Counsel
$107,000–$149,000 year
RemoteCalifornia, United States or Puerto Rico
Job Summary
Serve as day-to-day legal resource for APA divisions and business units, providing guidance, compliance support, first-line review, and risk management strategies on operational matters. Triage incoming legal questions to the appropriate OGC workflow and help internal clients understand compliance requirements, decision points, and escalation paths. Manage the contract lifecycle for assigned matters, including review, drafting, and negotiation of program agreements, vendor engagements, and NDAs. Partner with revenue-generating teams to identify legal risks, recommend revisions, and drive timely contract review while providing ongoing program counsel and operational approval. Provide legal support for government contracts, grants, and private funding agreements, including review of terms, compliance obligations, and reporting requirements. Support litigation efforts through internal fact development, document collection coordination, discovery assistance, and liaison work with outside counsel. Act as first point of contact within OGC for APA staff, Divisions, elected leaders, and governance participants on division legal matters. Collaborate across APA staff, governance bodies, and outside organizations on projects within assigned practice areas and represent OGC on internal committees.
Required Qualifications
- J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school
- Active member in good standing of the District of Columbia Bar, or a bar eligible for waiver into D.C.
- Three to five years of progressive legal experience
- Experience in one or more of the preferred practice areas: non-profit, association, governance, contracts lifecycle management, and grants (including governmental—federal and other public entities--and private), corporate compliance, and litigation support
- Strong generalist instincts
- Sound judgment
- The ability to spot and address legal issues involving multiple subjects under deadline
- Comfortable learning new areas of law quickly as business needs arise
- Exceptional analytic and critical thinking skills
- Strong interpersonal, negotiating, and collaborative skills
- Clear, concise communicator, both written and verbal, with the ability to translate complex legal concepts into practical guidance to organizational stakeholders, executive leadership, Board members, governance bodies, and volunteer leaders
- Thrive in a small, fast-paced general counsel's office
- Experience working with staff and volunteers on legal guidance, project planning, compliance, risk assessment, operational approvals, and issue escalation
- General fluency with Microsoft Office
- Experience with remote meeting programs such as Teams and Zoom
- Experience with contract management systems
- Experience with project management tools
- Experience with APA-approved AI tools
- Experience with other business, workflow, and collaboration software
- Technical ability to adapt quickly to new systems
- Ability to use technology to organize intake, track matters, summarize issues, prioritize projects, and manage legal workflows
- Must be able to work remotely as defined in APA's Flexible Work Policy
- Must not be located in Alaska, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, Wyoming
Desired Qualifications
- Experience in election law
- Experience in lobbying rules
- Experience in tax-exemption compliance
- Familiarity with election law
- Familiarity with tax-exempt organization law
- Familiarity with general legal counseling
- Experience in non-profit
- Experience in association
- Experience in governance
- Experience in contracts lifecycle management
- Experience in grants (including governmental—federal and other public entities--and private)
- Experience in corporate compliance
- Experience in litigation support
- Experience working with staff and volunteers on legal guidance, project planning, compliance, risk assessment, operational approvals, and issue escalation
- Experience preferred for candidates with familiarity with federal exempt-organization law for Section 501(c)(3) and Section 501(c)(6) organizations and political action committees applicable to APA compliance obligations
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