Deputy General Counsel

At St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, our mission to advance cures and means of prevention for pediatric catastrophic diseases drives everything we do. As a key member of our legal leadership team, the Deputy General Counsel will play a pivotal role in supporting this mission by providing strategic legal guidance to our executive leadership, faculty, and staff. In this role, you will collaborate with fellow Deputy General Counsels and departmental leaders to manage legal matters, mitigate risks, and uphold the highest ethical standards.

You will also supervise a dedicated team of lawyers and staff, fostering a culture of integrity, collaboration, and innovation. Your expertise will be instrumental in facilitating departmental and institutional strategic initiatives, guiding change management processes, and ensuring that our legal strategies align with St. Jude’s core values of compassion, excellence, and commitment to the children and families we serve.

Job Responsibilities:

• Serve as a key resource on complex legal issues, and as the key legal/departmental contact in the absence of the Chief Legal Officer.
• Manage litigation and investigations while minimizing adverse publicity and other exposure.
• Review and approve law firm engagement letters and invoices and manages interactions with law firms, including around cost and responsiveness.
• Actively participate in resource planning and budget management, including but not limited to approval of officewide expenses in ServiceNow and Concur.
• Attend leadership or Board committee meetings as requested by the Chief Legal Officer.
• Assist Chief Legal Officer in the preparation and presentation of materials to staff, internal committees, and Board of Governors, including giving those presentations when appropriate.
• Respond and interface with governmental agencies as needed.
• Closely coordinate and cooperate with peers to ensure all relevant legal aspects of the business operations are addressed, communicated, and escalated in a proactive and effective manner.
• Direct and manage financial planning/budget forecasting for departmental initiatives within Legal; monitor the budget against actuals.
• Look at the pipeline of talent within Legal as an organizational pool - investing in future skills, spending time on development through feedback and coaching, and challenging high-potential members with different assignments.
• Perform other duties as assigned to meet the goals and objectives of the department and institution.
• Maintains regular and predictable attendance.

Minimum Education and/or Training:

• Doctorate of Jurisprudence (JD) degree required from an accredited law school.

Minimum Experience:

• Minimum Experience: 15+ years of experience in multiple specialized areas of the law, such as technology matters, international/foreign law matters, medico-legal advising, labor and employment, academic programs, clinical research, foreign law, insurance, privacy/data protection, health care compliance, grants and contracting, intellectual property, medical staff relations, non-profit tax issues, animal care and use, environmental health and safety, hospital operations, and accreditation matters.
• Significant experience contributing to development of strategy and oversight of legal function.
• Demonstrated experience in legal strategy development, operational mgmt., stakeholder mgmt., and/or budget mgmt.
• Experience building relationships/ influencing senior leaders and external community.
• Proven performance in earlier role/comparable role.

Licensure, Registration and/or Certification Required by Law:

• Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction required.
• License to practice law in the State of Tennessee is required within nine (9) months from date of hire into the position. Registration as in-house counsel in lieu of a full license to practice is an option but must be obtained within six (6) months of date of hire into the position.

Special Skills, Knowledge and Abilities:

• Defines and drives critical metrics to ensure strong customer orientation within team.
• Prevents customer escalations by exploring alternative solutions.
• Constantly identifies and implements process enhancements for better alignment with customer teams.
• Builds a culture of clear communication and accountability around goals. Can handle complex/ sensitive people issues.
• Has a strong focus on capability needs, development, talent sharing, and stretch assignments for own teams.
• Encourages a consistent structured approach to people development through development planning, coaching, and mentoring across teams.
• Has an overall