Preferred expertise in construction, real estate, corporate law, and employment law.
Experience with reviewing and negotiating various business contracts.
Strong grasp of contract risk, insurance, bonding, and dispute resolution.
Proficient in communicating complex legal concepts in accessible language.
Responsibilities
Review and negotiate major company contracts prior to execution.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to pinpoint contract risks.
Develop standard contract templates and a streamlined review process.
Oversee the company’s legal strategy for collections and payment options.
Identify high-risk customers and problematic contract terms before project initiation.
Assist in managing legal compliance across insurance, licensing, and government regulations.
Support leadership in all real estate-related legal matters.
Benefits
Professional development and training opportunities.
Collaborative work environment with cross-departmental interaction.
Autonomy to establish systems and processes within the legal department.
Involvement in high-stakes corporate transactions and risk management.
Opportunity to shape a newly established internal legal department.
Full Job Description
Application Instructions
Position Description
Contracts and Risk
Review and negotiate major company contracts before they are signed.
Work with project management, estimating, accounting, and operations to identify major contract risks.
Focus on payment terms, insurance, bonding, indemnity, retainage, change orders, delays, warranty terms, and dispute language.
Create standard contract templates and a clear contract review process.
Help make sure large legal and financial risks are reviewed before the company is committed.
Collections and Payment Protection
Lead the company's legal strategy for getting paid.
Help protect the company from customers, contractors, vendors, or others that delay payment, avoid payment, back charge unfairly, or take advantage of the company.
Work with accounting and project management on collections, payment notices, lien rights, bond claims, retainage recovery, and demand letters.
Create a system to identify high-risk customers, bad payment behavior, and risky contract terms before work starts.
Set internal standards for when to send notices, involve outside counsel, file liens or bond claims, and escalate disputes.
Insurance, Bonding, and Compliance
Help leadership manage legal risk across the company.
Work with the CFO and insurance providers on insurance requirements, claims, certificates of insurance, indemnity obligations, and coverage issues.
Assist with bonding matters and surety requirements.
Help with business licensing, state registrations, government contracting requirements, permits, zoning, and other compliance items.
Real Estate and Property Matters
Support legal issues involving company-owned real estate, leased properties, tenants, landlords, zoning, permits, easements, property disputes, purchase agreements, and leases.
Work with leadership on new facilities, expansions, property leases, property purchases, real estate acquisitions, and other real estate projects.
Employment and HR Support
Work with HR and leadership on employee-related legal issues, including disputes, discipline, terminations, investigations, wage and hour issues, policies, non-compete or non-solicit matters, and harassment or discrimination complaints.
Help HR improve documentation, policies, procedures, and internal controls to reduce legal risk.
Coordinate with outside employment counsel when needed.
Corporate, Finance, Acquisitions, and Estate Planning Support
Support ownership and leadership on corporate matters, bank loans, financing agreements, loan covenants, entity structure, operating agreements, corporate records, acquisitions, estate planning, and business transactions.
Help put together mergers and acquisitions, asset acquisitions, real estate acquisitions, and other major transactions.
Work with ownership, accounting, tax advisors, and outside counsel on estate planning matters involving company ownership, entities, real estate, and future ownership transitions.
Review major financing documents, lender requirements, security agreements, guarantees, and covenant obligations.
Help make sure the company's entities are properly organized and documented.
Outside Counsel Management
Serve as the main internal contact for outside attorneys.
Decide when outside counsel is needed and help control legal spend.
Track open legal matters and give leadership clear updates on risk, cost, status, and next steps.
Legal Department Setup
Build the foundation for an internal legal department.
Create systems for contract review, legal intake, document storage, dispute tracking, collection escalation, outside counsel management, and legal reporting.
Train employees and managers on contract risk, claims prevention, payment protection, documentation, employment issues, and when to involve legal.
Help decide over time whether the department needs more support, such as a contract administrator, paralegal, compliance coordinator, or additional in-house counsel.
Position Requirements
Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
Member in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar.
At least 3 years of relevant legal experience.
Experience with construction, real estate, corporate law, employment law, government contracting, commercial disputes, mergers and acquisitions, asset acquisitions, or estate planning is preferred.
Experience reviewing and negotiating construction contracts, subcontracts, vendor agreements, leases, service agreements, purchase orders, or other business agreements.
Strong understanding of contract risk, insurance, bonding, change orders, claims, lien rights, collections, and dispute resolution.
Able to work directly with ownership, senior management, accounting, project managers, HR, operations, and outside counsel.
Able to work independently and build systems from the ground up.
Strong written and verbal communication skills.
Able to explain legal issues in a practical, business-focused way.
