Legal Counsel

Job Category

Job Profile

Job Title

Department

Compensation Range

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Posting End Date

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary

The mission of the Office of the University Counsel (the “OUC”) is to:

• apply sound judgment, thoughtful analysis, and constructive advice to help identify and manage legal risk;

• provide legal advice and services that are timely, pragmatic, and proactive; and

• work with academic and administrative units to streamline legal processes, wherever appropriate.

The OUC is responsible for all the legal affairs of UBC, with the exception of labour and employment matters. The OUC:

• advises on UBC governance;

• advises on the legal ramifications of proposed actions and, when necessary, suggests alternative solutions or corrective courses of action;

• provides strong and responsible advocacy before courts, administrative agencies, or other public bodies;

• provides strategic legal advice and a full range of legal services directly to UBC, its senior administration, the Board of Governors, the Senates, and the Council of Senates;

• provides legal advice and services directly to academic and administrative units when requested by the deans or administrative heads of unit;

• recommends practices and procedures to protect UBC from undue liability;

• determines the legal structure of UBC’s subsidiaries;

• oversees the development and review of Board of Governors’ policies and delegated signing authorities;

• is responsible for UBC’s compliance with British Columbia’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act;

• regulates and manages UBC’s conduct systems and internal administrative tribunals;

• administers UBC’s conflict of interest systems;

• provides training and other education-oriented initiatives on legal issues affecting UBC;

• participates in special initiatives and sensitive projects on an as-needed basis;

• brings the appropriate resources to bear in the delivery of legal services and the resolution of legal disputes and, where necessary, retains, instructs and oversees external legal counsel on behalf of UBC; and

• manages the costs of legal services in an effective and cost-efficient manner in order to maximize the value of UBC’s expenditures.

The Legal Counsel is a core member of the OUC and provides legal advice and services to UBC.

Organizational Status
The Legal Counsel interacts and coordinates activities directly with other members of the UBC administration. The Legal Counsel reviews contracts and recommends them for execution to UBC’s authorized signing officers. The Legal Counsel is approved by the Ministry of Finance to approve the issuance of indemnities by UBC.

Works primarily in the office space maintained by the OUC in the Old Administration Building. The position requires local travel as well as some national travel for meetings and conferences. However, with the approval of the University Counsel, may work remotely on certain days of the week.

Work Performed

The Legal Counsel:

• Provides legal advice and services on a range of legal issues directly to faculties and administrative units, except with respect to matters within the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Resources;

• Acts as a subject matter expert and resource to other Legal Counsel regarding administrative law, procedural fairness, the conduct of investigations, and human rights law; also acts as a subject matter expert in areas of statutory and policy interpretation;

• Negotiates and prepares legal agreements to which UBC is a party with a view to ensuring consistency in external dealings and compatibility with UBC’s policies and objectives;

• Approves indemnities as authorized by the Ministry of Finance;

• Upon consultation with the University Counsel, retains, instructs and supervises external legal counsel on behalf of UBC, except with respect to matters within the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Resources;

• Identifies and recommends procedures and practices to protect UBC from undue liability;

• Coordinates the development and review of University policies for consideration by the Board of Governors;

• Participates in seminars and other education-oriented initiatives on legal issues affecting UBC;

• Performs other related duties as required by the University Counsel.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Adverse decisions may have significant impact upon the reputation of UBC and affiliated organizations, or expose UBC or affiliated organizations to unwarranted legal liability. In most cases, the results of the decisions are irreversible.

Supervision Received
The Legal Counsel reports to the University Counsel but is expected to exercise professional judgment in the day-to-day carriage of files and in setting priorities. The Legal Counsel may also receive work assignments from the Associate University Counsel, who assists the University Counsel in overseeing the Legal Counsel and other professional staff.

Supervision Given

The Legal Counsel is provided with administrative support in the form of an assigned Legal Administrative Assistant who is generally shared with other Legal Counsel. While the Legal Administrative Assistant reports to the Manager of Administration and Executive Assistant to the University Counsel, the Legal Counsel are expected to provide work assignments directly to the Legal Administrative Assistants who have been assigned to them, to cooperate with the other Legal Counsel to ensure that the overall volume of work and deadlines assigned to their shared Legal Administrative Assistants are reasonable and appropriate, and to participate in the evaluation of the performance of their assigned Legal Administrative Assistants. In addition, while the Paralegals report to the Associate University Counsel, the Legal Counsel are expected to provide work assignments directly to the Paralegals, to cooperate with the other Legal Counsel to ensure that the overall volume of work and deadlines assigned to the Paralegals are reasonable and appropriate, and to participate in the evaluation of the performance of the Paralegals.

Upon consultation with the University Counsel, the Legal Counsel retains, instructs and supervises external legal counsel on behalf of UBC.

Qualifications

The Legal Counsel must:

• be a member in good standing of the Law Society of British Columbia;

• have a law degree and broad-based experience as a practicing lawyer, preferably including 5 years of experience undertaking or advising on conduct investigations, responding to complaints before administrative tribunals (including the Human Rights Tribunal), advising on discrimination matters, drafting statutes/policies, and advising on or litigating matters of statutory/policy interpretation (general litigation experience also would be beneficial);

• have a strong grounding in administrative law, procedural fairness, human rights law, and trauma-informed principles;

• have strong analytical skills, including the ability to work from first principles in the absence of precedents;

• have strong interpersonal skills;

• exercise judgement, tact, and discretion;

• have the ability to simultaneously manage a diverse range of complex projects and activities;

• have extremely effective oral and written communications skills;

• be an effective negotiator;

• have the ability to relate well with faculty, staff, and students; and

• have effective computer literacy skills.
  

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion