plan for the future. We provide our employees with both a non-contributory 401K, and an optional additional contributory 401K. We also offer life insurance.
  
• Commuter benefits: We know commuting can be a pain – we offer commuter benefits and a Citi Bike membership to employees to make life a little easier.
• Fun. We take our work seriously, but we don’t take ourselves (too) seriously. We regularly take time out for fun and festivities, from all-staff retreats, to happy hours, to summer outings and an end-of-year holiday celebration!
• Sabbaticals: Employees are eligible for sabbaticals once they have worked for three continuous years at CDP NA.