Associate Principal Counsel, Legal

Job Description

ESPN is seeking an experienced attorney for the role of Associate Principal Counsel. This position will report to the Deputy Chief Counsel or Assistant Chief Counsel, and assists and supports the Assistant Chief Counsel, Deputy Chief Counsel(s) and Chief Counsel in fulfilling the legal affairs and requirements of the corporation. Areas of focus may include, but are not limited to, programming acquisitions for live sporting events and unscripted/scripted original content, production agreements, marketing and promotion, digital (including social) media and platforms, as well as legal work related to various aspects of direct-to-consumer offerings. The preferred location for this position is Bristol, CT. Will also consider New York, NY.

Responsibilities:
• Maintains current knowledge of substantial range of federal, state, and local laws and of legislative and regulatory developments, analyzes how these might impact ESPN, and conceives and recommends compliance actions
• Serves as primary Legal Department representative for assigned ESPN departments or categories
• Drafts contracts and other legal documents, recommends approval/modification of contracts proposed by outside parties, and negotiates with outside parties
• Possesses and maintains (including through continuing legal education) knowledge in specialized legal areas, including emerging trends, specifically in connection with (1) content (including live event and/or scripted/unscripted audiovisual programming, licensing and production); (2) intellectual property (copyright, trademark, rights of publicity); (3) marketing and promotion; and/or (4) digital (including social) media and platforms
• Conceives and recommends strategies and tactics in response to legislative and regulatory developments and other events or anticipated actions
• Keeps internal clients (and Legal leadership team) fully informed of relevant legal issues and implications of their current operations and proposed actions, and advises them accordingly of risks and legal consequences of alternative actions
• Reviews and edits significant guidelines, policies, letters, work orders and other documents from applicable client departments to ensure that legal implications are appropriately handled
• Manages outside counsel in their representation of ESPN on litigation and other legal service matters, and analyzes the approach and effectiveness of such outside counsel
• May directly supervise, on a non-exclusive basis, one or more Paralegal and Legal Assistant colleagues
• Recommends and may implement Legal Department policy at the direction of Chief Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel(s)
• Operates within the context of defined corporate strategies
• Recommends and implements enhancements and improvements to established processes and workflows
• Translates corporate strategy into mid- and long-term goals
• Translates the analysis and evaluation of trends in ESPN's legal positioning and compliance into recommended corporate actions
• Conceives and recommends strategies and initiatives to minimize the legal risks of current operations and proposed actions
• Determines / recommends the language of template legal documents
• Analyzes the legal implications of proposed ventures and current operations and proposed actions of internal clients
• Analyzes new laws and legislative and regulatory developments for their potential impact on ESPN
• Guides or participates in guiding the management of client organizations in the interpretation of complex information
• Contributes to ensuring the processing efficiencies at all levels of the organizations supervised
• Ensures that internal clients have an adequate understanding of the law as it applies to their operations
• Interacts with internal client management

Basic Qualifications:
• At least 4 years of contract law experience, including significant drafting, at a law firm, network/studio, sports league, agency and/or other in-house legal department
• Excellent interpersonal, written/verbal communication, and analytical skills
• Excellent organizational, prioritization and time management skills with the ability to work under tight deadlines and execute efficiently against multiple, high-priority and high-volume projects in a fast-paced environment
• Exceptional ability to respond to and interact with creative and business executives at all levels of seniority in a manner that is personable and professional
• Exceptional facility with spotting issues, assessing and communicating risks, making common-sense decisions, and finding flexible/creative solutions to achieve business goals

Preferred Qualifications:
• A strong understanding of content agreement negotiating (including, by way of example only, audiovisual programming, licensing and production agreements), intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, rights of publicity), and/or scripted or unscripted original content acquisitions and production, including guild related matters
• Familiarity with entertainment, broadcast/cable, internet, mobile, direct-to-consumer, social and other digital media and/or sports businesses
• Familiarity with marketing, data/privacy/piracy, gambling/fantasy sports, music clearance matters and/or international sports programming acquisitions
• Experience supervising paralegal/legal support staff

Required Education
• JD
• Strong academic credentials
• Admission to Connecticut State Bar or New York State Bar in good standing or willingness and qualification to be Registered In-House Counsel

var jobInfo = {

category: 'Legal-and-Business-Affairs ESPN',

location: 'New York, New York, United States; Bristol, Connecticut, United States',

req: '983905BR',

}

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Jobcode: Reference SBJ-d5wjbz-3-128-79-88-42 in your application.