VP, General Counsel

Job Description

Join Our Team at Litera: Where Legal Technology Meets Excellence

Litera has been at the forefront of legal technology innovation for over 25 years, crafting legal software to amplify impact and maximize efficiency. Developed by the best legal minds in the industry, our comprehensive suite of integrated legal tools is both powerful and user-friendly and simplifies the way modern firms manage core legal workflows, secure collaboration, and organize firm knowledge and experience. Every day, we help more than 2.3 million legal professionals focus on their craft. Litera: Less busy work, more of your life’s work.

Overview: We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced General Counsel to lead our legal department and oversee all legal affairs for Litera. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in software contract negotiation, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), corporate compliance, intellectual property protection, and regulatory matters. This individual will act as a strategic legal advisor to the executive team, ensuring that the company operates within the bounds of applicable laws and regulations while facilitating business growth and innovation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Software Contract Negotiation: Draft, review, and negotiate software licensing agreements, SaaS agreements, end-user license agreements (EULAs), service level agreements (SLAs), reseller and partnership agreements, and other technology-related contracts.

• Mergers & Acquisitions: Participate in legal due diligence and negotiation for M&A activity. Drive post-merger integration from a legal perspective.
• Corporate Compliance & Governance: Ensure compliance with all corporate governance requirements, data privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), and other industry regulations.
• Intellectual Property Protection: Manage Litera’s IP portfolio, including patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets, and oversee IP licensing and enforcement.
• Risk Management & Litigation: Identify potential legal risks, develop mitigation strategies, and oversee any litigation, dispute resolution, or regulatory investigations.
• Employment & Labor Law Compliance: Advise on employment agreements, employee policies, employee disputes and workplace legal matters.
• Regulatory & Compliance Strategy: Keep up to date with legal and regulatory changes affecting the software industry, ensuring proactive compliance strategies.
• Product Development Partnership: Act as 'customer zero' for Litera's product development, providing legal industry insights to inform product roadmap and ensure solutions meet real-world legal practice needs. Interface with customers as needed to share use cases for product usage and further customer relationships.
• AI Governance: Develop and implement AI governance frameworks, including risk assessment protocols, bias mitigation strategies, and compliance with emerging AI regulations including the EU AI Act.
• Corporate Transactions: Support corporate transactions including, but not limited to, global board appointments, financing transactions, legal entity maintenance.  
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Drive cross- functional alignment with necessary stakeholders ensuring that all relevant interests are represented and protected in all transactions.
• Legal Operations: Develop and maintain document management systems, template contracts, and legal process protocols to ensure cost and time efficiency across all legal matters.
• Procurement:  Lead the procurement function to ensure best practices are incorporated and followed to reduce expenses, avoid duplication of vendors and provide optimally negotiated contract terms on behalf of Litera.
• Effectively Organize & Lead a Team: Hire, manage, develop, and organize a high-performing team of legal and procurement professionals to ensure efficient and effective organizational support.  This includes proven ability to create clear metrics, measure and hold team accountable to continuous improvement.

Qualifications:

• US or UK law qualified, able to work across both jurisdictions.  Licensure in at least one US state.
• Juris Doctor (JD) degree or LLB (Bachelor of Laws) degree or equivalent qualification from an accredited law school
• 10+ years of legal experience, with a preference for experience in-house at a technology or software company.
• Proven expertise in software contracts, M&A, corporate compliance, and regulatory matters.
• Proven expertise driving global legal matters.
• Deep understanding of GDPR, CCPA, and other internat