Operations Coordinator

About the Office of General Counsel

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) includes approximately 23 attorneys and nine staff who provide legal services to all Cornell campuses and units in the United States and abroad. The office operates from two locations: the main Cornell campus in Ithaca, New York and the Weill Cornell Medicine campus in New York City.

The OGC mission is to be a first-in-class in-house general practice law office that proactively advances the university's mission by providing timely and trusted legal services and by diligently protecting the university's resources. The office collaborates with campus colleagues across a broad range of disciplines, providing advice and counsel on all legal matters affecting the university. This comprehensive approach includes the development of four practice groups (Litigation, Administrative Proceedings, and Regulatory Compliance; Research, Technology and Academic Innovation; Business, Charitable Giving, and Transactions; and People and Inclusive Excellence), equipped to respond

to complex legal challenges.

The Opportunity

OGC is seeking a dynamic and efficient Operations Coordinator in the Ithaca campus office to play an integral role with our team of paralegals and administrative staff, providing essential support to ensure effective delivery of legal counsel and advice to campus clients.

Responsibilities of this position include:

Financial and Travel Administration (40%)

• Receive invoices from outside counsel, submit for attorney and client verification and approval, and submit for payment via Cornell financial systems.
• Verify appropriate accounting assignment for completeness and accuracy and submit transactions for payment
• Track office expenditures; investigate, research and resolve discrepancies, and refer questionable cases to executive assistant
• Serve as OGC point person for staff travel coordination, reimbursement requests, and registration for professional development workshops and conferences.

Administrative and Operations Coordination (20%)

• Field, screen (redirecting, if necessary) and respond to telephone, walk-in, and email inquiries, often relaying complex and confidential information to OGC staff
• Open, review, log, and appropriately route time-sensitive and highly confidential mail
• Maintain office supply inventory
• Coordinate conference room and other resource scheduling
• Coordinate special events and meetings
• Manage office subscription services
• Develop and document standard operating procedures
• Troubleshoot department equipment.
• Serve as administrative support back-up to executive staff assistant and paralegals

Administrative support for attorneys (25%)

• Proactively manage calendars, arranging complex meetings with various constituents
• Proofread and update documents.
• Provide other general administrative assistance.

OGC Program Assistance (10%)

Other Position-related Responsibilities (5%)

The Operations Coordinator will also support Office of General Counsel practice groups and initiatives, which may include coordination of OGC programs and projects, including meeting logistics and program material production.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys being the person others rely on and is looking to grow their career in office operations, executive support, or legal/higher education administration.

Success Factors

You will be considered competitive for this role if you demonstrate:

• Exceptional professionalism, discretion, and customer service while confidently managing sensitive, confidential, and high-visibility interactions.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to balance competing priorities, communicate proactively, and reliably follow through on deadlines and commitments.
• A collaborative, self-starting approach, including the ability to support a fast-paced legal office, adapt to different work styles, and step in wherever needed to support the team.
• Clear and thoughtful communication skills, including the ability to greet and assist visitors, redirect inquiries appropriately, and provide firm but kind guidance in a professional manner.

Hours and Location

The core hours of the Ithaca campus Office of General Counsel are Monday through Friday, 8:00AM-4:30PM. The administrative team works together to ensure all hours are covered. This role can typically be performed in a hybrid format of 2 days remote and 3 days on campus, as work allows. However, in order to ensure mutual success, we'd like for you to be on campus Monday through Friday during the orientation and onboarding period of at least the first 90 days in the role, after which, the hybrid format can be discussed and determined. The OGC site offers free parking to employees as an added bonus.

What We Need

• A cover letter and resume outlining your interest and how your experience and goals align with the potential for mutual success in the role are required for consideration.
• Associate's degree with 2-4 years of relevant administrative experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Independent and self-starting with the ability to follow through in support team efforts; strong and proactive planning and organizational skills; demonstrated capacity to balance conflicting priorities, make informed choices, and exercise sound judgment in completing urgent tasks.
• Demonstrated ability to handle sensitive and confidential material professionally.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Experience in and/or demonstrated commitment to supporting diversity, equity, access, inclusion, and wellbeing.
• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive and equitable working relationships with students, faculty, staff, and community members.
• Must be proficient in standard office software applications including MS Word, Excel, Zoom, Teams, Outlook, Box, PowerPoint, video conferencing applications, and database applications.

If you have all those things, great! We have a few more things that we would prefer you to have, but it's ok if you don't.

• 4+ years of administrative support experience.
• Prior law office and/or higher education experience.
• Demonstrated competency with Cornell financial systems.
• Proficiency with iManage document management system.
• High level of proficiency with Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat applications.

Rewards and Benefits

• This position is eligible for a hybrid work arrangement. Employees typically perform this role remotely 2 days per week and on-campus 3 days per week, after the initial onboarding period to be determined by your supervisor. The university reserves the right to modify, suspend, revoke or terminate the hybrid work arrangement at any time. Regardless of whether a hybrid arrangement is approved, all OGC staff are expected to work on site in the office whenever necessary or appropriate, as determined by an employee's supervisor or the General Counsel.
  
• Cornell receives national recognition as an award-winning workplace for our health, wellbeing, and sustainability.

• Our benefits programs include comprehensive health care options, generous retirement contributions, access to wellness programs, and employee discounts with local and national retail brands. We invite you to follow this link to get more information about our benefits: Understand Your Benefits | Working at Cornell.

• Our leave provisions include health and personal leave, three weeks of vacation and 13 holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, and an end of the year winter break from December 25-January 1. To offer greater flexibility for observing faiths and traditions we also offer two additional floating holidays. Learn more about our generous leave provisions: Holiday and Accrued Time Off | Working at Cornell

• Cornell's impressive educational benefits include tuition-free Extramural Study and Employee Degree Program, tuition aid for external education, and Cornell Children's Tuition Assistance Program. Learn more about our extensive educational benefits: Education Benefits | Working at Cornell

• Follow this link to learn more about the Total Rewards of Working at Cornell:Total Rewards | Working at Cornell.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

With a founding principle of "... any person ... any study,"Cornell is anequal opportunity employer.

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