Assistant General Counsel - Canada/US

Cushman & Wakefield•Chicago, IL

10d

About The Position

The Assistant General Counsel provides strategic legal counsel to an assigned region and/or business line within a matrixed legal department. The role serves as an embedded business advisor, developing a strong understanding of the supported business’s people, operations, deal flow, and risk profile. It focuses on judgment-intensive, business-critical legal work while routine and specialist functions remain with centralized teams. The position reports to the Associate General Counsel for the Americas region and aligns with the supported business unit(s). It regularly coordinates with centralized Contracts, Litigation & Risk, M&A/Corporate, Legal Operations, Ethics & Compliance, and EHS teams. The role advises business leaders, supports escalated complex agreements, identifies and routes legal and regulatory risks, and provides business context for litigation and M&A matters. It also delivers tailored legal training, tracks relevant jurisdiction-specific developments, and helps improve legal playbooks and matrixed working protocols. Routine contract drafting and negotiation, litigation management, entity management, and M&A deal leadership are expressly outside the role’s scope. The compensation range is $187,000–$220,000. Eligible employees may enroll in benefit programs generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance, and paid and unpaid time away from work.

Requirements

J.D. degree.
Active bar admission in the United States.
At least 10 years of combined law firm and/or in-house experience.
Ability to operate effectively in a matrixed organization while balancing regional and business-line stakeholders.
Sound commercial judgment and ability to distinguish routine matters from business-critical issues requiring direct counsel involvement.
Strong stakeholder management and communication skills.
Comfort advising senior business leaders.

Nice To Haves

Licensed to practice law in Ontario or another Canadian province.
Experience in commercial real estate, professional services, or a similarly complex multinational operating environment.
Fluency in French.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary legal point of contact for an assigned region or business, maintaining knowledge of its structure, key personnel, revenue drivers, and operating risks.
Attend business leadership meetings as a standing legal advisor and identify issues early enough to inform business decisions.
Translate business strategy and objectives into legal risk assessments and practical recommendations.
Build relationships that encourage business leaders to consult legal proactively.
Advise the centralized commercial contracts team on non-routine, high-value, precedent-setting, or elevated-risk agreements.
Review and advise on deal structure, unusual terms, indemnification and liability positions, and regulatory considerations for business-critical agreements.
Work with the centralized contracts team to determine when agreements require direct counsel involvement.
Identify legal and regulatory risks and escalate them to the appropriate centralized teams with context and recommended action.
Advise business leaders on company policy, delegation of authority, and approval protocols.
Support internal audits, investigations, and compliance reviews affecting the assigned business by providing context and coordinating with the business.
Act as the business liaison for litigation matters by gathering facts, coordinating witnesses, and managing document and data collection requests.
Provide operational context to the Litigation & Risk team and outside counsel, and flag new claims or disputes.
Provide business intelligence, personnel context, and operational due diligence support to the M&A/Corporate team on relevant transactions.
Flag region- or business-specific contract, regulatory, and personnel risks early in M&A processes.
Deliver periodic legal training and policy updates tailored to the business’s operations and risk areas.
Maintain awareness of jurisdiction-specific legal and regulatory developments relevant to the assigned region.
Contribute to improving legal playbooks, escalation triggers, and matrixed working protocols.
Redirect routine commercial contract work, legal entity management, litigation management, and M&A deal leadership to the designated teams rather than taking ownership of them.