Legal Director

Location: Remote position based in the Americas time zone 

About Avaaz

Avaaz is an international campaigning and advocacy organization that provides its global membership of over 60 million people with opportunities to change the world. This includes protecting our planet from climate change and other threats, and fighting to stop disinformation from undermining our democracies. 

Legal Director Position Overview and Context

Avaaz is searching for an experienced and mission-driven Legal Director to join its multicultural, international team, to direct the organization’s legal operations, drive legal theories of change, support the core campaigning work of the organization, and together with other senior leaders, engage with team-wide strategic, management, and organizational questions.

This is an exciting leadership position at the heart of one of the most innovative and promising public organizations in the world today. It offers a unique platform from which to develop and pursue large-scale social change efforts and is a fantastic opportunity for a lawyer who enjoys using both the law and policy, political and organizing tools to advance a social change mission.

As Legal Director you will work with senior leadership, staff, outside counsel, and allies around the world to devise creative legal strategies to achieve social change. You will also provide guidance to and build capacity within the team so they can better understand and mitigate legal risks as they arise. Working with other members of the legal team, you will also help to manage the organization’s internal risk portfolio including issues related to privacy and data protection, tax-exempt status, human resources and employment, relationships with vendors and other third parties, and governance, and compliance with relevant laws and regulations around the world.

Responsibilities

• Provide legal expertise and strategic advice in support of Avaaz’s legal and reputational standing and its ability to effectively achieve its mission and accomplish its goals and strategies. 
• Identify legal risks, stay abreast of important legal and compliance global trends that may impact Avaaz and its ability to deliver on its mission, and advise leadership on how to respond to and mitigate risks. 
• Track global opportunities and challenges, develop and direct innovative, and sometimes high stakes, legal strategies with outside counsel on complex matters across jurisdictions and networks. 
• Stay abreast of developments in the law around the world on issues relevant to online campaigning organizations, including internet laws, privacy laws, digital copyright laws, election laws, lobbying laws, and other relevant legal regimes.
• Work across a variety of legal jurisdictions, ensure compliance with governmental regulations and all applicable local, national, and international laws, and stay informed and well versed in changing global laws and regulations. 
• Provide legal guidance across teams on current or potential legal exposure and issues to grow the team’s capacity to operate from solid ground. 
• Drive the continuous improvement of standards and legal processes, including the ability to translate complex legal requirements into actionable solutions, policies and processes.
• Efficiently oversee management of legal staff and outside counsel.
• Direct line management of other Avaaz staff. 
• Work with the Senior Team to steer organizational priorities, develop long-term campaigning strategies and manage organizational growth.
• Public speaking and media.
• Help to shape the overall strategic direction of the organization, and at times taking responsibility for recruitment, team building and management, and special projects. 
• Assist in developing Avaaz’s policies and provide trainings to the team.

Qualifications

You should apply for this role if you have most of the following…

• Education: J.D. or equivalent LL.M. degree from a U.S. law school is required if law degree was acquired outside of the U.S.
• Experience: A minimum of 5 years of experience working as legal counsel or attorney in a relevant field, preferably in an international context. 
• License: Licensed to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Experience using law in campaigning context (preferred);
• Strong ability to spot and analyze legal issues, think creatively about legal problems and develop solution-oriented legal guidance rapidly.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills.
• Passion and commitment to transformational campaigning, global justice, citizen empowerment and social change.
• A growth mindset and a desire to challenge yourself, high professionalism, self-motivation, efficiency and results-oriented delivery on short timelines.
• Strong teamwork skills, comfortable in a highly collaborative team culture and a hierarchical team structure.
• Ability to support staff in crisis situations including conflict zones, and teams working on sensitive issues, such as hate speech and violence.
• Strong project and staff management skills.
• High degree of knowledge and engagement across a range of global issues, combining the ability to engage in depth with questions of policy and political strategy with a readiness to move swiftly from issue to issue.
• Strong strategic, creative, and innovative thinking.
• Sensitivity, emotional maturity, and strong interpersonal skills. 
• An ability to work across a diverse team, with a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Ability to adjust quickly to changing conditions and requirements.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is a requirement. Fluency in other languages is desirable.

Location 

This position is remote and based in the Americas time zones. Avaaz is a virtual organization, with most of our work done over email, telephone, video, and IM. Our staff members are based all over the world and ordinarily meet at team retreats twice per year (with the next in person retreat dates to be determined based on COVID-19 and the ability to travel safely). 

Compensation and Benefits

Salary varies with location and experience, and is highly competitive with leading international nongovernmental organizations. Specific benefits also range with location, but all include 5 weeks paid vacation per year, 10 paid holidays, phone and home internet reimbursement, out-of-home office/co-working reimbursement, and professional development funds

Avaaz’s commitment to equity and inclusion

As a global organization with millions of members around the world, it’s important to us that our team reflects the diversity needed to lead a movement of people from across the planet, rising to meet some of the most complex challenges humanity has ever faced. We believe we can only succeed by building a diverse team full of fresh perspectives and original ideas, and we are committed to creating a working environment in which everyone has an equal opportunity to fulfill their potential.

Our team includes native and non-native English speakers, the self-taught and university educated, people with all sorts of professional backgrounds. If doing the job you just read about would make you excited to come to work every day, if you’re talented, hard-working and committed to making a difference - we want you to apply.

Avaaz does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, ancestry, citizenship, colour, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, national origin, political affiliation, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

We’ll provide reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants with disabilities or special needs to participate in the application process, so please let us know if you have such a request when you apply.