Legal Counsel, Litigation and Copyright

Spotify•New York, NY

3d•Hybrid

About The Position

Spotify's Legal team is growing and facing innovative challenges that mirror the groundbreaking industry and product at the heart of our company. As Spotify has expanded into more than 180 markets and its business has grown tremendously, it faces new and interesting legal issues every day, including an increasing volume of patent disputes alongside the copyright and content matters that have always been central to its work. As Legal Counsel, Litigation, you will work on a variety of litigation, copyright, patent, and other contentious and advisory matters, and help craft the way the company thinks about and handles them. The work is constantly developing, and the workload is growing. This role will require thoughtful consideration of processes and policies to help meet company goals. Experience making risk-based assessments and proactively finding solutions to complex problems will be crucial. Significant e-discovery experience and experience conducting confidential inquiries are a plus.

Requirements

Law degree (or equivalent) from a top-flight law school.
Qualified to practice law as in-house counsel in the State of New York.
5+ years of litigation experience at a law firm, in-house, or both, including meaningful experience with patent litigation.
Experience with e-discovery and managing complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes.
Experience contributing to teams that drive successful outcomes on complex matters.
Demonstrated ability to evaluate patent claims, work with technical experts, and develop defense strategies.
Passion for solving legal problems and ability to explain legal concepts — including technical patent issues — to non-lawyers.
Comfortable working with large data sets and technical subject matter; ability to speak the language and understand the concepts.
Problem solver who can stay calm when problems come their way.
Excellent judgment — ability to think a problem through and trust instincts.
Self-motivated and able to identify and complete work that needs to be done without being instructed.
Ability to advocate for a position while balancing risk and multiple colleagues' and business considerations.
Ability to balance many simultaneous tasks and triage to make sure the right matters get attention.
Willingness to roll up sleeves and dig in on projects.
Works well as part of a team — both with other lawyers and with non-legal business partners.
Very effective written and oral communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Significant e-discovery experience.
Experience conducting confidential inquiries.
Knowledge of music, media, tech, IP, and/or consumer issues.
A technical background or experience with software, streaming, or audio technology patents.

Responsibilities

Coordinate litigation, pre-litigation, regulatory, and other dispute matters across multiple practice areas, including copyright and patent litigation.
Work with outside counsel to develop case strategy, manage budgets, and drive efficient resolution of contentious disputes.
Partner with the business on litigation and legal risk issues and work with colleagues to fashion solutions that balance legal risk with company objectives.
Develop litigation case strategies, work closely with Spotify's communications team, and formulate plans to resolve disputes efficiently.
Plan strategically and coordinate internally with legal and non-legal personnel on issues of the moment.
Provide proactive advice to internal team members on dispute avoidance and resolution, including risk mitigation.
Identify and mitigate threats against the company, whether from partners, users, content owners, or others.
Handle requests for information from the company, including subpoenas and requests from law enforcement.
Build scalable processes to address a growing number of claims across copyright, patent, and other areas.
Train teams and draft workflows and policies to help establish effective internal risk mitigation procedures.
Stay current on developments in patent and copyright law, particularly as they affect the technology and media industries.