Associate General (Commercial, Employment and Privacy), President's Office

Position Overview

The President's Office is currently seeking a Full-time Regular Associate General Counsel (Commercial, Employment and Privacy).

University Legal Services provides a full range of legal services and strategic legal advice to senior administration, faculties, schools, and administrative units in a multi-facet organization. Legal Services is also responsible for the Office of Protected Disclosure, the development and revision of University of Calgary’s policies and procedures and manages compliance with access to information and privacy legislation.

The Associate General Counsel (Commercial, Employment, and Privacy) provides advice to senior executive on highly complex matters and works independently in making significant decisions regarding contracts, employment law, commercial issues, legislative interpretations, and all matters relating to access and privacy.

This position reports to the General Counsel and works closely on a day-to-day basis with a variety of internal and external University stakeholders, as well as with members of Legal Services in a fast-paced, high-intensity work environment.

Position Description

Summary of Key Responsibilities (job functions include but are not limited to):

• Ensuring the proper delivery of appropriate, business-oriented legal solutions to all University of Calgary faculties, schools, and administrative units and to all levels within the institution (including the Board of Governors and the Senior and Executive Leadership Teams). 
• Uses legal expertise and operations knowledge to properly advise University of Calgary faculties, schools, and administrative units and to make decisions.
• Maintains a collaborative practice within the organization and with external stakeholders. 
• Obtains and manages required input from applicable stakeholders.
• Makes recommendations and decisions respecting allocation of risk in significant commercial contracts, resolution of disputes, employment and labour issues, and in other legal matters. 
• Responsible for overseeing and conducting a variety of complex legal projects and supervising the Office of the General Counsel including evaluating results and performance.  
• Manages and provides leadership to team of subject matter expert lawyers with varying levels of legal expertise and other professional and non-professional staff (includes legal oversight, guidance, interviewing/hiring, performance evaluation, mentoring); and manages and oversees external legal counsel, including the management of legal costs and expenses on a file-by-file basis.
• Is responsible for the providing direction and support to their teams to ensure the legal counsel and staff reporting to this position provide exceptional advice and support.
• Prepares briefing notes and reports on significant University of Calgary legal matters for General Counsel and the Board of Governors. 
• Manages legal resources and assigns legal work as appropriate within his/her legal team(s) and to external counsel.

Qualifications / Requirements:

• Minimum of an undergraduate degree and a law degree from a recognized university.  Must be eligible to practice law in Alberta. 
• 8 to 10 years experience in the general practice of law including at a managerial level.
• Member in good standing of the Law Society of Alberta (as required by provincial legislation). 
• Subject area expert in highly specialized fields of law and/or experienced expert in diverse areas of law, with demonstrated excellence as practicing lawyer, excellent legal and analytical skills.
• Proven ability to perform well on complex matters in a stressful environment, prioritize and deal with multiple assignments, all under significant time and other pressures.
• Proven ability to work with senior management.
• Ability to manage and lead professional legal teams.
• Demonstrated business acumen with ability to balance business requirements against legal risks, formulate legal solutions to advance the needs of assigned client groups.
• Communicate effectively including delivery of presentations to all levels of the organization.

Application Deadline:  January 11, 2022

We would like to thank all applicants in advance for submitting their resumes. Please note, only those candidates chosen to continue on through the selection process will be contacted.

Additional Information

This position is classified in the Management Career Band, Level 4 of the Management and Professional Staff Career Framework.

To find out more about management and staff opportunities at the University of Calgary and all we have to offer, view our Management and Staff Careers website.

COVIDSafe Campus Strategy

The University has implemented a new Vaccination Directive that requires all faculty and staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 1, 2022. You will be required to upload proof of vaccination prior to commencing your duties. Please review the COVIDSafe Campus website for further information and access to additional resources.

About the University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is Canada’s leading next-generation university – a living, growing and youthful institution that embraces change and opportunity with a can-do attitude. Located in the nation’s most enterprising city, the university is making tremendous progress on its Eyes High journey to be recognized as one of Canada’s top five research universities, grounded in innovative learning and teaching and fully integrated with the community it both serves and leads. The University of Calgary inspires and supports discovery, creativity and innovation across all disciplines. For more information, visit ucalgary.ca.

The University of Calgary has launched an institution-wide Indigenous Strategy in line with the foundational goals of Eyes High, committing to creating a rich, vibrant, and culturally competent campus that welcomes and supports Indigenous Peoples, encourages Indigenous community partnerships, is inclusive of Indigenous perspectives in all that we do.

The University of Calgary recognizes that a diverse staff/faculty benefits and enriches the work, learning and research experiences of the entire campus and greater community. We are committed to removing barriers that have been historically encountered by some people in our society. We strive to recruit individuals who will further enhance our diversity and will support their professional success while they are here. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, however preference will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada.