Senior Counsel

Your Journey at Crowe Starts Here:

At Crowe, you can build a meaningful and rewarding career. With real flexibility to balance work with life moments, you're trusted to deliver results and make an impact. We embrace you for who you are, care for your well-being, and nurture your career. Everyone has equitable access to opportunities for career growth and leadership. Over our 80-year history, delivering excellent service through innovation has been a core part of our DNA across our audit, tax, and consulting groups. That's why we continuously invest in innovative ideas, such as AI-enabled insights and technology-powered solutions, to enhance our services. Join us at Crowe and embark on a career where you can help shape the future of our industry.

Job Description:

Crowe LLP is seeking a Senior Counsel for a transaction-focused practice. This Senior Counsel will review, revise, and negotiate professional services and technology-related agreements for the firm, and assist in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of Crowe's contracting process. Identifying apparent and hidden risks associated with the task presented and collaborating with others to manage those risks are key functions of the role. The Senior Counsel will act as a trusted advisor to the business, enabling commercial teams to achieve their goals while managing legal and regulatory risk. The Senior Counsel will report to the Head of Commercial Contracts within Crowe's Legal Department and will have significant exposure to the company's partners and all functional areas.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Develop a detailed understanding of Crowe's service lines and technology products and their associated risks.
• Negotiate sophisticated agreements with internal and external parties with a strong focus on business enablement and risk mitigation; the type of agreements include, but are not limited to, requests for proposals, master service agreements, engagement letters, confidentiality agreements, business associate agreements, SaaS agreements, data protection agreements, software licenses, subcontractor agreements, government contracts, and vendor agreements.
• Partner with business teams during contract negotiations to provide solutions-oriented advice that enables transactions to move forward efficiently.
• Apply US and international privacy and data protection laws and information security requirements in client and vendor agreements.
• Improve or create as needed, contract templates and standard contract provisions.
• Evaluate and improve contracting process activities, leveraging technology to create efficiency.
• Assist in expanding our playbooks for negotiation of common contract issues.
• Provide guidance, supervision, and mentorship to others in their career development by initiating open, honest coaching conversations.
• Serve as a proactive legal advisor to internal stakeholders, balancing legal risk with business needs.
• Model professional standards, including Crowe's code of conduct and values, independence, and ethical obligations.
• Collaborate effectively across functional areas and with offshore colleagues and support teams.

Key Qualifications:

• Crowe's Legal Department is a critical component of Crowe's organizational structure. The Senior Counsel focused on transactions will support the General Counsel and other Crowe personnel by solving problems creatively and pragmatically to manage legal risk Crowe's Legal Department seeks commercially acceptable ways to get to "yes" more often than "no." To perform this function, the Senior Counsel must learn general firm practice in a wide variety of areas, proactively identify issues presenting risk to the firm, and act as a driver of good business process. A successful candidate will have excellent communication and relationship building capabilities that are combined with strategic and commercial awareness.
• Candidates must have proven experience negotiating complex and technical contracts in professional services or technology settings and a strong ability to provide accurate, practical, and timely counsel to internal and external clients. Candidates should also demonstrate a commitment to continued learning and adapting legal and regulatory expertise.
• The Legal Department manages a large volume of requests, and candidates must have the ability to fluidly manage workload in accordance with business objectives and shifting internal client priorities. Candidates for this position must possess superb negotiation skills, organizational skills, business judgment, strategic thinking, and excellent writing and verbal communication skills are essential. Candidates must have the ability to lead and must be unafraid of "rolling up their sleeves" to take on tasks as needed. Enthusiasm for learning new technology and a strong knowledge of Microsoft Office are required. Familiarity with contract lifecycle management (CLM) tools and artificial intelligence tools for contract review and workflow efficiency is a plus. As a member of a smaller department, our attorneys are expected to work on a variety of legal matters outside of their central role. Additional experience that will be helpful for this role - but is not required - includes reviewing state or federal government contract requirements and assessing compliance capability; working in governmental, accounting, or financial regulatory sectors; experience with cross-border or multi-jurisdictional contracting; and advising on a range of intellectual property matters as they relate to marketing, trade secrets, licensing, patents, and copyright.
• Candidates must have a JD and be a member of a U.S. state bar in good standing. Candidates must have at least five years of relevant experience in a law firm, government agency, or in-house counsel role. Experience in the accounting services industry or professional services industry a plus, but not required.
• Preference for candidates in the Chicago area and admitted to the Illinois bar. However, remote work, with bar admission in their state of residence, is an option for the right candidate.

We expect the candidate to uphold Crowe's values of Care, Trust, Courage, and Stewardship. These values define who we are. We expect all of our people to act ethically and with integrity at all times.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. Crowe is not sponsoring for work authorization at this time.

Our Benefits:
Your exceptional people experience starts here. At Crowe, we know that great peopleare what makes a great firm. We care about our people and offer employees a comprehensive total rewards package. Learn more about what working at Crowe can mean for you!

How You Can Grow:
We will nurture your talent in an inclusive culture that values diversity. You will have the chance to meet on a consistent basis with your Career Coach that will guide you in your career goals and aspirations. Learn more about where talent can prosper!

More about Crowe:
Crowe (www.crowe.com) is one of the largest public accounting, consulting and technology firms in the United States. Crowe uses its deep industry expertise to provide audit services to public and private entities while also helping clients reach their goals with tax, advisory, risk and performance services. Crowe is recognized by many organizations as one of the country's best places to work. Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Global, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world. The network consists of more than 200 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 130 countries around the world.

Crowe LLP provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Crowe LLP does not accept unsolicited candidates, referrals or resumes from any staffing agency, recruiting service, sourcing entity or any other third-party paid service at any time. Any referrals, resumes or candidates submitted to Crowe, or any employee or owner of Crowe without a pre-existing agreement signed by both parties covering the submission will be considered the property of Crowe, and free of charge.

Crowe will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws. Please visit our webpage to see notices of the various state and local Ban-the-Box laws and Fair Chance Ordinances, where applicable.