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Higher Ground is a growth stage education startup, specialized in Montessori education. Our rapidly growing portfolio includes 80+ physical schools across the US and China, virtual and at-home programming, an in-house Montessori LMS, an accredited Montessori training center, and more.

Our needs are for general legal leadership and strategy, and specific expertise with acquisition and fundraising transactions.

Full job description below:

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The General Counsel role is generally responsible for the day-to-day management of legal services within the organization. In addition to managing the legal team and the overall service provided to our “internal customers”, the GC also takes personal responsibility for the bulk of the company’s transactional work, including as it relates to fundraising, investor relations, M&A / new business development, and a wide variety of contracts work. The ideal candidate will have strong transactional experience, coupled with the ability to think outside of the box of past practice in order to creatively identify the kinds of “scrappy” strategies that are required at a young, fast-growth organization. In addition, the GC must be successful at building and managing teams, as well as embrace and embody our very particular and carefully guarded organizational culture.

Our current growth goals include the annual opening of 25-50 new schools domestically, 20+ new schools internationally in a gradually increasing number of markets, 20+ partner or client schools internationally, and 10+ Prepared Montessorian teacher training courses.

Directly Own Transactional Work & Legal Strategy

The General Counsel must be directly responsible for HGE’s transactional work, handling it personally to the fullest extent possible, and where necessary to engage outside counsel, closely managing the work from the perspective of the company’s substantive goals and preferred negotiation / strategic approaches, as well as from the perspective of cost control. Transactional work includes:

• Draft and negotiate a variety of agreements related to fundraising transactions, acquisitions, expansion, custom business partnerships, etc.
• Provide thought-partnership from a legal perspective to the executive team.
• Maintain knowledge of the company’s legal documents, corporate governance, and transaction history.
• Represent the company to outside partners and counterparties.

Manage Legal Team in Meeting Varied Legal Needs

In addition to work the General Counsel performs directly, this position is responsible to build and manage the overall legal team (in the case of legal professionals who directly report to the GC), as well as to interface with and advise others in the organization (such as the Development Team or the Compliance Team, both of which have legal professionals embedded who sometimes need to escalate hard legal decisions). The General Counsel must ensure the company’s needs are met in the following areas:

• Immigration
• Litigation prevention and management (threatened employment litigation; contracts disputes; etc.)
• Intellectual Property
• General Risk Management

Ideal Qualifications

• Juris Doctor
• Licensed to practice law and in good standing
• 7+ years of relevant transactional experience
• Combination of pre-existing knowledge/experience with creativity and a willingness to learn and expand areas of expertise