Senior Counsel - Americas Legal at Cushman Wakefield

Chicago, Illinois, United States -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

12 Jun, 26

Salary

190200.0

Posted On

14 Mar, 26

Experience

10 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Commercial Judgment, Risk Assessment, Strategic Judgment, Agility, Transaction Advisory, Client Facing, Contract Drafting, Labor And Employment Guidance, Dispute Management, Regulatory Compliance, Technology Leverage, AI Integration, Business Partnership, Executive Presence, Legal Modernization, Cross-functional Collaboration

Industry

Real Estate

Description

Job Title Senior Counsel - Americas Legal Job Description Summary Job Description Senior Counsel - Americas Location: Americas Remote Flexible - Chicago Position Summary The Senior Counsel serves as a key legal partner to Cushman & Wakefield businesses, providing embedded, real‑time support in a fast‑paced, deal‑driven environment. As a central legal point of accountability, this attorney brings sharp commercial judgment and the ability to assess risk quickly, frame options, and guide senior leaders through complex commercial, operational, regulatory, and talent‑related matters - ensuring clear, well‑framed decisions across risk‑sensitive areas. This role requires an attorney with strong strategic judgment who can operate with agility in a transaction‑ and advisory‑intensive, client‑facing environment. Expertise in the commercial, risk, and financial dynamics of brokerage, capital markets, valuation, or similar transaction‑driven service lines is essential, along with the ability to anticipate how legal, regulatory, and market changes influence fast‑moving deal structures. The Senior Counsel leads high‑value advisory work and complex commercial matters across multiple service lines, including MSAs, integrated multi‑service engagements, and other cross‑functional structures that drive meaningful business outcomes. This is not a role for an attorney whose experience centers on routine form agreements. The ideal candidate is a commercially sophisticated attorney and innovative thinker; agile, forward‑looking, and effective working through ambiguity. A direct, business‑focused communication style is necessary to proactively streamline and modernize legal support while leveraging evolving technology and AI to enhance speed, consistency, and impact. Close partnership with Litigation, HR, Compliance, and the Contracting Center of Excellence is critical to ensuring coordinated, high‑quality, business‑aligned guidance across the organization. Key Responsibilities Business Partnership & Leadership. Serve as a key legal advisor to Cushman & Wakefield businesses, bringing sharp commercial judgment, innovative thinking, and a proactive, business‑aligned approach to problem‑solving. Build trusted relationships across the business and deliver clear, practical guidance in direct business terms. Commercial & Advisory. Lead sophisticated commercial matters under time‑sensitive deadlines, including MSAs and other integrated engagement structures. Provide practical guidance on commercial terms, risk dynamics, and market‑facing considerations while enhancing efficiency and consistency in contracting. Labor & Employment. Provide timely, business‑aligned guidance on a broad range of labor and employment matters across all worker classifications, including employees, independent contractors, and brokerage professionals. Advise on transitions, performance and conduct issues, restrictive covenants, investigations, accommodations, and separations, ensuring leaders receive clear, actionable support in a fast‑moving environment. Partner closely with HR and other stakeholders to navigate sensitive and high‑risk people issues with judgment and precision. Disputes, Risk & Litigation. Anticipate emerging risks and provide forward‑looking guidance across commercial, operational, regulatory, and talent‑related issues. Frame key considerations for leadership and collaborate with Litigation and Compliance to ensure coordinated, practical risk management. Training & Continuous Improvement. Develop and deliver targeted training that translates complex legal and risk concepts into clear, actionable guidance. Advance opportunities to improve clarity, strengthen contracting processes, and enhance cross‑functional alignment in partnership with the Contracting Center of Excellence. Qualifications Juris Doctor and admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction. 8+ years of legal experience with substantial responsibility for complex commercial contracting and advisory work, including at least 3 years of law firm experience demonstrating strong analytical rigor, high‑quality drafting, and sophisticated client‑facing skills. Demonstrated experience advising senior business and operational leaders on complex commercial, operational, financial, and risk issues, with the ability to deliver clear, practical, business‑aligned recommendations and build trust across cross‑functional partners. Experience supporting brokerage, capital markets, valuation, or other transaction‑driven service lines, or comparable experience advising fast‑paced commercial businesses with complex deal, risk, and financial dynamics. Must bring strong commercial judgment, the ability to quickly understand new business models, and the capacity to navigate issues with speed, clarity, and precision. Demonstrated judgment and independence in managing multiple complex, time‑sensitive priorities in a high‑velocity environment. Experience providing business‑facing labor and employment guidance across a range of worker classifications, including employees, independent contractors, and brokerage professionals. Excellent communicator capable of distilling complex issues into concise, actionable guidance for senior leadership. Executive presence with the ability to influence leaders and drive clarity across competing priorities. Demonstrated ability and drive to lead with innovation - leveraging technology, AI, and other forward‑thinking approaches to enhance the speed, quality, and consistency of legal support. Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work. In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements. The compensation that will be offered to the successful candidate will depend on factors such as whether the position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, the geographic area in which the work will be performed, market pay rates in that area, and the candidate’s experience and qualifications. The company will not pay less than minimum wage for this role. The compensation for the position is: $ 161,670.00 - $190,200.00 Cushman & Wakefield is an Equal Opportunity employer to all protected groups, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Discrimination of any type will not be tolerated. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position at Cushman & Wakefield, please call the ADA line at 1-888-365-5406 or email HRServices@cushwake.com. Please refer to the job title and job location when you contact us. INCO: “Cushman & Wakefield” About Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a global leader in real estate services, leveraging our specialized expertise to deliver innovative solutions and exceptional value to owners and occupiers. With 52,000 employees in nearly 400 offices across 60 countries, we are one of the largest firms in the industry, with more than 100 years of history. In 2023, we generated $9.5 billion in revenue from our core services. To learn more, visit www.careers.cushmanwakefield.com.

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Responsibilities

The Senior Counsel acts as a key legal partner, providing embedded, real-time support to businesses by leading sophisticated commercial advisory work, including MSAs and complex engagement structures. This role also involves providing timely, business-aligned guidance on a broad range of labor and employment matters across all worker classifications.