JOB PURPOSE

Counsel, Office of General Counsel acts as in house legal counsel, providing a wide range of legal services and advice to the Law Society on a range of legal issues pertaining to the various operations of the Law Society, including the governance of the legal profession, under the direction of the General Counsel. Counsel also provides legal research, advice and other assistance to the General Counsel.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of an LLB or JD, plus a Class L1 license with Law Society of Ontario.
• 10 years of experience working as counsel to a regulatory body/agency, as counsel to the federal government or a provincial, territorial or municipal government (or an agency thereof), as counsel in a corporate legal department of an organization whose activities are regulated or as counsel in a law firm working with clients in the aforementioned categories.
• Experience working hands-on on complicated legal matters that require consideration of compliance, litigation and business processes.
• Experience in communicating to a variety of audiences.
• In-depth understanding of the Law Society Act, and the regulations and by laws made thereunder, the Law Society’s policies and the Law Society’s role as a governing body of a self-regulated profession.
• Broad legal subject matter expertise.
• Excellent legal research and writing capabilities, including ability to scan large amounts of legal materials and literature, often in unfamiliar areas of law, and to organize and write legal opinions and / or legal reports.
• Excellent drafting skills, including legislative drafting skills.
• Strong communication, collaborative, analytical and strategic skills.
• Strong judgment, ability to evaluate and weigh multiple inputs and impacts of decisions and courses of action.
• Strong ability to develop relationships and associations of confidence, trust and respect with colleagues and internal clients.
• Strong ability to inspire others.
• Strong ability to anticipate legal issues and risks.
• Basic computer literacy, including familiarity with word processing.

*By submitting your application for employment, you agree to a clearance check of your regulatory history with the Law Society, and to the use of this information in assessing suitability for employment at the Law Society.

Client / Customer Service Delivery

• Under the direction of the General Counsel, reviews and/or prepares contracts, requests for proposals and other transactional documents for the Law Society.
• Analyzes and summarizes complicated legal documents, including contracts, requests for proposals and other transactional documents, recommending changes to the documents, based on identification of risks and mitigation of those risks.
• Represents the Law Society in matters before courts and tribunals.
• Assesses and responds to a variety of legal issues arising within the various operations of the Law Society.
• Anticipates and mitigates potential legal problems. Manages all manner of protection of privacy/information issues.
• Provides legal research, advice and other assistance to the General Counsel.

Research

• Undertakes legal research and analysis of a variety of complex issues to provide informed legal advice and opinions to the General Counsel and/or others within the Law Society.

Team Membership

• Promotes the sharing and transfer of knowledge, applicable standards and information amongst members within the Office of General Counsel and other Law Society departments.
• Works with and shares expertise with other regulatory bodies, and legal organizations.

Policy Development

• As directed by the General Counsel, participates in the development of the protection of privacy / information policy.
• Ensures that policy development is based on sound research, an in-depth understanding of issues and implications for the Law Society.

Special Projects and Initiatives

• Participates in special projects and initiatives of the Law Society.

The Law Society has introduced a Distributed Workforce Model to leverage flexibility and agility, and to maximize employee productivity and engagement.  Work arrangements will be determined by role and departmental requirements.  The working arrangement for this position has been classified as hybrid, where the employee will regularly flex their work location between home and office.  The specific application of this will be communicated to applicants contacted during the recruitment process.

The Law Society of Ontario is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion. We welcome applications from persons representing the diversity of our community. We are committed to creating an accessible, barrier-free and inclusive workplace and are committed to continuing compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Please make any requirement you may have for accommodation during the recruitment process known when contacted.

If you are unable to apply to this position due to the requirement for an accommodation of any kind, please email us at hr@lso.ca or call 416-947-3475. We appreciate all interest and will directly contact candidates under consideration.