Senior Legal Counsel - Englewood Cliffs, United States - Unilever

Description

Background & Purpose of the Job

Be part of the world's most successful, purpose-led business while working with iconic brands that improve the lives of the consumers and the communities around them. We promote innovation, big and small, to make our business win and grow; and we believe in business as a force for good. Unleash your curiosity, challenge ideas and disrupt processes; use your energy to make this happen.

Who You Are & What You'll Do

The Senior Counsel - Marketing role collaborates with a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders across North America and the globe to bring our innovations to life and guide them as they navigate the marketplace. As a member of the North America Marketing & Data Privacy team, you will join a broad and dynamic practice with endless opportunities to lead the business with purpose and develop into a true T-shaped Marketing lawyer.

Big picture, we are trusted internal advisors, fierce brand advocates and expert risk navigators who work hand in hand with the business to drive innovation and purpose. At the heart of the practice is claims substantiation, and what we call Innovative Claims Counseling. Of course, our work does not stop there. Each individual on the team brings their own set of skills to the table to provide the business with gold standard, holistic legal marketing services. Our practice includes contracts, data privacy, intellectual property, quality incident management, crisis management and external advocacy:

Innovative Claims Counseling: As the legal business partner, you will dive into new territory with curiosity and passion, working with a cross functional team on a local and global level to drive creative solutions, build claim support strategies and guide brand teams as their innovations come to life in the marketplace.

• Solutions oriented, creative and pragmatic counseling as part of a collaborative effort in conjunction with global legal partners, R&D and Regulatory to build new claim support strategies for cutting edge innovations;
• Drive co-elevation through knowledge sharing, creating guidance and trainings to develop the organization in cutting edge claim strategies;
• Evaluate claims, claim support strategies, campaigns and programs to ensure compliance with applicable laws, guidelines and regulations as well as the Unilever Code of Business Principles and relevant contractual obligations; Use your broader business knowledge to identify potential reputational risks and escalate concerns accordingly.
• Draft support letters for network clearance and specialized retailer programs.
• Counsel the business on risk and draft risk assessments that clearly outline areas of concern (including reputational risk) in business terms, provide creative solutions and highlight risk mitigation recommendations.

Contracts: You will work with Marketing, Media, R&D, e-Commerce and global legal partners to drive successful partnerships.

• Use your understanding of the business to ensure contracts contain the provisions and/or terms that are critical to achieving the specific business goals of the underlying agreement.
• Manage review, drafting and negotiation of a wide variety of marketing related contracts to ensure they contain the necessary protections for the business including representations, warranties, liability, indemnity, data security, privacy, as well as the key commercial aspects.
• Identify opportunities to streamline the practice and develop tools such as guidance and new templates that can empower the business to move with speed.

Intellectual Property: You will advise and support the Marketing, Media and R&D teams on intellectual property rights across a wide range of contexts.

• Sheppard the business through the trademark search and registration process and counsel on risk assessments for proposed registrations provided by our global trademark legal team.
• Review a wide variety of marketing agreements to ensure that Unilever intellectual property is protected, and, risks are properly identified, assessed and mitigated.
• Identify, counsel on and provide risk mitigation recommendations for use of Unilever and third-party intellectual property in marketing materials, strategies and programs, including agile social and digital activities.
• Manage inquiries regarding counterfeit goods with local authorities.
• Manage US disputes regarding trademark, trade dress, copyright and rights of publicity/ privacy infringements with third parties.

Social & Digital Media: You will work with Marketing, Media, Corporate Communications as well as agencies and other external partners to support a variety of social and digital media activities.

• Work with external agencies and partners to build agile social and digital media strategies that empower the business to operate in real time.
• Participate in proactive crisis management planning as well as reactive, real time response alignment.
• Counsel the business on various activities intended for social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snap Chat, Tik Tok, and Pinterest.
• Collaborate with US legal colleagues on trainings, guidance and other resources that support the business under the US Digital Excellence Program.

Litigation & Non-Litigation Dispute Resolution:You will partner with Marketing, R&D and Regulatory teams to proactively and reactively defend the business.

• Manage all inquiries from state and federal agencies regarding product claims and campaigns.
• Manage all challenges brought by competitors and/or third parties regarding product claims and campaigns.
• Collaborate with our Litigation team to defend against demand letters and publicly filed lawsuits related to product claims and campaigns.
• Work with our Litigation team to counsel the business on proactive litigation strategies.
• Interface with government agencies and other third parties on non-claims related issues such as product short weight; promotions (contests & sweepstakes), proper disclosure etc.;
• Develop and defend strategies for all product related regulatory enforcement actions.

Future Fit Legal Projects: You will work with your NA and Global Legal colleagues along with teams of cross functional stakeholders to drive world class legal business partnering.

• Identifying opportunities for enhanced agility in internal processes such as claim substantiation and contract negotiation.
• Work with agile squads assigned based on expertise to develop new digital tools to support core business activities.

You're the ultimate team player: Strong interpersonal and communication skills to drive cross-functional collaboration, a critical component of world-class legal business partnering.

You're a strategy guru: Insightful and factual creativity along with the ability to quickly absorb new information to build the product and process expertise critical to Unilever.

You're a changemaker: Resilience in a highly challenging and ever-evolving competitive environment supported by an agile mindset to drive success.

You're a paradox navigator: Discipline and rigor to support a growing a business and provide gold standard business partnering for senior leadership.

You're a culture & change champion: A combination of real consumer passion and entrepreneurial spirit are at the foundation of our legal marketing services.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Law School Graduate JD required.
• 4+ years of legal experience with claim substantiation, additional experience with Intellectual Property, Contract Negotiation or Data Privacy & Security preferred;
• Ability to think on your feet, using judgement and experience to quickly analyze issues and propose legally and commercially viable solutions;
• Experience managing a high-pressure workload that requires covering multiple tasks and collaborating with several internal and external stakeholders simultaneously;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Positive, creative and "one-team" mindset;
• Ability to lead a practice area within a group with the motivation to also develop new skill sets or practices led by others on the team.

What We Can Offer You

Culture for Growth | Top Notch Employee Health & Well Being Benefits | Every Voice Matters | Global Reach | Life at Unilever | Careers with Purpose | World Class Career Development Programs | Check Out Our Space | Focus On Sustainability

Unilever is an organization committed to diversity and inclusion to drive our business results and create a better future every day for our diverse employees, global consumers, partners, and communities. We believe a diverse workforce allows us to match our growth ambitions and drive inclusion across the business. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. For more information, please see Equal Employment Opportunity Posters

Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Persons with Disabilities

Employment is subject to verification of pre-screening tests, which may include drug screening, background check, credit check and DMV check.

If you are an individual with a disability in need of assistance at any time during our recruitment process, please contact us at Please note: This email is reserved for individuals with disabilities in need of assistance and is not a means of inquiry about positions or application statuses.