Staff Counsel job in Washington

Are you interested in starting your legal career in the nonprofit sector? Are you socially conscious, solutions oriented, and apt learner? We are seeking a staff counsel who is detailed oriented and is willing to learn contracts and nonprofit tax law to work in the General Counsel’s office. The General Counsel’s Office is responsible for providing timely, coordinated, and thoughtful legal advice to internal clients on a wide variety of regulatory, compliance, and risk-management matters that is grounded in applicable laws and tailored to Arabella Advisors business needs.

The General Counsel’s office also provides legal support to a variety of nonprofit organizations that Arabella Advisors manages, including the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) charity, and Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) public welfare organization. Read more about our Managed Organization team below.

Essential Responsibilities

In consultation with senior counsel, serve as the primary lawyer responsible for assisting and counseling staff in the process of evaluating, constructing, and negotiating a broad range of service agreements, independent contractor agreements, vendor contracts, and non-disclosure agreements.
Under supervision of senior counsel, manage grantmaking for Managed Organizations, including reviewing and negotiating grant agreements, reviewing grant proposals, and drafting and negotiating subgrant agreements as needed.
Work with staff to streamline the contract review process and improve contract management and tracking to ensure coordination between master service agreements, statements of work, addenda, and all payments and deliverables.
Respond to intellectual property issues that arise from the firm’s activities.
Work with the General Counsel to provide accurate and timely legal advice to staff.
Work with senior nonprofit tax counsel to manage the process for ensuring compliance with state registration and reporting obligations for several nonprofits, including charitable solicitation registration, state tax exemption, and foreign corporation registration.
Provide legal guidance to contracts manager and support staff on questions regarding contracts formation, review, negotiations, and implementation.
Work across departments to develop user friendly policies, guidance, and templates as requested by the General Counsel.
Conduct trainings for staff on legal rules and compliance procedures.
Assist in resolving routine legal issues or questions.
Conduct research.
Perform other duties as assigned.

To Be Successful in This Role, You’ll Need:

Knowledge of employment, privacy, general corporate, and intellectual property law is a plus.
Experience working in-house at a nonprofit or corporate compliance department is a plus.
License to practice law in a jurisdiction with an Arabella office.
J.D. and two to five years of experience in a legal role.
Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Ability to work on broad topics and balance multiple projects at once.
Positive attitude and team-oriented ethic.
Excellent written and oral communication skills and a strong customer-focus orientation.
Sense of humor.
Ability to work independently and proactively identify and prioritize needs.
Experience in 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit law is preferred.

Our Core Competencies:

The ability to provide excellent service, including being able to address complex service matters, implement and communicate service changes to everyone involved, and to coach teammates on how to apply the firm’s service standards
The ability to manage large-scale and cross-firm projects, including delegating and managing all resources, identifying and implementing improved processes, monitoring consistency across project teams, and providing direction and support to teammates
The ability to facilitate and negotiate among stakeholders with conflicting needs and to generate consensus among decision makers
The ability to help effectively communicate difficult messages; to adapt style, tone, and content to meet various needs; and to coach teammates on crafting content.
The ability to work cooperatively and inclusively with others to achieve shared goals, including encouraging and facilitating effective compromise, drawing on the capabilities of all team members, and leading team-level knowledge sharing
The ability to use available resources and feedback to continually develop mastery in your role and facilitate team and project-level learning, including coaching others
The ability to solve complex challenges by identifying innovative solutions and facilitating coordination with others
The ability to elevate the voices of marginalized colleagues and mitigate power dynamics with staff with less formal authority

About Arabella Advisors

Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We work together across geographies on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience. The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Advancing DEI within our firm and in our work with partners is critical to our mission. To be effective partners to philanthropists, nonprofits, and communities impacted by philanthropic dollars, we need to have a highly diverse staff, a workplace where individuals are encouraged to retain their uniqueness and can feel a sense of belonging, and a nuanced understanding of the racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other disparities that undergird the issues we engage in and the interactions we have with one another. For us, equity means that our staff members, our clients, and the people they serve can experience the same level of success, no matter their starting place. We expect all our employees to share this commitment, and always seek ways to improve how well we live these values. Click here to learn more about DEI at Arabella and read our official DEI statement.

Total Rewards (compensation and benefits)

This is a full time position. We offer a competitive and holistic total rewards package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits. Our base salaries are based on a blend of similar sized organizations from different sectors, including nonprofits, foundations, and professional service firms. They are also based on local market rates and differentiated by geography.
All full-time staff are eligible for our generous benefits package on their first day of employment:

Health insurance- On average Arabella pays 86% of the medical premium, 80% of the dental premium, and 100% of the vision premium
Paid time off- 16 days’ vacation, 10 personal days, 11 company holidays (7 federal and 4 more from a list of inclusive cultural and religious holidays and your birthday), 20 hours’ volunteer leave, 8 weeks’ parental leave
401(k) retirement plan- We offer a 4% employer match on a dollar-per-dollar basis, and there is no waiting or vesting period; all funds contributed by you and Arabella are yours to keep on day 1
Reimbursements for your personal cell phone plan and fitness
Pre-tax withholding for transportation and parking
Bonus incentive opportunities
Access to professional development opportunities

Working with Us

While this position must be based in Chicago, IL; Washington DC; Durham, NC, please note that due to COVID-19, all Arabella Advisors' offices are closed, and we continue to temporarily work in a remote environment.

When we reopen -- currently anticipated in early 2022 -- we will be returning to work with a hybrid workplace strategy to ensure continued flexibility for our staff, while deepening our strong culture rooted in collaboration and in-person interactions between colleagues. It is our expectation that once we reopen, Arabellans will generally work 2-4 days per week from the office and 2-4 days at home/remotely. We will make reasonable accommodations under the guidelines of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

To center the safety and well-being of its employees, Arabella Advisors requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law.

We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers page to learn more.

How to Apply

Submit a resume and a one-page cover letter online. The cover letter should address why you’re excited to work at Arabella and why you’re qualified for this specific job.

Arabella Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to racial equity. If we can make the application process easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please let us know.

We encourage you to read (or listen to) our DEI statement prior to applying. We make a particular effort to recruit people of color and members of marginalized groups to apply for open positions. Once you have applied, we welcome your feedback on how you have experienced our values around DEI in the recruitment process.

While Arabella is open to individuals from various locations applying to join our team, please note that we generally are unable to pay for relocation expenses, and all applicants must already be legally eligible to work in the United States at the time of application to be considered for this position.

We will review applications as they are received and look forward to hearing from you.