We are a remote-first workplace but the candidates for this role must be based in Pennsylvania at the start of employment. Please visit our Careers page to review all opportunities and submit your application for the role(s) that best fit your experiences and location. This is a Full-Time Role (40 hours per week) with the option to apply for reduced hours per week after one year in the role.
About the Opportunity
The Finance & Legal Department exists to ensure that B Lab Global’s resources, organizational operations, and legal support enables us to achieve our mission. The department comprises two core teams: Finance and Legal.
The Legal Department exists to ensure that B Lab Global’s resources, organizational operations, and legal support enables us to achieve our mission. The Legal Department is responsible for building, managing, and maintaining the legal strategies that enable B Lab Global to deliver on its strategy & objectives. This includes ensuring appropriate terms in B Lab Global’s various contracts, developing and updating risk management and 501(c)(3) compliance practices and protections, and registering and protecting our intellectual property.
B Lab seeks a highly qualified attorney to partner with our B Corp Standards Review team, our Program Managers, and our Operations leads to review and draft the agreements, contracts, and policies that secure our business. The Commercial Attorney will provide advice and guidance to employees across business segments and will benefit from a general background in corporate law. The attorney will understand B Lab’s services and programs, and will be able to explain our legal position in the context of those services and programs. We hope to find a candidate who can:
Lead contract development, drafting, review and negotiation
Advise legal operations and compliance including managing external legal counsel
Advise on intellectual property protection, in coordination with the Marketing & Communications team and outside counsel
Conduct their work with integrity, responsibility, and with a sense of mission to serve our stakeholders
Assess and advise on risk management, insurance, and liability
Core Responsibilities
Primary accountabilities
Supporting the Standards Analysts and Business Development teams with their review of outside form contracts and advising and negotiating when prospects and customers request changes to standard forms.
Non-Disclosure Agreements
B Corp Agreements
Other Program Contracts for B Lab Products & Services
Attending calls with customers, prospects, and partners to negotiate and explain above agreements
Write memos and emails restating and explaining contract decisions and discussions using B Impact Assessment/Impact Standards
Reviewing philanthropic donor agreements to identify concerns or potential conflicts to Strategic Growth and Partnerships leaders
Drafting and review of vendor and consultant contracts across the B Lab teams, including Terms of Service documents, licensing agreements, Comprehensive Service Documents, and vendor NDAs
Draft, edit, comment, and negotiate agreements, contracts, and other legal documents to ensure B Lab’s interests are protected and the documents maintain corporate and brand integrity
Develop a deep understanding of the interconnected nature of B Lab’s external stakeholders, including funders, Certified B Corporations, prospects, and our B Lab and Sistema B Global Partner network
Provide clarification on legal language and contract specifications to internal stakeholders
Provide accurate and timely counsel to the team on a variety of legal topics
Provide legal expertise to the Brand Committee on brand guidelines and ad hoc decisions regarding B Corps’ use of trademarks and other intellectual property
Research and evaluate different risk factors regarding business programs, services, and operations
Additional accountabilities
Analyze corporate structures of prospective B Corporations to determine legal requirement application and certifications scope and eligibility.
Advise on other legal topics not primary to the role based upon the candidate’s experience and knowledge (e.g., lease management or intellectual property management).
Coordinate and partner with outside counsel, when necessary
About you
3-6 years of experience in contract law focused on corporations, with having been licensed to practice law for a minimum of 3 years
Experience with drafting, editing, and negotiate agreements, contracts, and other legal documents
Experience advising and guiding multiple stakeholders in a variety of departments
Strong verbal and written communication skills; ability to hold conversation with individuals at all levels of an organization
J.D. or equivalent international degree
Bar membership
Experience with Electronic Signing repositories and processes, e.g., DocuSign
Comfort being a collaborative business partner willing to share legal reasoning with non-attorneys
Comfort working in Google environment and CRM data management environment (Salesforce a plus)
High degree of professional ethics and integrity
Sound judgment and situational awareness
Ability to apply common sense solutions to complex problems
Can describe B Lab’s interests in a contractual discussion, and negotiate to secure favorable terms for B Lab
Understanding B Corp certification and required legal framework
While not required, please note in your application if you have:
Business proficiency in languages other than English is a plus, especially Spanish or French
Previous experience working in an international non-profit
Fluency in navigating Google Suite (or a comparable office suite and/or cloud-based file storage)
Have a passion for using business as a force for good, and support the B Lab team focused on this mission
Compensation Details
B Lab has a compensation plan that includes:
An annual salary in the range of $150,000 - $175,000 based on experience and skills
Excellent health benefits package including access to medical, vision and dental coverage
Paid time off for vacation - in your first year, you’ll start with 15 days (prorated in a to your start date)
Additional paid time off for organizational closures
403(b) with a match of up to 3%
Unlimited sick and personal time - if you need it, use it
After your first year of employment, 40 hours paid time off for community service; paid parental leave; and time and budget for your professional development (we assess this PD budget annually)
A remote-first workplace
A flexible work environment with the ability to plan your work week around your personal commitments
Hiring Process
We require the following in order to consider your application:
Resume
If you progress through additional stages in the hiring process you can expect to:
Step 1: Submit your resume
Step 2: Participate in an interview with a panel via Google Meet or Zoom
Step 3: Participate in a second panel interview via Google Meet or Zoom
We will begin reviewing applications on January 29,2024 and will continue until we identify a diverse and qualified candidate pool.
Please note: All applications will be reviewed by our team, and all candidates will receive a status update via email after their application has been reviewed, which we expect to complete by February 12. Due to capacity constraints on our hiring team, we are unable to provide you with a specific status update beyond these parameters. Our ideal start date for this role is March 25, 2024
If we can offer reasonable accommodations to you in the application or interview processes, or if you have feedback on how we could improve the equity or accessibility of our recruitment, you are welcome to contact us at careers @ bcorporation.net with the subject line “Accommodation request - Commercial Attorney”. Please note that we are unable to respond to general status inquiries or other messages that are unrelated to accessing our application or interview processes.
