This rewarding and demanding role operates within an UHNW Family Office in Toronto and must meet the needs of the Family Office of the Chairman who leads a global enterprise and is the head of a prominent Canadian family.

The Vice President, Legal serves as the primary legal officer to the Family Office of the Chairman. The incumbent will report to the CEO and will serve as the trusted legal advisor to the Family Office, responsible for directing all aspects of the legal function.

The successful candidate will have a wide range of deployable general legal experience and will have considerable depth of experience in the provision of legal and compliance advice and documentation.

Key Responsibilities;

  • Proactively manage all legal aspects of the Office and its outputs, including legal compliance and governance of all related entities and trusts, and drive efficiency and excellence.
  • Serve as legal advisor on all relevant business transactions, including (without limitation) acquisitions, divestitures, and major capital investments and subsequent amendments, and negotiations to support the aforementioned.
  • Collaborate with the Finance Team and support all aspects of investment/deal structuring, and present to the Chairman and other executives as required.
  • Create, own and maintain corporate legal policies, procedures, controls and programs and provide continuing counsel and guidance on legal matters with the relentless pursuit of continuous improvement.
  • Ensure that relevant legal and regulatory issues are understood and that the legal perspective on policy issues is integrated into business policies and practices.
  • Assess the merits of cases filed by or against the company and family members, working with the management team to develop a case strategy and approve settlements of disputes where appropriate.
  • Evaluate, assess and ensure compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, both domestic and foreign as they relate to the operating environment.
  • Advise on legal aspects of the Company’s financing, including current and future business structures and legal entities worldwide.
  • Noting the clear objective for the incumbent to meet the vast majority of the Office’s legal needs, on the rare occasions where it is required the incumbent is responsible for the selection, management, evaluation and on-going cost reviews of outside counsel.
  • Serve as role model in the organization by exercising sound judgment and common sense and exhibiting leadership competencies emphasized by the Executive Leadership Team.
  • Ensure that to the extent that legal services are performed in conjunction with other corporate functions, such as compliance, internal audit, privacy and security, human resources, finance, etc., these legal services are performed in a cooperative and competent manner.
  • Ensure that all legal services provided to the Company are performed in a manner that is consistent with, and supportive of the Company’s core values and culture.
  • Perform other duties as assigned if not in contradiction with this role profile.

Qualifications and Experience:

  • A law degree from an accredited law school and a valid license to practice law in Canada.
  • A minimum of 10 years post call in house/law firm legal experience, ideally in the financial services and/or manufacturing. Familiarity with M&A activity is highly desirable. Experience with the conduct and operations of family offices is preferred.
  • Demonstrable experience operating on international/cross-border legal issues is required.
  • Bilingualism in French is desirable.
  • A clear understanding of market challenges, organizational scale requirements, and the legal processes needed to support a rapidly growing company.
  • The ideal candidate will have extensive legal experience, specifically but not limited to contract law, corporate/commercial law, intellectual property law including patent law and licensing, employment law and regulatory affairs, securities, mergers and acquisitions, competition, and privacy.
  • Familiarity with maritime law as it relates to contracts is beneficial. Where no such familiarity exists the requirement to develop such skills as are necessary is required.
  • Demonstrably strong communication skills, including written communications, presentations, rapport building, negotiating and influencing skills.
  • Demonstrable leadership and collaboration skills; a strong network and a capable networker.
  • Adept at the leadership and management of change with the ability to diagnose and solve problems, articulate a plan, and implement solutions.
  • This person will have a broad knowledge of relevant laws and regulations in the areas outlined in the role description above. Where the individual has gaps in their knowledge, it is expected that learning will be undertaken to address these gaps.
  • As a leader in the company, this person will also build our community through connecting people to our mission and vision and invest in building relationships and trust in the organization. Over time, the individual will be an ambassador for our organisation.
  • This leader will embody personal and organizational accountability through effective goal setting, on-going performance management, and follow-through for employee development. They will be comfortable being held to account or all matters within their purview.
  • Strong bias for action, sense of ownership and problem-solving ability
  • The incumbent will be required to travel domestically and overseas occasionally but as required.

For more information about this role, or to apply, please email Kay Shah at kays@agreusgroup.com.

REF: AGR2759