PowerSwitch Action: General Counsel

LOCATION

SALARY

ARENA-TRAINED STAFF

COMPANY

DEPARTMENT

EMPLOYMENT TYPE

MINIMUM LEVEL OF EXPERIENCE

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Position

Reporting to the Executive Director, the General Counsel will serve as the primary legal

advisor for the organization. The General Counsel will provide analysis, advice and guidance to

the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, and members of the Leadership Team and staff.

They will help ensure organizational compliance with federal, state and local law for the

organization. They will guide internal policy and systems development, adoption and

implementation, ensuring the organization and its staff meet legal obligations and effectively

mitigate risk. They will undertake or ensure legal review of the organization’s decisions, plans,

agreements and communications. The General Counsel will also engage and manage

specialized outside counsel to ensure the organization receives excellent, cost-effective legal

advice.

The General Counsel is a seasoned attorney who thoroughly understands movement work,

including campaigning and organizing, and can act collaboratively and skillfully, with excellent

judgment, in a variety of scenarios. The General Counsel provides excellent analysis, ensuring

the organization’s leadership has a clear and sufficient understanding of legal risk and an

appropriate set of options for decision and action. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone

who is passionate about social justice and wants to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability

of a leading movement organization, allowing it to act boldly and safely. The ideal candidate is

relationships-oriented and can quickly build trust, with a strong acumen as a collaborator,

practical problem-solver, systems builder, and a clear and concise communicator.

1. Advice and counsel

○ Support organizational leadership’s overall risk management, serving as a

collaborative partner in decisionmaking and nuanced risk assessment and make

decisions involving legal risk clear and understandable

○ Synthesize complex legal questions into clear analysis and offer actionable,

practical solutions

○ Advise on matters related to organizational governance and structure, including

related to where decisions live, fiscally sponsored projects, hosted coalitions and

an affiliated 501(c)(4) organization

○ Engage in ongoing assessment of the relevant legal risk landscape and

proactively develop and propose measures to manage risk, including through

participation in spaces with attorneys for other movement organizations

○ Address regulatory inquiries, investigations and other legal matters

○ Engage expert outside counsel to ensure the organization receives excellent

legal advice and support organizational leadership in understanding,

interpreting and implementing that advice

○ Inform organizational leadership about considerations in balancing

mission-critical operations and activities and other areas of risk

2. Legal review

○ Work with team leads to create effective systems for timely legal review of

materials, particularly public communications

○ Co-develop templates and guides for commonly used legal instruments such as

contracts and releases

○ Review public communications and positions attributable to the organization

with respect to intellectual property, defamation, 501(c)(3) regulations, privacy

and other legal issues

○ Review contracts, including vendor contracts, grant agreements, subgrant

agreements, retainer and common-interest agreements

○ Review campaign plans, particularly related to public actions, organizing

methods and messaging

○ Review or obtain outside counsel review of HR-related policy, decisions and

actions; ensure compliance with outside HR counsel advice

○ Review all filings with regulatory agencies across multiple states and

jurisdictions

3. Systems and policies

○ Work with members of the Leadership Team and staff to review, develop, draft

or amend and implement organizational policies, systems and guidance in

accordance with changes in the law and risk analysis

○ Regularly develop, update and conduct training for staff and affiliates regarding

important legal considerations and organizational policies

○ In collaboration with the Operations team, ensure compliance with policies

regarding, among other things, lobbying, information security, document

retention and resource sharing agreements and other measures governing

relationships with noncharitable entities

○ Review and update grant and subgrant review and approval protocols and

standards

○ Co-develop crisis management and scenario planning tools

○ Working with Finance and Operations, ensure compliance with all applicable

federal, state, and local laws and regulations, including regarding charitable

solicitation, campaign finance, lobbying, and employer obligations.

○ Prepare guidance and ensure appropriate legal support for staff involvement in

public actions and other scenarios involving legal risk

○ Manage all outside counsel relationships and work

○ Ensure compliance by PowerSwitch Action attorneys with laws and rules

governing the practice of law and ensure organizational systems support that

compliance

○ Working with Finance and Operations, regularly review insurance needs and

policies

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will have the following professional competencies:

Skilled advisor

● Shows excellent judgment and self-awareness; able to act calmly and skillfully in a crisis

● Quickly earns trust across lines of difference; is relational and emotionally intelligent and

solves problems collaboratively

● Displays effective communication in variety of methods and settings; easily navigates

organizational dynamics and power systems

● Has experience working with similar organizations undertaking campaigns and organizing

in complex organizational structures

● Gives close attention to important technical details and is able to convey and teach legal

concepts to non-lawyers

Legal expert

● Consistently provides excellent legal analysis and risk analysis; able to advise

organizational leadership on risk with multiple options and accounting for organizational

risk tolerance

● Has expertise in one or more of the following key areas of law: non-profit and tax-exempt

organizations; employment; contract; intellectual property, privacy and defamation; laws

governing organizing and public actions including First Amendment and labor law;

lobbying, campaign finance and public ethics.

● Excellent negotiator/developer and writer of organizational policy and contract language

● Scrupulously follows laws and rules governing the practice of law and supports others to

do the same

Savvy and strategic thinker

● Develops and proposes strategic, practical approaches in a collaborative process with

organizational leadership and staff

● Able to articulate and consider the key strategic questions at hand and consider them from

multiple perspectives

● Able to translate strategy to practice, including adjusting to changing, challenging, and/or

ambiguous circumstances

● When advising against certain actions, works to provide alternatives that are consistent

with the strategy

Proactive and resourceful driver of work

● Adapts to the evolving needs of the organization and thinks ahead to raise issues and

propose solutions that meet the organization’s needs

● Closely understands their own limitations and proactively obtains appropriate support

● Consistently overcomes challenges and leverages resources to creatively solve problems

● Sets goals and charts a path to getting there

● Is highly organized and can manage a high volume of work with efficiency. Able to juggle

competing demands and prioritize without sacrificing quality

System and culture builder

● Designs and implements policies, guidance, events, tools and systems that effectively

ensure compliance, appropriately balance organizational priorities and generate buy-in

from staff

● Does what they say they will do and creates accountability on both sides of relationships

● Skilled at training others to understand important legal considerations and adopt practices

that support organizational risk management

Authorization to practice law in California is strongly preferred; we will consider

exceptional candidates authorized to practice only in other jurisdictions.

Compensation & Benefits

This is a full-time, exempt position, but we are open to candidates who may want to work

part-time. We offer a competitive starting salary, which for the full-time position is between

$135,000 and $150,000 (based on experience) and generous benefits, including:

● 401(k) with 5% employer contribution

● 100% of health, dental, and vision premiums for employees and their family members

(spouse/domestic partner and children)

● Life insurance and long-term disability insurance for employees

● Flexible Spending Accounts for childcare and medical expenses (no employer

contribution)

● 12 days of vacation increasing with tenure up to 20 days

● 12 days of sick leave per year

● 6 week sabbatical for full-time employees after five years of employment

About the salary: We aim to offer competitive salaries and benefits and are committed to

equity, trust, and transparency in compensation. Basing compensation on someone’s

willingness and ability to negotiate or on their prior salary leads to wide inequities and bias in

how people are paid, particularly for groups experiencing historical oppression. Therefore, we

do not ask for prior pay history from our candidates and our offer-making process is based on

the range provided. We determine the best possible salary offer based on relevant experience

and the extent to which candidates demonstrate the competencies for the role during the

entire hiring process. All staff receive a $2,000 flat raise on their work anniversary that is not

tied to performance.

Location

The position can be performed remotely from any location in the U.S. The General Counsel will

travel at least four times per year for meetings of organizational leadership and staff.

Please note that PowerSwitch Action requires that all employees be fully vaccinated against

COVID-19, unless a medical or religious accommodation is needed.