Senior Director, Legal, IP & Compliance

at  CSA Group

BUILDING A WORLD CLASS TEAM STARTS WITH YOU

At the heart of CSA Group is a vision: making the world a better, safer, more sustainable place. It’s been part of our mission for nearly one hundred years: from the first engineering standard for railway bridges developed in 1919, to more than 3,500 standards, codes & related products today.
Headquartered in Canada, with a global footprint of more than 30 labs and offices across Europe, Asia and North America, CSA Group tests, inspects and certifies a wide range of products - from every day househould items to leading edge technology-to meet exacting requirements for safety, performance and environmental impact.
Our employees take pride in making a difference in people’s lives through the work that we do. We’re looking for people like you to help make it happen.
Job Summary:

This position, based at CSA Group’s global headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, is accountable for providing legal counsel and policy advice on a broad range of issues to protect and preserve the organization’s legal interests, including the following:

• Provides strategic legal services to effectively manage risks while meeting business objectives.
• Assists the Chief Legal Officer in providing effective and timely strategic legal counsel and advice to executives and management.
• Manages day-to-day work allocation within the legal team and provides technical and tactical advice and support to other legal team members.
• Manages complex and/or sensitive corporate/commercial projects, including crisis management and communications, litigation, internal investigations, and mergers & acquisitions.
• Provides recommendations for updating and improving legal departmental procedures.
• Oversees the deployment and updating of the functional intellectual property strategy in coordination with other team members.
• Maintains current knowledge of laws and regulations governing CSA Group operations. Understands and applies in-house legal industry best practices in areas including employment, corporate/commercial, international trade, mergers/acquisitions, professional negligence (tort), and insurance coverage.
• Intellectual Property: Oversees the protection of CSA Group’s IP portfolio, including intellectual property strategy maintenance and implementation.
• Manages CSA’s global Trademark and Copyright Portfolio.
• Manages the litigation process. Manages external counsel in the conduct of litigation. Ensures budget and litigation plan are established, and reviews billings against plan on a timely basis. Advises senior management and internal staff regarding status and conduct of litigation and seeks input.
• Acquisitions: Provides legal advice to CSA Group for international corporate acquisitions, divestitures, and other corporate arrangements. Retains, instructs, and coordinates external counsel as necessary based on the jurisdiction and complexity of transaction. Ensures that appropriate due diligence and transactional documents are created.
• International Corporate Governance: Advises with regard to the establishment of new offices in international locations, providing guidance and support to internal Corporate counsel and the (subsidiary) corporate secretariat.
• Compliance: Identifies regulatory compliance issues facing the organization (including, but not limited to, trade sanctions, records retention, competition, anti-bribery, supply chain risks, and lobbyist regulations), provides information and training as necessary to staff, provides legal advice on sufficiency of operational systems to meet compliance and corporate due diligence defense goals. Undertakes workplace investigations as required.
• Policies & Procedures: Supports the maintenance of policies, procedures, and training for CSA Group employees and for legal operations. Manages, develops, and implements special projects, policies and procedures as required.
• Internal Committees & Strategic Plans: Provides legal strategic advice and counsel including, but not limited to participation in cross-functional committees as assigned, review of key internal documents (i.e. marketing/communications documents, strategic plans), legal assessment of new business initiatives, material changes and new developments in existing fields of business to determine the potential exposure to liability, protection of intellectual property.
• Risk Management: Participates as required in enterprise risk management (ERM) initiatives to support the development and maintenance of corporate systems by which CSA Group can identify inherent and residual risks to the organization.

Requirements:

• Law degree; licensed to practice law in a relevant jurisdiction.
• Technical, engineering, or other cross-functional education and/or experience preferred.
• Minimum 10-12 years’ experience working as in-house legal counsel and/or in private practice, preferably with exposure to international operations.
• In-depth knowledge of contracts, policies and procedures, precedents, corporate/commercial laws, various federal and state laws and regulations
• Understanding of intellectual property laws and program management
• Familiarity with, or exposure to, commercial litigation, regulatory proceedings, and employment law
• Management and/or team oversight experience
• Bilingual in French or other languages would be an asset.

CSA Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on any grounds stipulated by applicable laws. We are an organization where opportunities are based on skills and abilities, and differences are respected and valued. Please contact us at
human.resources@csagroup.org if you require accommodation in the interview process.

• Provides strategic legal services to effectively manage risks while meeting business objectives.
• Assists the Chief Legal Officer in providing effective and timely strategic legal counsel and advice to executives and management.
• Manages day-to-day work allocation within the legal team and provides technical and tactical advice and support to other legal team members.
• Manages complex and/or sensitive corporate/commercial projects, including crisis management and communications, litigation, internal investigations, and mergers & acquisitions.
• Provides recommendations for updating and improving legal departmental procedures.
• Oversees the deployment and updating of the functional intellectual property strategy in coordination with other team members.
• Maintains current knowledge of laws and regulations governing CSA Group operations. Understands and applies in-house legal industry best practices in areas including employment, corporate/commercial, international trade, mergers/acquisitions, professional negligence (tort), and insurance coverage.
• Intellectual Property: Oversees the protection of CSA Group’s IP portfolio, including intellectual property strategy maintenance and implementation.
• Manages CSA’s global Trademark and Copyright Portfolio.
• Manages the litigation process. Manages external counsel in the conduct of litigation. Ensures budget and litigation plan are established, and reviews billings against plan on a timely basis. Advises senior management and internal staff regarding status and conduct of litigation and seeks input.
• Acquisitions: Provides legal advice to CSA Group for international corporate acquisitions, divestitures, and other corporate arrangements. Retains, instructs, and coordinates external counsel as necessary based on the jurisdiction and complexity of transaction. Ensures that appropriate due diligence and transactional documents are created.
• International Corporate Governance: Advises with regard to the establishment of new offices in international locations, providing guidance and support to internal Corporate counsel and the (subsidiary) corporate secretariat.
• Compliance: Identifies regulatory compliance issues facing the organization (including, but not limited to, trade sanctions, records retention, competition, anti-bribery, supply chain risks, and lobbyist regulations), provides information and training as necessary to staff, provides legal advice on sufficiency of operational systems to meet compliance and corporate due diligence defense goals. Undertakes workplace investigations as required.
• Policies & Procedures: Supports the maintenance of policies, procedures, and training for CSA Group employees and for legal operations. Manages, develops, and implements special projects, policies and procedures as required.
• Internal Committees & Strategic Plans: Provides legal strategic advice and counsel including, but not limited to participation in cross-functional committees as assigned, review of key internal documents (i.e. marketing/communications documents, strategic plans), legal assessment of new business initiatives, material changes and new developments in existing fields of business to determine the potential exposure to liability, protection of intellectual property.
• Risk Management: Participates as required in enterprise risk management (ERM) initiatives to support the development and maintenance of corporate systems by which CSA Group can identify inherent and residual risks to the organization