Lead Legal Counsel, Tax-Exempt Organizations

Role Title

Lead Legal Counsel, Tax-Exempt Organizations

Regular

Director, Strategic Philanthropy

Office of General Counsel

New York or Washington D.C.

Strategic Philanthropy

The Lead Legal Counsel provides advice on OSF’s most fundamental legal and regulatory issues (including charitability, fundability, lobbying, political activity, and mission related investments) in relation to grant making, impact investing and advocacy. The Lead Legal Counsel is the primary expert within OGC on legal requirements for the US private foundations that are central to the OSF network and acts as an advisory partner for business units engaged in grantmaking or advocacy.

As Lead Legal Counsel, you will:

• Work with the Director for Strategic Philanthropy on setting and implementing strategy for legal support to strategic philanthropy across Open Society’s global network, including leading, developing and managing attorneys and other legal professionals
• Advise on charitable, social welfare and exempt organizations’ law, including compliance with tax laws and regulations applicable to U.S. private foundations, such as private benefit, expenditure responsibility, lobbying restrictions and political activity prohibitions
• Advise on international (and potentially domestic) grant making, advocacy and other strategic interventions including escalated transactions and multi-tool campaigns that require coordinated inputs from multiple specialist attorneys and internal and external stakeholders
• Advise on the development and implementation of organisational policies including global grant making and advocacy process design and implementation
• Represent OGC in interdepartmental efforts, such as network wide policy and planning committees
• Advise on transactions including grants, service agreements, consultancies, commercial contracts, licences and software agreements
• Contribute to developing and maintaining OGC know-how, templates, technology solutions and other key enablers
• Engage and instruct external counsel when needed and co-ordinate advice as appropriate to ensure it is fit for the organization
• Open Society’s legal needs mean that legal work is often cross-cutting so all attorneys in the OGC must be generalists to some extent, and should expect workload sharing within and between divisions to respond to fluctuating demands.

None

Director of Strategic Philanthropy, Grants Management;
Information Technology;
Finance (Audit Function)

External counsel advising on US and other local law in jurisdictions where OSF engages in grantmaking

• Law degree or equivalent from an accredited university (law school)
• Admission to practice law in the United States
• A minimum post-qualification experience of 8 years at a law firm and/or in‑house, with an emphasis on tax exempt charitable organizations and substantial experience with US private foundation law
• Extensive experience and record of accomplishments with drafting and negotiating, in matters requiring keen attention to detail with excellent follow‑through
• Experience with leading, developing and managing lawyers and other legal professionals to achieve specific results within a medium‑term timeframe including experience in managing complex projects
• Experience advising and providing counsel to senior leadership of a large complex and international organization
• Experience engaging and instructing external counsel when needed and co‑ordinating advice as appropriate to ensure it is fit for the organization
• Demonstrated ability to communicate (verbal and written) legal and strategic advice with stakeholders who are not lawyers including in a virtual environment
• A practical, business‑oriented approach to problem‑solving, tempered by an appreciation for legal complexity and risk
• Demonstrated ability to apply creative thinking, strong judgment and analytical skills, combined with a record of integrity, professional discretion and the ability to work under pressure, prioritize and handle sensitive/confidential matters
• Demonst…