Staff Counsel, Managed Organizations

Arabella Advisors seeks an organized, detail-oriented and highly motivated self-starter to work in the General Counsel’s office. The General Counsel’s Office is responsible for providing timely, coordinated, and thoughtful legal advice to internal clients on a wide variety of regulatory, compliance, and risk-management matters that is grounded in applicable laws and tailored to Arabella Advisors business needs.

The General Counsel’s office also provides legal support to a variety of nonprofit organizations that Arabella Advisors manages, including the New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) charity, and Sixteen Thirty Fund, a 501(c)(4) public welfare organization. Read more about our Managed Organization team below.

The position is focused on providing counsel to Arabella staff in the Managed Organizations unit on contracts, state and Federal registrations and filings, intellectual property issues, governance matters, and other compliance issues that arise from the department’s activities under the direction of the General Counsel. In addition, the position will be responsible for keeping the general policies and procedures up-to-date with the law and best practices. The successful candidate will be able to navigate between the corporate and non-profit environment and provide guidance across a broad cross section of issues and subjects.

About Arabella Advisors

Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We help our clients imagine what’s possible, design the best strategies, learn what works best, and do the work necessary to realize their visions.

Our staff is a team of passionate problem-solvers—mission-driven and action-oriented—with a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience.

The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation. Our leadership team, advisors, colleagues, and staff are fundamentally concerned with social change. We share a desire to make a difference and apply an outcomes-focused approach. Our internal culture supports employee passions, enables continuous learning, and fosters innovation, risk taking, and fun—even as it emphasizes excellence.

About Arabella’s Managed Organization Team

Arabella Advisors provides operations and management support to multiple public charities, including a 501(c)(3) named the New Venture Fund and a 501(c)(4). These managed organizations house new and innovative public interest projects and nonprofits, as well as coordinate collaborative initiatives between donors and administer grants programs. This type of structure is commonly referred to as fiscal sponsorship, and candidates are highly encouraged to research fiscal sponsorship prior to a first interview.  The managed organizations provide support to a diverse range of projects, including many focused on conservation and global health. The organizations have also provided fiscal sponsorship to projects focused on voter registration, public policy, education, disaster recovery, and music and the arts.

Essential Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary lawyer responsible for assisting and counseling staff in the process of evaluating, constructing, and negotiating a broad range of service agreements, independent contractor agreements, vendor contracts, and non-disclosure agreements.
• Work with staff to streamline the contract review process and improve contract management and tracking to ensure

coordination between master service agreements, work orders, addenda, and all payments and deliverables.

• Respond to intellectual property issues that arise from the company’s activities, working with the General Counsel to provide accurate and timely advice to staff.
• Review grantee documents to confirm tax status and/or to ensure compliance with tax rules (e.g., supporting organizations, domestic and foreign government agencies, tax treaty provisions, and expenditure responsibility requirements).
• Manage the process for ensuring compliance with state registration and reporting obligations for several nonprofits, including charitable solicitation registration, state tax exemption, foreign corporation registration, and registration of commercial co-venture agreements.
• Provide support to the administrative departments and operations, including developing and implementing user-friendly policies and procedures, as requested by the General Counsel.
• Conduct trainings for staff on legal rules and compliance procedures.
• Assist with Board meetings and other corporate governance issues.
• Assist in resolving routine legal issues or questions.
• Perform other duties as assigned.
• License to practice law.

Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• J.D. and one to three years of experience in a legal role.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work on broad topics and balance multiple projects at once.
• Positive attitude and team-oriented ethic
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and a strong customer-focus orientation.
• Sense of humor.
• Ability to work independently and proactively identify and prioritize needs.

Other Highly Preferred Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience in 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofit law is preferred but not required.
• Knowledge of lobbying, employment, and intellectual property law is a plus.
• Experience working in General Counsel’s office, law firm, or corporate compliance department

A Career with Arabella Advisors

We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, fun, transparent, collaborative, and healthy culture. We invite you to visit our careers website to learn more about our people, culture, and work. However, we thought you should know that Arabella is committed to providing excellent benefits to our employees. For you and your eligible dependents, we provide a competitive package that includes health, vision, dental, and prescription insurance. We also provide you disability coverage; life insurance; personal and volunteer leave time; a 401K match that you are eligible to receive when you start; funds for professional development; and a fitness benefit.

We also are committed to building a firm that is diverse and inclusive. We invite our clients and employees to be fully themselves. By integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion into our work, we benefit from increased knowledge, creativity, flexibility, and organizational and individual growth. We expect all Arabella staff to share this commitment.

Directions

Please apply here.

Candidates must submit a resume and one-page cover letter to be considered for the position. The cover letter must address why you want to work at Arabella and why this is your dream job. We will disregard candidates that do not submit the appropriate materials.