General Counsel

About the role:

The general counsel serves as the principal legal advisor and steward of programmatic and organizational legal issues. The position reports to the Managing Director and is part of the executive operations team. The general counsel plays a critical role in guiding Indivisible’s strategy and operations, advising the executive team, senior leadership, and the Board of Directors. The general counsel coordinates with outside counsel and other experts as necessary.

We hope to hire by the end of the year, and the current General Counsel will stay on to support through the transition.

What you'll do:

The general counsel is responsible for providing comprehensive legal guidance on complex issues to include (but not limited to):

Nonprofit compliance - 20%

• Ensuring the organization maintains compliance with nonprofit governance laws such as tax-exempt status, reporting obligations, and regulatory requirements.
• Nonprofit compliance strategies and entity guidance for Indivisible’s 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and federal and state PACs.
• Overseeing lobbying and election compliance at the federal, state and local level.
• Entity oversight as it relates to the organizational budget and time tracking.
• Manage corporate compliance.

Employment and labor relations - 20%

• Provide strategic advice on all employment law matters, including advising on personnel policies, employee relations, disciplinary actions, workplace issues, and compliance with federal, state, and local labor laws.
• Provide strategic advice on labor relations matters to include contract negotiations and collective bargaining agreement interpretation, and provide oversight of the grievance process.
• Work closely with the HR team and other internal stakeholders to ensure adherence to the collective bargaining agreement.

Business advice - 20%

• Provide advice to the executive team and BOD as needed, regarding legally sensitive communications, litigation and administrative action strategies, risk analysis, mitigation strategies, liability and insurance.
• Promote and defend Indivisible’s interests before courts, administrative agencies, and policymakers, and regularly report and provide strategic guidance on legal developments that could affect operations.
• Review, draft and advise on contracts, leases, grant agreements, job descriptions, and other documents.
• Monitor legal development in a wide range of legal areas, including elections and nonprofit law.
• Protect Indivisible’s intellectual property interests.
• Oversee corporate governance issues for multiple Boards.

Programmatic support - 20%

• Consult with programmatic leadership to develop legal frameworks to support programmatic work.
• Develop strong connections to cross-functional teams.
• Anticipate need and coordinate the development of training materials on a variety of legal issues.
• Effectively communicate complex legal issues to non-legal stakeholders.

Legal oversight on financial compliance - 10%

• Review development proposals and reports for legal compliance and advise on contribution restrictions.
• Support compliance on financial report requirements to include reviewing Indivisible’s draft 990s.

Supervise external and internal legal counsel and compliance staff 10%

• Manage and mentor the legal team.
• Oversee relationships with outside counsel. Liaise at the confluence of law, organizational risk, programmatic objectives. Translate organizational risk, history, objectives.

Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited law school, bar membership in good standing in any jurisdiction with a preference for DC.
• 10 years legal experience in the nonprofit sector, to include 3-5 years of senior leadership, required.
• 5-7 years of employment law and labor management experience providing legal guidance in a unionized workplace to include contract negotiation and interpretation experience.
• Proven track record for managing multiple projects, meeting deadlines, collaborative problem solving, and exceptional strat