General Counsel

About PowerSwitch Action

PowerSwitch Action is a national network organizing to realize and build multi-racial feminist democracies in our cities, towns and regions. Together with our 21 affiliates we are driving an agenda to bring the billions of dollars in local public investments under the oversight of the communities most impacted, to expand decision making and power to more of the residents in our regions, to support the building and growth of member-based organizations, and to challenge, when necessary, corporate actors who use their power to extract and cause harm to our communities.

PowerSwitch Action's network currently includes 21 grassroots organizations pioneering innovative policy and organizing approaches in cities, counties, and states around the US. Our affiliates weave strategic alliances and alignments amongst labor, neighborhood, housing, racial justice, faith, ethnic-based, and environmental groups to organize communities, advocate for policy change, and shift power from corporations to the people whose labor has been exploited and whose voices are excluded.

PowerSwitch Action is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation and 501(c)(3) public charity with staff working across multiple states. It co-hosts two coalition campaigns, Athena and the California Coalition for Worker Power and operates two fiscally sponsored projects, In the Public Interest and Green Workers Alliance.

Opportunity for Impact

Leaders of our network and national staff created our long term agenda, a north star on our path to collective liberation and towards a multiracial, feminist democracy that is powered by abundance, freedom and self-determination, radical inclusion, and meaningful work that is valued. Our long term agenda is guided by four interwoven core strategies, pursued rigorously and in compliance with applicable non-profit and tax-exemption laws:

• Build Authentic Inclusive Democracy, by creating a body of campaigns and programs that develop ways in which to open government to resident voices.
• A People's Economy, for many not the few. The racial wealth gap, the gender gap, the rampant racism, and human exploitation are in the design of the machine. We need a new apparatus that is accountable to people, to the many.
• Grow Civic Organizations: Labor, Tenants, Borrowers, Ethnic. An organized citizenry is best able to take on questionable or corrupt practices. We need to dramatically increase the numbers of people organized in order to effectively contest capital, stave off authoritarianism, and bring out the democracies that we envision.
• Rein in Corporate Power. If our ultimate goal is to develop the capacity of people to govern and manage democracy and the economy then they must experience their power to bring corporations to heel. We can prove to the American people that it's possible to reclaim public goods from corporate capture, reject extreme exploitation of workers, and beat back corporate overreach — all while fighting for our collective liberation.

In the current moment, our work centers on protecting and advancing authentic democracy and challenging authoritarianism and oligarchy through organizing and campaigns. For more information on PowerSwitch Action please visit our website.

The Position

Reporting to the Executive Director, the General Counsel will serve as the primary legal advisor for the organization. The General Counsel will provide analysis, advice and guidance to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, and members of the Leadership Team and staff. They will help ensure organizational compliance with federal, state and local law for the organization. They will guide internal policy and systems development, adoption and implementation, ensuring the organization and its staff meet legal obligations and effectively mitigate risk. They will undertake or ensure legal review of the organization's decisions, plans, agreements and communications. The General Counsel will also engage and manage specialized outside counsel to ensure the organization receives excellent, cost-effective legal advice.

The General Counsel is a seasoned attorney who thoroughly understands movement work, including campaigning and organizing, and can act collaboratively and skillfully, with excellent judgment, in a variety of scenarios. The General Counsel provides excellent analysis, ensuring the organization's leadership has a clear and sufficient understanding of legal risk and an appropriate set of options for decision and action. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is passionate about social justice and wants to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of a leading movement organization, allowing it to act boldly and safely. The ideal candidate is relationships-oriented and can quickly build trust, with a strong acumen as a collaborator, practical problem-solver, systems builder, and a clear and concise communicator.

1. Advice and counsel

• Support organizational leadership's overall risk management, serving as a collaborative partner in decisionmaking and nuanced risk assessment and make decisions involving legal risk clear and understandable
• Synthesize complex legal questions into clear analysis and offer actionable, practical solutions
• Advise on matters related to organizational governance and structure, including related to where decisions live, fiscally sponsored projects, hosted coalitions and an affiliated 501(c)(4) organization
• Engage in ongoing assessment of the relevant legal risk landscape and proactively develop and propose measures to manage risk, including through participation in spaces with attorneys for other movement organizations
• Address regulatory inquiries, investigations and other legal matters
• Engage expert outside counsel to ensure the organization receives excellent legal advice and support organizational leadership in understanding, interpreting and implementing that advice
• Inform organizational leadership about considerations in balancing mission-critical operations and activities and other areas of risk

• Legal review

• Work with team leads to create effective systems for timely legal review of materials, particularly public communications
• Co-develop templates and guides for commonly used legal instruments such as contracts and releases
• Review public communications and positions attributable to the organization with respect to intellectual property, defamation, 501(c)(3) regulations, privacy and other legal issues
• Review contracts, including vendor contracts, grant agreements, subgrant agreements, retainer and common-interest agreements
• Review campaign plans, particularly related to public actions, organizing methods and messaging
• Review or obtain outside counsel review of HR-related policy, decisions and actions; ensure compliance with outside HR counsel advice
• Review all filings with regulatory agencies across multiple states and jurisdictions

• Systems and policies

• Work with members of the Leadership Team and staff to review, develop, draft or amend and implement organizational policies, systems and guidance in accordance with changes in the law and risk analysis
• Regularly develop, update and conduct training for staff and affiliates regarding important legal considerations and organizational policies
• In collaboration with the Operations team, ensure compliance with policies regarding, among other things, lobbying, information security, document retention and resource sharing agreements and other measures governing relationships with noncharitable entities
• Review and update grant and subgrant review and approval protocols and standards
• Co-develop crisis management and scenario planning tools
• Working with Finance and Operations, ensure compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including regarding charitable solicitation, campaign finance, lobbying, and employer obligations.
• Prepare guidance and ensure appropriate legal support for staff involvement in public actions and other scenarios involving legal risk
• Manage all outside counsel relationships and work
• Ensure compliance by PowerSwitch Action attorneys with laws and rules governing the practice of law and ensure organizational systems support that compliance
• Working with Finance and Operations, regularly review insurance needs and policies

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will have the following professional competencies:

Skilled advisor

• Shows excellent judgment and self-awareness; able to act calmly and skillfully in a crisis
• Quickly earns trust across lines of difference; is relational and emotionally intelligent and solves problems collaboratively
• Displays effective communication in variety of methods and settings; easily navigates organizational dynamics and power systems
• Has experience working with similar organizations undertaking campaigns and organizing in complex organizational structures
• Gives close attention to important technical details and is able to convey and teach legal concepts to non-lawyers

Legal expert

• Consistently provides excellent legal analysis and risk analysis; able to advise organizational leadership on risk with multiple options and accounting for organizational risk tolerance
• Has expertise in one or more of the following key areas of law: non-profit and tax-exempt organizations; employment; contract; intellectual property, privacy and defamation; laws governing organizing and public actions including First Amendment and labor law; lobbying, campaign finance and public ethics.
• Excellent negotiator/developer and writer of organizational policy and contract language
• Scrupulously follows laws and rules governing the practice of law and supports others to do the same