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Job Posting Title:

Senior Associate Vice President for Legal Affairs, UT Dell Medical School

Hiring Department:

Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs

Position Open To:

All Applicants

Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

FLSA Status:

Exempt

Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

Location:

AUSTIN, TX

Job Details:

General Notes

This is a unique opportunity to be a part of making The University of Texas at Austin Medical Center, set to open in 2030, a reality. This position will support our world-class academic medical center for education, research, and patient care, and our medical school. The mission of The University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School is to revolutionize how people get and stay healthy. This position is a specialty leadership position within the Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs (VPLA) and will support the Medical School’s mission by delivering strategic legal services with a focus on healthcare law. This position has the opportunity to assist the Vice President and General Counsel in building a healthcare legal advising specialty group and manage the day-to-day operations of that future team.

Read the news release about our plans for the UT Medical Center in Austin: https://news.utexas.edu/2023/08/14/university-of-texas-system-regents-announce-plans-to-build-ut-medical-center-on-site-of-erwin-center/

Your Skills Will Make a Difference.

You’ll be working for a university that is internationally recognized for our academic programs and research. Your work will contribute to operational excellence and enhance the student experience. If you’re the type of person that wants to know your work has meaning and impact, you’ll like working in our department and for UT Austin. UT Austin provides an outstanding benefits package including but not limited to:

• Competitive health benefits (employee premiums covered at 100%, family premiums at 50%)
• Voluntary Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options
• Generous paid vacation, sick time, and holidays
• Teachers Retirement System of Texas, a defined benefit retirement plan, with employer matching funds
• Additional Voluntary Retirement Programs: Tax Sheltered Annuity 403(b) and a Deferred Compensation program 457(b)
• Flexible spending account options for medical and childcare expenses
• Robust free training access through LinkedIn Learning plus professional conference opportunities
• Tuition assistance
• Expansive employee discount program including athletic tickets
• Free access to UT Austin's libraries and museums with staff ID card
• Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Austin CapMetro buses with staff ID card
• For more details, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/prospective/benefits and https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards .

Must be authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis for any employer without sponsorship.

Purpose

The Senior Associate Vice President will serve as an important part of the leadership team in the Office of the Vice President for Legal Affairs (VPLA) focused on providing dedicated legal support and expertise in healthcare law to Dell Medical School’s (DMS) strategic leadership team as well as its administrative, clinical, and academic teams.

This senior attorney will be a key advisor to Dell Medical School leadership as they launch a monumental healthcare initiative and new specialty hospital. The Senior Associate Vice President will provide cross-functional alignment with VPLA in its delivery of legal services to DMS. The Senior Associate Vice President will provide counsel, assistance, analysis, and guidance on all DMS healthcare law matters with particular emphasis on regulatory issues, business negotiations, and contract management supporting the core mission and business activities of DMS. This position reports to the Vice President for Legal Affairs and primarily offices at DMS on the main campus of The University of Texas at Austin. As the onsite VPLA leadership personnel at DMS, the Senior Associate Vice President will engage with DMS leadership daily to assist in delivery of timely and effective legal services to a large academic healthcare institution through a responsive, thoughtful, and proactive approach. This attorney leader will also work with the Vice President for Legal Affairs to build a healthcare practice group within VPLA that can scale to support the current and future legal needs of Dell Medical School, and its future specialty hospital within the new medical center. The VPLA healthcare practice group will be managed by this attorney.

Responsibilities

• Serves as a resource for DMS by providing legal context, expertise, and analysis, as appropriate, to a wide variety of discussions including those related to business development, operations, management, regulatory issues, delivery of care and other support functions. Responds to requests of DMS leadership, faculty, and staff related to matters within scope of work.
• Manages the administration of policies and procedures at DMS to ensure compliance with UT Austin and UT System rules and policies. Coordinates with and supports DMS compliance and business contract functions for DMS.
• Advises and performs work on a wide variety of transactions with a specialty focus on healthcare initiatives, complex commercial health care transactions, and mutually beneficial affiliations with sister institutions and external partners. Ensures that contractual language complies with applicable state and federal laws, UT System Board of Regents’ Rules, UT System policies, and University requirements. Works with other administrative offices within UT Austin and UT System, as appropriate, to execute such activities.
• Negotiates, drafts, and reviews various documents including affiliation agreements, option agreements, partnering arrangements, equity investments, service agreements, information technology and intellectual property agreements, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, conflicts of interest management plans, privacy, HIPAA compliance, and information security. Ensures that document language complies with applicable state and federal laws, UT System Board of Regents’ Rules, and University standards.
• Provides counsel and guidance in the recommendation and establishment of appropriate legal entities (for-profit and not-for-profit). Actively assists, advises, and supports negotiations for major business and clinical transactions in which DMS engages.
• Facilitates cross-functional alignment with VPLA through regular meetings to help coordinate and provide first-in-class legal support for DMS in all areas. Assists in managing outside counsel relationships in support of healthcare and development activities, identifies areas for additional legal support from the central VPLA team, and collaborates with VPLA leadership to manage delivery of legal services to DMS. Establishes appropriate contacts with other VPLA attorneys and UT System attorneys while contributing to strong positive rapport between these groups.
• Coordinates closely with UT Austin and UT System for the most effective use of resources and to ensure that all activities are conducted in accordance with applicable state and federal laws, UT System Board of Regents’ Rules, and University standards. Follows current legal developments and trends in medical education, healthcare reform, and healthcare business transactions, and advises executive staff accordingly. Assumes responsibility for maintaining professional licensure and fulfilling professional continuing education requirements.
• As requested, provides institutional support and serves on DMS committees, teams, and tasks forces to further more efficient and effective transactions, structures, and strategies. Promotes an atmosphere of innovation in all areas and assists in the protection and management of intellectual property creation.
• Assists with development and coaching of technical competencies of other VPLA attorneys assigned to support DMS.
• Performs other duties, as necessary or requested, by DMS or VPLA to support DMS or other university components.

Required Qualifications

• Required Education: Juris Doctorate
• Required Licensure: Admission to the Texas Bar or another state with acquisition of Texas license within one year of employment.
• Required Experience:
  • Minimum seven years practicing law with significant experience as in-house or external counsel for an academic medical center, a health science center, or a health center.
  • Strong transactional experience with both traditional and innovative health care delivery entities such as ASCs, ACOs, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions, at risk insurance products, direct to employer health care contracting, malpractice risk, billing, Medicare compliance, etc.
  • Business development experience with the ability to blend legal skills and the experience to enhance development activities.
  • Proven track record in successfully working within complex and multi-tiered academic systems and private healthcare enterprises.
  • Excellent management, organizational, communication, interpersonal, research, writing, and negotiation skills applicable to a fast-paced, customer-service-oriented, intellectually challenging and highly diverse environment. Proven track record working as a successful team member and as an effective colleague.

Preferred Qualifications

• Preferred Education: Required education plus an undergraduate scientific degree.
• Preferred Experience: Required experience plus:
  • Experience as part of the senior management team for an academic medical center, a health science center, or a health system; and
  • Experience with intellectual property development, protection, licensing and effective technology transfer.
  • Experience managing a legal team.

Salary Range

$250,000 + commensurate with experience

Working Conditions

• Work Hours maintained during the regular work week, Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. Work demands may require 40+ hours during a given work week and work may be required on weekends.
• Work Location is onsite at DMS.
• The position is FLSA exempt and not eligible for overtime pay.

Required Materials

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure that ALL Required Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questions presented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information.

Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university’s company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English) [PDF]

• E-Verify Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

• Right To Work Poster (English) [PDF]

• Right To Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.