Corporate Counsel , Labor & Employment

Curaleaf•Chicago, IL

31d

About The Position

At Curaleaf, we’re redefining the cannabis industry with a strong commitment to quality, expertise, and innovation. As a leading global cannabis provider, our brands—including Curaleaf, Select, and Grassroots—offer premium products and services in both medical and adult-use markets. Join us at Curaleaf to be part of a high-growth, purpose-driven company that champions corporate social responsibility through our Rooted in Good initiative, supporting community outreach and positive change. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact, drive innovation, and help shape the future of cannabis. Curaleaf is seeking a Corporate Counsel to support employment litigation and provide legal guidance across our organization. This role will focus on dispute management, employment law compliance, and strategic advisory support to HR and business leaders. The ideal candidate brings a proactive mindset, strong litigation experience, and a solutions-oriented approach to legal challenges.

Requirements

J.D. from an accredited law school and admission to the state bar in which the attorney resides or eligibility to practice as registered in-house counsel.
6+ years of employment law experience including significant litigation experience gained in private practice, and/or with a large multinational corporate organization.
Strong working knowledge of employment laws, including discrimination and employee leave matters, under federal, state, and local laws.
Ability to communicate orally and in writing in a clear, concise, organized, persuasive manner.
Ability to work independently but also perform as a strong team player.
Superior interpersonal skills. Able to collaborate with diverse personalities. Tactful and flexible.
Ability to work independently and anticipate business needs, being situationally pro-active.
Ability to function in a fast-paced work environment, exhibiting agility and sense of urgency, manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
Highly motivated and proactive; the ability to respond calmly, creatively and quickly in a fast-paced, high pressure, changing environment; takes ownership and has a strong work ethic.
Legal analysis, reasoning, and writing, including the ability to quickly integrate and synthesize facts and law to make legally sound decisions in compressed timeframes.
Excellent judgment and ability to assess risks and take firm positions to protect the company’s interests.
Excellent interpersonal skills: ability to build and maintain strong relationships with relevant business groups; ability to work with a team of diverse individuals; ability to work collaboratively and as part of a Legal team that is dispersed geographically.
Willingness to travel as needed.

Nice To Haves

Labor law experience, including union campaigns, collective bargaining, OSHA, Workers’ Compensation, or experience in highly regulated industries.

Responsibilities

Take charge of dispute management from attorney demands, administrative agency charges, and lawsuits in state or federal court.
Handle disputes in a proactive manner to achieve the best result for the company, including managing budgets with outside counsel and reporting on litigation risks internally.
Focus will be on employment-related disputes, but there will be opportunity to manage and assist on non-employment-related disputes, including the Company’s most material commercial, regulatory, and EHS-related matters.
Assist in providing timely advice and counsel for all day-to-day matters to field management and field Human Resources (HR) on a broad range of employment law matters, including leaves of absence, reasonable accommodations, wage and hour, termination/discipline, employee relations and ethics investigations.
Stay abreast of developments in federal, state, and local employment laws and employment legislation and manage compliance plans related to legislative changes.
Provide training to HR and field management on various employment law topics.
Work closely with HR to develop best practices, training, and employment strategy.
Assist with strategic-focused employment law compliance projects.