Senior Legal Counsel, Government

Senior Legal Counsel, Government

Thomson Reuters’ Government segment is a $650M+ business that provides critical information and solutions tailored for government agencies and corporations, focusing on delivering reliable data, advanced analytics, and innovative technology to support decision-making and enhance operational efficiency. By offering expertise in areas such as legal, regulatory, and compliance information, TR aids government entities in navigating complex challenges, improving transparency, and fostering informed governance. Designed to meet the unique needs of public sector clients, TR’s solutions ensure access to essential tools and insights required for effective administration and policy implementation. As the most trusted source for government to make critical decisions, TR helps organizations, communities, and people stay safe and thrive by enabling government professionals to deliver crucial services, such as ensuring proper tax collection, detecting threats, conducting investigations, and balancing increasing case volumes with changing public expectations.

Role Summary

Thomson Reuters is seeking a lawyer with a proven record of a practical, problem-solving approach to providing commercial legal services in a technology-enabled, data-driven corporate legal department for government contracts.

Specifically, we are looking for a lawyer experienced with various contracting vehicles, complex partnership arrangements, and negotiating complex compliance terms (e.g., FedRamp, Accessibility). The successful candidate will be a hands-on commercial lawyer with exceptional communication skills, capable of providing sound legal and business advice and counsel to sales professionals, product management, and other internal customers.

In this role, the lawyer will be responsible for identifying and analyzing legal issues, drafting and negotiating documents, presenting commercially viable recommendations, and assuring legal compliance for government contracts. When dealing with internal or external customers, the successful candidate will seek to enhance the customer experience and simplify interactions with the legal function. 

The role sits within the Customers & Commercial team of the Thomson Reuters General Counsel’s Office, a highly collaborative team focused on enabling business growth and mitigating risk for the customer-centric commercial group. This is a hybrid role, based in Eagan, MN or McLean, VA.

About the Role

In this opportunity as Senior Legal Counsel, Government, you will:

• Review, draft, and negotiate a wide range of customer-facing and partnership agreements, primarily complex software (including SaaS) and information licensing agreements, re-distribution, hosting, content acquisition, consulting and professional services agreements, non- disclosure agreements and other commercial agreements relating to sales of Thomson Reuters products and services

• Work within the Government and broader Customers & Commercial teams to identify legal, regulatory and compliance requirements and risks associated with various business initiatives and developing and implementing appropriate mitigation strategies

• Provide practical and insightful business and strategic advice, leveraging experience in the practice of law and the legal profession

• Research and respond to general legal inquiries from internal customers that relate to corporate, commercial, intellectual property and compliance matters, including privacy-related matters, and advise business on appropriate legal action to be taken

• Operate within policy guidelines and requirements set for Thomson Reuters lawyers to ensure compliance and consistency

• Contribute know-how to the group’s Knowledge Management initiatives and help to build an open knowledge sharing culture

• Work with members of the General Counsel’s Office on enterprise- wide legal issues and projects

• Undertake other reasonable duties as requested

About You

You’re a fit for the role of Senior Legal Counsel, Government, if your background includes:

• At least 5 years post-qualification experience in private practice and/or as in-house legal counsel advising on the sell side of government procurements and negotiating complex commercial partnerships where the government is the end-user

• JD required

• Excellent technical legal knowledge in government contract and commercial law, particularly with SaaS products and solutions, including Gen AI products and solutions

• Familiarity with various contracting vehicles including cooperative agreements, RFPs, GSA Schedules, and Fedlin