Vice President, General Counsel

Job Description

Job Description

Position Summary:

The FAF’s Vice President and General Counsel serves as the chief legal officer for the FAF, with responsibility for legal, corporate governance, regulatory and compliance issues for the FAF, FASB and GASB. The Vice President and General Counsel role serves as trusted legal and business advisor to the FAF Executive Director and the senior leadership team of the FAF, the FASB, and the GASB, as well as the FAF Board of Trustees. 

Reporting to the FAF Executive Director, the Vice President and General Counsel will develop and execute a comprehensive, integrated framework for carrying out the organization’s legal and compliance efforts, ensuring alignment with the strategic mission of the FAF, the FASB, and the GASB. The successful candidate will have a proven ability to build and reinforce trusted relationships, foster teamwork, and use well-developed influencing skills in a variety of settings within the FAF, the FASB, and the GASB, as well as with the FAF Board of Trustees. This individual will possess intellectual breadth and rigor that conveys confidence and credibility, both within the organization and externally. 

Position Responsibilities:

The major responsibilities include:

• Serve as the principal legal counsel to the FAF senior leadership team, the FAF Board of Trustees, the FASB and the GASB.
• Maintain, develop as necessary and implement all aspects of the risk and compliance functions, including the implementation of policies, processes, tools, and systems to identify, assess, manage, monitor and report risks. 
  • In conjunction with the FAF senior leadership team, the FAF Board of Trustees, the FASB, and the GASB, manage the organization’s enterprise risk management processes and quarterly risk reports to the FAF Board of Trustees.
  • Manage and monitor periodic reporting by personnel under the organization’s conflicts of interest policies.
  • Coordinate the organization’s annual updates to, and periodic adoption of, employee policies and procedures. 
  • Act as the organization’s chief compliance officer.
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations through the creation and implementation of sound processes and procedures. Monitor legal, regulatory, governmental and related developments relevant to the FAF, as well as best practices, and make recommendations for improvement of corresponding FAF procedures. 
• Oversee legal reviews of all contracts and approval processes, ensuring consistency throughout the organization and ensuring that the FAF benefits from the best available terms while minimizing risk exposure.
• Provide oversight and support to the Associate General Counsel, including with respect to FAF’s copyrights, trademarks, IT and content licenses.
• Provide oversight and support to the Legal and Compliance Assistant, including with respect to FAF’s contracts management and conflicts reporting systems and regulatory filings (including periodic federal and state lobbying reports).
• Provide oversight and support to the Director Internal Controls, with respect to the FAF’s internal controls program, which partners with Finance, Technology, Legal, HR, and Communications to strengthen accountability and transparency, reduce financial and operational risk, and safeguard the FAF’s assets. 
• Oversee the selection, retention, management and evaluation of all outside legal counsel with an emphasis on providing the highest quality service to the organization while effectively managing costs.
• Oversee threatened and pending legal actions and disputes involving the FAF; actively manage outside legal counsel, and provide timely internal reporting, as necessary.
• Perform the role of corporate assistant secretary including attending meetings of the FAF Board of Trustees; prepare related meeting materials and review minutes of meetings.
• Advise the Board of Trustees on legal and corporate governance matters, including with respect to strategic initiatives.
• Assist the FAF Human Resources Department with respect to FAF benefit plans and all employee matters including employment law issues; serve as a member of the FAF Employee Benefits Administrative Committee.
• Communicate with governmental and other organizations relating to FAF matters and develop close working relationships with legal counsel in peer organizations. 

Essential Skills and Experience:  

• Seasoned legal professional with 20+ years of demonstrated, successful experience. Must have broad and deep legal experience, enriched by a varied legal expertise honed either in a law firm environment or a corporate legal setting or both. 
• Outstanding judgment and critical thinking, with the ability to assimilate various and sometimes conflicting points of view. 
• Strategic thinker with ability to anticipate issues and estimate risks, including legal, regulatory, reputational, security, and safety.
• A good listener with the ability to act as a trusted advisor to the FAF leadership team and FASB and GASB colleagues; who can work well with others outside reporting lines; who is collaborative and team oriented, with the ability to lead by example and a “roll up your sleeves” approach.
• Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal; ability to adapt complex legal language to non-legal audiences. 
• Knowledge of law department management saas solutions.
• Knowledge of the accounting profession, an understanding of the financial regulatory environment and federal securities laws is preferred. 
• Possess the highest ethics and integrity standards.
• Juris Doctor  degree required. Being licensed to practice law as in-house counsel in CT is required (either as a member of the CT Bar or, if admitted elsewhere, application for registration as CT authorized house counsel must be filed within 3 months following employment). 

Reporting to this Position:  

• Associate General Counsel
• Legal and Compliance Assistant
• Director Internal Controls