Counsel

Northwestern Mutual•Milwaukee, WI

7h•Hybrid

About The Position

As a member of this team and working collaboratively with the other members of the Law Department, you will serve as a point of contact on legal, regulatory, and other issues related to risk products and insurance operations. You will provide business areas with timely and high-quality advice on law, regulation, industry standards, and best practices relating to issues impacting the Company’s risk products through the entire product life cycle, from product innovation, design, and development to the payment of claims. You will act as a trusted advisor helping business professionals reach important decisions that mitigate legal and regulatory risks in a rapidly changing environment.

Requirements

At least 3-6 years' experience as an attorney practicing in-house, at a law firm, or in the governmental or regulatory space.
Strong academic record.
Juris Doctorate degree.
License to practice law in the State of Wisconsin or a commitment to become licensed within the first year of employment.
Substantial experience working with insurance or risk products (ideally life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance, or annuities), insurance litigation, and/or financial services regulatory enforcement.
Ability to research and analyze a variety of legal issues.
Ability to synthesize complex information.
Ability to work independently and with a team.
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
Highly analytical and curious mind.
Creativity.
Comfort dealing with ambiguity.
Integrity.
High ethical standards.
Positive demeanor, both with the Company’s business areas and Law Department attorneys.
Attention to Detail: Focuses on specific details to spot and correct errors in advance of them being found and surpass quality expectations.
Continuous Improvement: Utilizes available methods to identify opportunities, executes solutions and measures impact to improve existing practices and processes.
Cross Functional Partnering & Planning: Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.
Decision Making: Makes timely, data-driven decisions by understanding the probability of success, identifying risks, gathering business requirements, and developing value statements.
Policy & Procedure: Analyzes current policies and procedures, identifies gaps or areas for improvement, and develops and implements new policies and procedures to address those gaps.
Project Management: Delivers projects in alignment to business requirements, specific success criteria, and stakeholder expectations.
Risk Assessment & Identification: Leverages industry knowledge to determine and seek hazards that could potentially prevent the program, enterprise, or investment from achieving their objectives.

Nice To Haves

Flexibility and adaptability in terms of general skills and aspirations.

Responsibilities

Serve as a point of contact on legal, regulatory, and other issues related to risk products and insurance operations.
Provide business areas with timely and high-quality advice on law, regulation, industry standards, and best practices relating to issues impacting the Company’s risk products through the entire product life cycle, from product innovation, design, and development to the payment of claims.
Act as a trusted advisor helping business professionals reach important decisions that mitigate legal and regulatory risks in a rapidly changing environment.
Research and analyze a variety of legal issues.
Synthesize complex information.
Provide legal advice to business professionals at all levels of the Company.
Collaborate and contribute effectively in a team environment.
Manage a multi-jurisdictional practice.
Own issues and work autonomously.
Effectively prioritize multiple tasks.
Identify and address risks to achieve results that balance benefits for all partners of the Company.
Perform work with thorough proofreading for presentation, content, accuracy, and overall quality.
Utilize available methods to identify opportunities, execute solutions and measure impact to improve existing practices and processes.
Implement feedback and lessons learned.
Leverage the ability to identify and experiment assumptions and hypothesis for products to be able to refine and improve them at any stage of the life cycle.
Facilitate collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.
Make timely, data-driven decisions by understanding the probability of success, identifying risks, gathering business requirements, and developing value statements.
Analyze current policies and procedures, identify gaps or areas for improvement, and develop and implement new policies and procedures to address those gaps.
Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards, as well as effectively communicate policies and procedures to employees and stakeholders.
Understand the various components of a workflow, identify bottlenecks, and implement improvements to increase productivity, reduce costs, and streamline operations.
Deliver projects in alignment to business requirements, specific success criteria, and stakeholder expectations.
Plan, manage, and complete projects keeping cost and time considerations in mind.
Determine and seek hazards that could potentially prevent the program, enterprise, or investment from achieving their objectives.
Design systematic processes of identifying severity of hazards and evaluating the scale and impacts of any associated risk on the business.