Outside Counsel Guidelines Attorney

About this role

DLA Piper is, at its core, bold, exceptional, collaborative and supportive.  Our people are the backbone, heart and soul of our firm.  Wherever you are in your professional journey, DLA Piper is a place you can engage in meaningful work and grow your career.  Let’s see what we can achieve. Together.

Summary Reporting to the Executive Director, New Business Intake and Procurement, the Outside Counsel Guidelines Attorney, working in collaboration with and in support of the firm’s strategic initiatives , supports the firm’s critical risk management function by managing the full scope of substantive, operational, and administrative responsibilities associated with engagement terms and Outside Counsel Guidelines (OCGs). This attorney works closely with the firm’s Office of General Counsel and serves as the coordinating expert on risk issues associated with engagement terms. In this role, the attorney performs initial reviews of terms, comparisons against existing engagement agreements and accepted firm positions on various terms and liaises as needed with internal stakeholders in order to negotiate resolutions and finalize OCGs and related engagement materials.

Key responsibilities include serving as a subject matter expert on OCG processes and tools, completing initial identification of potentially problematic terms and proposing solutions, identifying and coordinating feedback from stakeholders, maintaining an OCG playbook and tracking systems, and proactively identifying areas of risk arising out of engagement terms. The role requires a meticulous, detail-oriented and forward-looking approach to protect the firm’s legal and business interests while building and maintaining strong client relationships.

Location This position can sit in any of our U.S. offices and offers a hybrid work schedule.   Responsibilities • Performs initial review of OCGs and engagement terms, and partners with Office of General Counsel and New Business Intake attorneys to gather information and complete thorough OCG analysis, including consistency with existing engagement terms and among client groups.

• Identifies terms that require negotiation and proposes appropriate modifications.

• Identifies areas where additional stakeholder input is needed and works with Finance, Information Governance, Information and Cyber Security, Data Privacy and Protection, Human Resources and other teams to gather feedback on terms and execute timely follow-ups.

• Proactively identifies emerging areas of risk in engagement documents and suggests solutions.

• Identifies areas of inconsistency in engagement terms and proposes solutions.

• Maintains database for tracking the progress of engagement terms negotiations to ensure timely resolutions. and otherwise assists in driving OCGs to completion.

• Coordinates with Conflicts and New Business Intake to ensure internal processes reflect agreed terms.

• Maintains procedures/manual for the review and negotiation of engagement terms, including creating efficiencies and repositories for responses to frequently negotiated terms.

• Serves as an Intapp subject matter expert, focusing on accurate tagging of legal and ethical terms.

• Manages compliance with and improvements to engagement letter policy, including navigating issues involving clients without formal engagement terms.

• Supports disengagement efforts.

• Supports additional projects and special requests, as needed.  

Desired Skills     Experience with Intapp Terms preferred. Active law license in good standing in state where practicing.

Minimum Education              • JD.  

Minimum Years of Experience   • 2 years’ experience in a law firm or in-house legal department. Experience as an Intake Attorney, contract attorney, or comparable role preferred.

Essential Job Expectations While the specific job requirements of a DLA Piper position may vary depending upon scope of the job and area of specialty, there are certain universal requirements that are expected of all DLA Piper employees, which include but are not limited to:   • Effectively communicate, verbally and in writing, with clients, lawyers, business professionals, and third parties.

• Produce deliverables, answer phone calls, and reply to correspondence in an efficient and responsive manner.

• Provide timely, accurate, and quality work product.

• Successfully meet deadlines, expectations, and perform work duties as required.

• Foster positive work relationships.

• Comply with all firm policies and practices.

• Engage in both physical and sedentary activity, such as (a) working at a computer for extended periods of time, including on-screen reading and typing; (b) participating in digital/virtual conference calls; (c) participating in meetings as needed.

• Ability to work under pressure and manage competing demands in a fast-paced environment.

• Perform all other duties, tasks or projects as assigned.  

Our employees are expected to embrace and uphold our firm values as a part of our DLA Piper culture. We are committed to excellence in how we represent our clients and develop our people.

Physical Demands Sedentary work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.    

Work Environment     The individual selected for this position may have the opportunity for a hybrid work arrangement comprised of remote and in-office work, the requirement for which will be determined in coordination with the hiring manager or supervisor and may be modified in the firm’s discretion in the future. 

Disclaimer     The purpose of this job description is to provide a concise statement of the work elements and to organize and present the information in a standardized way

Similar jobs

• Legal Counsel — Place · Bellingham, WA
• Legal Counsel — Northwoodspace · Torrance, CA
• Legal Counsel — Extend · Remote
• Legal Counsel — Couchbaseinc · Raleigh, NC
• Legal Counsel — Omnea · New York
• Legal Counsel — Thealleninstitute · Seattle, WA
• Legal Counsel — Heygen · Los Angeles, San Francisco, Palo Alto
• Legal Counsel — Nevis · New York