Senior Legal Counsel

Metrolinx

About The Position

Metrolinx is connecting communities across the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Metrolinx operates GO Transit and UP Express, as well as the PRESTO fare payment system. We are also building new and improved rapid transit, including GO Expansion, Light Rail Transit routes, and major expansions to Toronto’s subway system, to get people where they need to go, better, faster and easier. Metrolinx is an agency of the Government of Ontario. At Metrolinx, equity, diversity and inclusion are essential to living our values of serving with passion, thinking forward and playing as a team. Our award-winning Legal Services team is seeking a labour, employment, and human rights lawyer to join our busy and collegial legal team, headquartered in downtown Toronto. Reporting to a Director, Legal Services, the successful candidate will provide proactive, timely and strategic advice to senior business leaders and their teams, including labour and employment issues arising from operating a busy bus and train transit network; complex infrastructure construction projects; issues that may impact upon Metrolinx customers and the general public; and a wide range of human resources-related files arising from long-range planning as well as day-to-day operations. Ideal candidates will have labour, employment and human rights experience, gained from a major firm, corporation or government agency. Excellent written and oral communication skills required. Metrolinx has both unionized and non-union employees, and the workforce is both office-based and front-line. Our bus and rail operations operate within a highly regulated environment. Our capital programs entail delivery of complex transit infrastructure, sometimes involving consideration of contractor and/or construction-related labour issues. As a safety-critical and safety-centric organization, experience working within or advising within some or all of these contexts (or analogous) would be an asset.

Requirements

Completion of a degree in law (JD or LLB)
Demonstrated senior experience as a lawyer, gained at a reputable law firm and/or in-house legal group, within the areas of Labour Law, Employment Law, Human Rights Law and/or related areas
Membership in the Law Society of Ontario as a Lawyer in good standing is required
Fluency and experience with the Employment Standards Act, Labour Relations Act and/or Crown Employees Collective Bargaining Act, the Ontario Human Rights Code, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, is required.
Strong understanding of key Ontario labour, employment and human rights jurisprudence and concepts required.
Experience litigating labour and employment matters
Experience advising with a unionized context (i.e. labour law experience, in addition to employment law experience)
Ability to identify and resolve legal issues
Ability to work well as a full and valuable member of an integrated business-legal team
Able to think strategically, and comfortable working independently, as well as, a good understanding and judgment of situations which require escalation, including to portfolio leads and/or Chief Legal Officer
Contributor to and reviewer of corporate policies, standards, and procedures to minimize corporate legal risk and protect position, personnel, customers and assets
Ability to provide sound legal advice and suggest business-oriented solutions to complex legal issues in commercial and political contexts
Excellent interpersonal, negotiation, oral/written/presentation, and drafting skills, and able to provide legal opinions and interpretations, and direct and manage external legal counsel effectively
Ability to function well under pressure and demonstrate teamwork in a legal department and across client departments
Ability to translate complicated legal concepts into readily understandable advice

Nice To Haves

Experience appearing before, or directing cases before the Human Rights Tribunal, in Ontario Courts, and/or before grievance arbitrators will be an asset.
Experience managing labour and employment issues arising from complex commercial contracts would be an asset, as would experience conducting or advising on: workplace investigations and collective bargaining.
Experience in any of the following areas would be an asset: Privacy Law, FIPPA, Charter Law.

Responsibilities

Works independently with a wide variety of business units and stakeholders
Provides labour, employment law and human rights legal advice to internal clients, including on litigation or potential litigation
Undertakes and provides advice regarding litigation on behalf of Metrolinx by representing Metrolinx in legal proceedings, including attendance at the Grievance Settlement Board (grievances), Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (regarding applications brought by both employees and/or customers), in Court (in particular, wrongful dismissals), before the Ontario Labour Relations Board, and/or before other adjudicative or investigatory bodies, including preparing pleadings, written submissions and any other materials needed to undertake litigation files on Metrolinx’s behalf
Provides legal and/or strategic advice regarding negotiations and/or represents Metrolinx in negotiations with individual or commercial claimants, including related to collective bargaining, including preparing correspondence, memoranda and/or other documentation related to negotiations and binding settlements
Directs and manages external counsel on litigation, solicitor-type work, transaction matters and other work, making recommendations, as necessary, to the Labour & Employment lead (Director), Legal Management Team (Directors, VPs, EVPs), Chief Legal Officer and others, including client groups
Provides high-quality and timely legal advice, strategic advice, research, opinions, guidance and service on matters pertaining to labour law, employment law, human rights law and/or other related legal matters
Directs external counsel on litigation, solicitor work and/or transaction matters, and makes recommendations to client groups, portfolio leads and Chief Legal Officer
Drafts and reviews complex contracts, memoranda of understanding and other legal documentation
Works effectively with various agencies, departments and levels of management within and external to the organization, including program managers, business and financial analysts, consultants and executives
Advises and leads presentations to all levels of management, including briefings of Senior Management and Division Heads
Understands how to prioritize tasks, push files forward, handle a busy file load with disparate client groups and issues, and escalates issues appropriately
Provides proactive and strategic legal advice to organization outside of specific legal assignments
Assists with developing training and mentorship programs for junior lawyers and students
Provides feedback and direction to legal clerk and administrative staff