Senior Legal Counsel, Morningstar Credit Analytics

The Group:

Morningstar Credit Analytics LSLC (“MCA”) provides data, insights and analytic solutions to help credit market decision-makers understand risks and opportunities across various credit sectors, including structured finance, financial institutions, and corporate entities. MCA offers tools and information to facilitate faster, more insightful and predictable outcomes in credit analysis to meet the evolving needs of securitization, commercial real estate, private credit and leveraged loan market participants. MCA provides solutions across CMBS and CRE CLO portfolios and also offers bank analytics and corporate analytics tools. MCA recently acquired DealX, a provider of clean, standardized U.S. CMBS and global CLO data including both assets and liabilities. The integration of DealX will bolster MCA’s position as a top CMBS analytics provider.

The Role:

MCA is a dynamic organization that operates primarily in the United States, but is seeking to expand its global reach. With the acquisition of DealX, MCA seeks to continue to expand on the delivery of data, tools and insights for the markets they serve.

We are seeking a Senior Legal Counsel (“SLC”) who will be based in either Chicago or New York. The SLC will report to the Americas Head of Commercial, Legal - who reports to the Morningstar Global Head of Commercial, Legal - both of whom are based in Chicago. The SLC will work closely with MCA’s business leaders and will be responsible for the leadership, development and management of legal affairs for commercial activity across all jurisdictions in which MCA carries on business.   

As a critical member of the MCA team, the SLC will be expected to operate at a strategic level in a fast-paced, dynamic environment, to advise MCA’s business leaders, and assist in making informed and balanced decisions to help shape and move the business forward. This role requires the SLC to think strategically about the growth of the MCA business internationally but also requires the SLC to efficiently manage a number of different commercial matters simultaneously with an emphasis on getting the work done.   

Responsibilities:

Given the amount and variety of activity, coupled with the evolving culture of MCA as a result of continuous growth, the SLC will need to be very hands-on and have the ability to deal with a broad range of legal matters. 

While not an exhaustive list, here are some examples of day-to-day activities the SLC will be involved in:

• Providing legal support to commercial business initiatives and supporting the MCA sales team in carrying out their activities.  This will include negotiating and advising on agreements with potential clients of MCA platforms and data feeds
• Negotiating and drafting MCA commercial contracts related to data service providers, agreements with trustees, servicers and other capital market participants, and agreements regarding information technology and software as a service solutions
• Collaborate with the Morningstar global legal team to ensure consistent application of established contractual guidelines and master terms
• Work with the DBRS Regulatory and Compliance teams to ensure alignment on any regulatory risks and take steps to mitigate them
• Maintain and organize contractual documentation in a logical and systemic manner
• Working closely with the MCA team and other internal Morningstar teams to ensure that MCA is properly managing legal responsibilities as well as ensuring commercial practicality and protecting the organization’s reputation
• Ensuring that MCA commercial activities are conducted in accordance with applicable laws and the commercial and contractual requirements
• In conjunction with the Morningstar Privacy team, review MCA processes to ensure that MCA complies with all applicable data protection regulations
• Serving as a resource in the maintenance of corporate filings, opening of offices in new markets, managing and coordinating legal aspects related to MCA
• Keeping abreast of relevant legal developments
• Other matters as assigned and/or determined from time to time

Qualifications:

• Law degree
• Must be admitted to practice as a lawyer in Illinois or New York; other jurisdictions are an advantage
• At least 7 years of data or analytics commercial contracting experience; knowledge and familiarity with CMBS and CLOs are an advantage
• Regulatory/compliance experience is an advantage

Attributes:

• Strong business acumen
• Leadership skills, gravitas and the ability to influence
• Integrity and a high degree of professional ethics
• Excellent judgement and analytical skills
• First class interpersonal and communication skills