Description:

Requirements:
Travel Requirements:
  • Minimal travel, 20% or less
    • Domestic trips to CA, TX, KY, TN, IN, IL, OH, GA
    • International trips to Canada and Mexico
  • Must be willing and available to travel to such locations and with such frequency as is necessary and desirable to meet business needs.

Work Environment Requirements
With reasonable accommodation:
  • Must be able to operate a personal computer, telephone, and other office equipment.
  • Must perform job duties onsite, when necessary, except those duties that are customarily or by their nature performed offsite (for example, offsite customer visits).
  • Must be able to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
  • Must be able to work on multiple assignments at once, and complete assignments within deadline and budget (if applicable) with satisfactory quality.
  • Must be able to operate as an effective team member.
  • Must be committed to a high standard of safety and be willing and able to comply with all safety laws and all company safety policies.
  • Mostly sedentary
  • Light work.
  • Occasional lifting of between 15lbs – 30lbs.

Attendance/Work Hour Requirements
  • Must maintain an acceptable attendance record.
  • Must be willing and available to work weekends and holidays as necessary and desirable to meet business needs.

Position Responsibilities:
Legal:
  • Legal review of commercial and transactional documents.
  • Legal review of markups of commercial and transactional documents.
  • Draft commercial and transactional documents.
  • Maintain Company employee expectations and communicate effectively with Company employees concerning commercial and transactional document reviews and lead times
  • Provide advice and counsel to Company employees on legal issues relating to commercial and transactional documents, negotiations, and contract disputes.
  • Work closely and collaborate with Company employees while negotiating contracts and transactions.
  • Work to negotiate with customers, suppliers, vendors, and other outside parties, ensuring that the Company's legal position is protected
  • Manage and oversee legal vendors and law firms concerning assignment of contract reviews and legal work.
  • Report to General Counsel on all ongoing projects and activities, including contract negotiations and the status of contract review and legal support provided for contract disputes
  • Provide training to Company employees regarding contract best practices
  • Collaborate with and facilitate cross-team decision-making among the legal team, business teams, and other internal teams
  • All other duties as assigned

Contract Document Review:
  • Monitor and oversee the Company's cloud-based contract queue daily.
  • Monitor and oversee the legal department's email address dedicated to contract issues.
  • General review of contract documents received in queue on a timely basis.
  • Assessment and determination of how to handle contracts.
  • Triage and assignment of contracts to internal and external counsel for legal review.
  • Coordinate and facilitate communication of legal reviews between internal/external counsel and team members.
  • Maintain Company employee expectations and communicate effectively with Company employees concerning contract reviews and lead times.
  • Issue legal approvals or denials for contracts.
  • Consistently update cloud-based queue daily regarding the status of contracts.
  • Supervise and manage outside counsel's review of contracts (i.e., nonlegal issues like timing, cost, facilitation of needed information, etc..).
  • Training team members on using the contract document review program.
  • Any other tasks related to the Contract Document Review Program as needed.

Contract Lifecycle Management:
  • Monitor and oversee the Company's contract lifecycle management software.
  • Upload, tag, and organize executed contracts as needed.
  • Work with team members to assist in uploading of all executed contracts.
  • Work with team members to ensure the tagging and organization of all executed contracts.
  • Work with the Company in helping to identify contract champions at each of its locations as needed.
  • Work with Company contract champions to train and facilitate proper contract lifecycle management system usage.
  • Upload, tag, and organize executed contracts as needed.
  • Work with the Company and its team members to locate, obtain, and upload legacy contracts at each location.
  • Any other tasks related to the Contract Lifecycle Program as needed.

Standardized Contracts:
  • Oversee and manage all Company's standardized contracts.
  • Ability to identify needs for additional standardized contract documents.
  • Update and revise standardized contracts as directed by internal counsel.
  • Oversee and manage the Company's Standardized eContract System.
  • Train team members on the proper use and employment of standardized contracts.
  • Assist team members with using and implementing standardized contracts as needed.
  • Any other tasks related to standardized contracts as needed

Tracking & Metrics:
  • Track key performance metrics concerning the contract document review program.
  • Track legal vendor and law firm performance.
  • Provide regular reports on contract document review program metrics to the General Counsel, senior management, and Japan headquarters.
  • Any other tasks related to tracking and metrics as needed.

Required Skills and Abilities:
Essential Skills and Experience:
  • 5+ years of verifiable prior experience in an in-house legal department reviewing contracts and providing advice and counsel on contracts and transactions.
  • Prior experience managing or participating in an organization's enterprise-wide contract document review program.
  • Strong business acumen and proficiency in supply chain issues are essential.
  • Outstanding client service mentality.
  • Ability to manage many contracts simultaneously (100+).
  • Good with technology and software applications
  • Ability to manage client expectations
  • Strong verbal and written communication skills
  • Ability to work independently and show initiative
  • Detail oriented
  • Strong attention to detail with a factual and legal analytic capability
  • Ability to interact effectively with individuals of varied backgrounds and skill levels
  • Comfortable with aggressive and proactive defense strategies
  • Ability to maintain confidentiality
  • Impeccable communication, both written and verbal, with strong negotiation skills
  • Proficient in Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.… Including the ability to “track changes” and redline documents

Beneficial Skills and Experience
  • Prior experience providing legal advice to manufacturing clients while in-house counsel or in private practice
  • Prior experience providing legal advice to automotive supplier clients while in-house counsel or in private practice
  • Prior experience with Japanese companies.
  • Prior experience with an enterprise-wide contract document review and contract lifecycle management program.
  • Prior experience with intellectual property and legal issues relating to trade secrets, cybersecurity, data privacy, and confidentiality.
  • Japanese language capabilities
  • Contract Management Software
  • Form Building Software

Education/Training/Certifications
  • J.D is required
  • MBA, or Undergraduate in Business Administration is preferred