Associate General Counsel - Litigation & HSE

Ketjen

$160K — $190K *
Legal & Accounting
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school
  • Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction
  • Minimum of 10 years of litigation experience in various legal environments
  • Experience managing complex civil litigation and regulatory matters
  • Strong understanding of litigation procedures and dispute resolution processes
  • Subject matter expertise in areas relevant to the Company's operations, such as environmental law and corporate governance
  • Excellent legal research, writing, and communication skills

Responsibilities

  • Manage a portfolio of complex civil litigation and regulatory disputes
  • Develop and execute litigation strategies aligned with business objectives
  • Handle commercial disputes, HSE matters, and corporate governance issues
  • Supervise outside counsel and manage budgets and matter performance
  • Provide practical, risk-based advice on litigation exposure and dispute avoidance
  • Lead pre-litigation resolution efforts, including negotiations and mediation
  • Partner with stakeholders to assess and mitigate legal risks from operations

Benefits

  • Competitive compensation
  • Comprehensive benefits package
  • Diverse resources to support professional and personal development
Full Job Description

Job Description

Position Title: Associate General Counsel – Litigation & HSE

Position Summary

The Company is seeking an experienced, business-oriented Associate General CounselLitigation & HSE to manage complex litigation, regulatory disputes, pre-litigation matters, and HSE/environmental legal matters across the Company’s operations. This senior role will provide strategic, risk-based advice to business and legal stakeholders, oversee outside counsel, and help protect the Company’s commercial, operational, governance, environmental, and reputational interests.

What You Will Do

Key Responsibilities

  • Manage a portfolio of complex civil litigation, arbitration, regulatory, administrative, and pre-litigation matters involving the Company and its subsidiaries or affiliates.

  • Develop and execute litigation strategies that align with the Company’s legal, business, operational, and reputational objectives.

  • Handle commercial disputes, contract claims, business torts, regulatory matters, environmental and natural resources-related disputes, energy sector litigation, HSE matters, corporate governance disputes, and other matters relevant to the Company’s business.

  • Supervise and manage outside counsel, including counsel selection, case strategy, budgets, work product, and matter performance.

  • Provide practical, risk-based advice to internal business clients on litigation exposure, dispute avoidance, settlement strategy, contractual risk allocation, HSE/environmental risk, regulatory risk, and related business considerations.

  • Lead pre-litigation dispute resolution efforts, including demand letters, negotiations, mediation, fact development, and early case assessment.

  • Partner with internal stakeholders to identify, assess, and mitigate litigation, commercial, HSE, environmental, and regulatory risks arising from operations, transactions, compliance issues, and strategic initiatives.

  • Support corporate governance and compliance matters as needed, including disputes involving boards, officers, subsidiaries, governance processes, investigations, internal controls, and HSE or environmental compliance issues.

  • Manage litigation holds, document preservation, e-discovery, data collection, document review, privilege issues, and coordination with IT, records management, compliance, and business teams.

  • Oversee responses to subpoenas, third-party discovery requests, government inquiries, regulatory requests, and other compulsory legal processes.

  • Conduct and support internal investigations related to litigation, regulatory, HSE, environmental, compliance, employment, commercial, operational, or governance matters.

  • Prepare and review key litigation materials, including pleadings, briefs, motions, settlement agreements, position statements, witness outlines, and board or executive-level updates.

  • Advise on settlement authority, litigation reserves, case valuation, insurance coverage, remediation obligations, and other financial or operational implications of disputes.

  • Monitor relevant legal, HSE, environmental, and regulatory developments and support legal department initiatives, including process improvements, outside counsel management, compliance enhancements, and dispute-related training.

What You Will Bring

Required Qualifications

  • Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.

  • Active license to practice law and good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.

  • Minimum of 10 years of litigation experience, gained in a law firm, in-house legal department, government agency, or a combination of these environments.

  • Significant experience managing complex civil litigation, commercial disputes, regulatory matters, arbitration, administrative proceedings, investigations, or other high-stakes adversarial matters.

  • Demonstrated ability to develop litigation strategy, supervise outside counsel, assess risk, and advise senior legal and business stakeholders.

  • Strong understanding of litigation procedures, discovery obligations, privilege, evidence preservation, settlement strategy, and dispute resolution processes.

  • Subject matter expertise relevant to the Company’s business, such as commercial litigation, regulatory enforcement, energy and natural resources, environmental disputes, HSE compliance, infrastructure, corporate governance, compliance, or other industry-related litigation.

  • Excellent legal research, writing, analytical, communication, and negotiation skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex matters independently.

It’d be great if you also have:

Preferred Qualifications

  • Prior in-house litigation experience within a corporate legal department.

  • Litigation experience in the energy, utilities, infrastructure, mining, natural resources, environmental, manufacturing, or other heavily regulated sectors.

  • Experience handling disputes involving federal, state, or local regulatory agencies.

  • Experience with environmental, permitting, land use, operational, safety, incident response, remediation, or regulatory matters affecting energy or natural resources businesses.

  • Experience advising on corporate governance, board-related matters, internal investigations, compliance programs, or enterprise risk management.

  • Experience managing large-scale e-discovery, litigation holds, outside counsel budgets, alternative fee arrangements, litigation reporting, or matter management systems.

  • Trial, arbitration, mediation, deposition, or significant motion practice experience.

  • Licensed to practice law in at least one US jurisdiction.

Skills & Competencies

  • Litigation Strategy: Ability to develop and execute strategies that balance legal risk, business objectives, cost, timing, precedent, and reputation.

  • Business Acumen: Strong understanding of how disputes, HSE matters, and environmental issues affect operations, commercial relationships, regulatory posture, and enterprise risk.

  • Sound Judgment: Ability to make practical, risk-based recommendations in complex, uncertain, or time-sensitive situations.

  • Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex legal issues clearly to legal, executive, and business audiences.

  • Leadership and Matter Management: Ability to manage a significant litigation portfolio, supervise outside counsel, coordinate stakeholders, and drive matters to resolution.

  • Collaboration: Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work effectively with legal colleagues, business teams, HSE professionals, compliance, finance, risk management, operations, and senior leadership.

  • E-Discovery and Information Governance: Strong understanding of litigation holds, preservation, collection, review, production, privilege, and e-discovery workflows.

  • Professionalism and Integrity: Highest standards of ethics, discretion, confidentiality, and professional responsibility, including when handling sensitive incidents, investigations, and regulatory matters.

Reporting Structure

This position reports to the VP, Deputy General Counsel, M&A, Litigation, and Joint Ventures and works closely with the legal department, compliance team, business leadership and professionals, HSE professionals, and outside counsel.

Location & Work Arrangement

This position is based in Charlotte, North Carolina and will follow the Company’s applicable office, hybrid, or flexible work policies.

Benefits of Joining Albemarle

  • Competitive compensation

  • Comprehensive benefits package

  • A diverse array of resources to support you professionally and personally.

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