Legal Specialist IV - Akron FirstEnergy Headquarters

FirstEnergy • Akron, OH

7d • Onsite

About The Position

This is a position with FirstEnergy Service Co., a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. The Legal Department supports FirstEnergy’s customer contracting strategy by providing legal and commercial support for utility service agreements, amendments, and related documents, with primary emphasis on large commercial and data center customers. The successful candidate will support the Legal Department and collaborate with National Accounts, Customer Accounts, Economic Development, Operations, Engineering, Finance, Regulatory, and other business partners on contract drafting, review, administration, and execution. This role is critical to helping FirstEnergy execute customer agreements efficiently, support large-load and data center growth, and protect the company’s legal and commercial interests. The role supports attorneys and business partners by preparing materials, tracking contract issues, coordinating approvals, maintaining contract files, and helping move agreements efficiently through the contracting process.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in paralegal studies, legal studies, business, or a related discipline.
• Four or more years of relevant experience in legal support, paralegal work, contract administration, commercial contracting, or customer agreement administration.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, and tracking contracts, redlines, amendments, and related legal and commercial documentation.
• Strong writing, proofreading, organization, and attention-to-detail skills.
• Strong project coordination and deadline management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a deadline-driven environment.
• Ability to work effectively with attorneys, business teams, and external counterparties while handling confidential and sensitive information appropriately.
• Strong communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work under attorney supervision and escalate legal or commercial questions appropriately.
• Ability to respond to internal client needs in a manner consistent with corporate values, business objectives, and risk tolerance.

Nice To Haves

• ABA Paralegal Certification or equivalent preferred.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, especially Word, Excel, Outlook, Copilot, and PowerPoint; experience with document management and contract lifecycle systems preferred.
• Experience supporting utility, energy, infrastructure, or regulated-industry customer contracts; exposure to master service agreements, amendments, notices, and other commercial contract documents.
• Familiarity with contract repositories, SharePoint, SAP, NetDocuments, or similar systems.
• Experience partnering with regulatory, engineering, operations, construction, finance, or economic development teams.

Responsibilities

• Draft, revise, and maintain customer contract templates, standard forms, exhibits, and related contract language for utility service agreements and related commercial documents.
• Review customer-proposed terms, redlines, and non-standard provisions.
• Summarize key issues and coordinate recommendations with attorneys and business partners.
• Support negotiations of commercial terms under attorney supervision, including coordination of changes to standard and non-standard contract language and escalation of high-risk issues.
• Manage contract intake, routing, approval, signature, execution, and storage processes to ensure timely movement of customer agreements through the contract lifecycle.
• Track contract status, key dates, milestones, renewals, amendments, expiration dates, notices, obligations, and open issues; maintain reliable records and follow-up with internal stakeholders.
• Coordinate with legal, customer account, economic development, operations, engineering, finance, risk, and regulatory teams regarding contract terms, customer requests, service obligations, and implementation issues.
• Assist attorneys and business teams in identifying and documenting legal, commercial, and operational risks in customer contract terms, including confidentiality, indemnity, limitation of liability, term and termination, billing, service obligations, and security or credit support provisions.
• Prepare contract summaries, issue lists, status reports, trackers, and metrics related to contract requests, turnaround times, execution status, renewals, and workflow performance.
• Conduct legal and commercial research on standard contract terms, internal precedent, and related utility/customer contracting issues, and compile findings for attorney review.
• Maintain organized contract files, manage version control, and ensure accurate storage and retrieval of executed agreements, amendments, correspondence, and supporting documentation.
• Draft correspondence, summaries, and internal communications related to contract status, contract issues, signature packages, and customer follow-up items.
• Support due diligence requests, document collection, and issue resolution related to customer contract matters, including assistance with audits, disputes, and regulatory or legal requests as directed by attorneys.
• Perform other legal support and contract administration duties as assigned.

Benefits

• competitive pay plus incentive compensation
• a company-sponsored pension plan
• 401(k) savings plan with matching employer contribution
• a choice of medical, prescription drug, dental, vision, and life insurance programs
• skills development training with tuition reimbursement

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level