Associate General Counsel

Reporting to the Vice President, Strategic Alignment & General Counsel, the Associate General Counsel is a strategic adviser and business partner providing counsel to stakeholders across Sheridan, including the President, PVP, and other senior administrative leaders. The incumbent plays a key advisory role with respect to legal issues, policy decisions, strategic initiatives, and the implementation of recommendations. The incumbent will be experienced in change management and will recommend processes or other interventions that align with Sheridan's vision, strategic plan, priorities, and operational objectives. They will take steps to mitigate the legal risks of the institution. The incumbent will use creative problem solving and consider fair and reasonable solutions on behalf of the institution when advising on complex and challenging cases within the postsecondary and unionized environments. They will conduct analysis systematically and strategically, build strong interpersonal relationships, act with the utmost integrity with a commitment to maintaining confidentiality on highly sensitive and confidential information, and effectively communicate advice to senior management and stakeholders. As in-house counsel, the incumbent serves the entire institution, so the practice areas are varied. The practice areas span corporate/commercial, human resources, administrative, etc. The incumbent directly oversees the following teams: Legal, Policy, Privacy, and Information Management. They provide legal support to Human Resources on HR matters, such as labour relations, terminations, disabilities, accommodations, and low risk grievances and disputes specifically, where there are Human Rights implications or factors. They will also provide legal support to Inclusive communities on investigations, institutional EDI matters, navigating complex cases, and strategic initiatives. The incumbent manages litigation as directed by the Vice President, Strategic Alignment & General Counsel. They are required to identify, assess, and mitigate risks (i.e. legal, public relations, reputational, etc.) at the outset of all matters, including the development of a litigation plan, mitigating steps, and recommendations. The incumbent engages external counsel, as required, and is responsible to manage the work, relationship, and external legal costs.

What You’ll be Doing

As part of the Office of the President, supporting the Vice President, Strategic Alignment & General Counsel in providing strategic and practical legal advice to the Sheridan Community on a broad range of legal matters to further Sheridan’s goals, focusing on protecting the College’s legal and reputational interests;
Providing expert legal advice by identifying and mitigating risk;
Acting as a key liaison on various files at the direction of the General Counsel;
Managing actual/potential litigation and high-risk files (e.g. civil actions, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario disputes, arbitrations, tribunal work, etc.) by assessing and mitigating risks; providing principled legal advice; developing a litigation plan; arguing complex litigation cases in a civil, tribunal, arbitration, or mediation setting, and considering resolution options;
Providing principled and strategic legal advice to the Senior Leadership team and the Sheridan Community on matters that lie at the intersection of human rights, equity, diversity, inclusion, disability, accommodations, accessibility, employment and human resources;
Leading direct and indirect reports within the portfolios of Legal, Policy, Privacy, Records and Information Management;
Responsible for project leadership and meeting various strategic objectives;
Ensuring skills and performance of staff are at the required levels and the efficient and effective use of resources are aligned with corporate priorities;
Fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive workplace while providing coaching and guidance to direct and indirect reports;
Providing education, training and mentoring on legal topics or legislative activities to Sheridan management to ensure stakeholders are in compliance with various legal requirements;
Performing other related duties, as assigned.

About You

You value participating in and creating safe, brave and inclusive environments at work and in the community and want to be a part of a culture where we strive to take actions to ensure no one is left behind.

You demonstrate excellent judgement, initiative, and creative problem-solving and conflict resolution skills.

You have a highly collaborative spirit and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with others to support establishing and achieving collective goals.

You demonstrate an ability to take initiative and ownership of work matters and are able to multitask, prioritize and maintain an organized practice.

You have excellent analytical skills, ability to think strategically and to provide timely and effective solutions in a fast-paced environme