Legal Counsel

LEGAL COUNSEL

**OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL**

**Competition No.** 25.04.114

**CATEGORY**

**SALARY**

**CLOSING DATE**
- Full-Time Continuing (35 hours per week)
- $115,214 to $155,754 per annum
- May 15, 2025

**About Us**:

- MacEwan University is where caring faculty help people connect their passions to their future paths. Located in the heart of Edmonton’s diverse and dynamic downtown community, and on the traditional lands of Treaty 6 First Nations and homelands of the Métis people, MacEwan is known for exceptional undergraduate learning. With its dedication to teaching excellence, informed by scholarly research, innovation, and creative activity, MacEwan provides an exceptional collaborative and supportive learning environment with a commitment to human rights, environmental sustainability, and opportunities for community engagement. We are committed to creating an equitable, diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community for all peoples, cultures, and identities.

Our comprehensive undergraduate university offers 55 programs to more than 19,000 full
- and part-time students in business, communications, community and human services, design, fine and performing arts, health, humanities, natural science, nursing, public safety, and social science. Through a wide array of experiential learning opportunities, and strategic relationships in the community, we partner with others to produce graduates of stature. Along with a robust grounding in their chosen disciplines, MacEwan students are given durable life skills that prepare them to take on the world.

**Opportunity**:
MacEwan University is seeking a full-time Legal Counsel to join the Office of General Counsel. In this role, you will provide expert legal and strategic advice to a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including students, faculty, staff, administrators, and executives. You will handle a wide array of legal matters spanning multiple practice areas, supporting initiatives that are critical to the university’s mission and public profile. This position offers the opportunity to address high-visibility, complex challenges in a dynamic, fast-paced environment, requiring innovative solutions and sound judgment to balance legal, business, and strategic priorities.

In this capacity, you will provide legal and strategic advisory services on a wide variety of evolving and often non-standard matters. Your responsibilities will include negotiating and drafting diverse agreements, reviewing draft policies with a focus on legal compliance and institutional strategy, and offering expert legal advice to support decision-making. You will also build and maintain strong relationships with key internal and external stakeholders and play a central role in developing and delivering educational materials and sessions to ensure the university community is informed and prepared for emerging legal challenges.

Key responsibilities include:

- Providing timely and practical legal and strategic advice on administrative law, privacy law, contract and commercial law, procurement law, human rights law, governance, risk management and policy matters.
- Supporting client decision-making by explaining legal risks, options, and implications clearly and constructively, and developing effective mitigation strategies.
- Drafting, reviewing, and negotiating contracts and other documents, including those related to commercial goods and services, software services, consulting services, research projects, employment, and international partnerships.
- Supporting high-impact university initiatives by providing expert legal and strategic advice on the development and execution of complex, prominent projects involving diverse external stakeholders.
- Supporting the General Counsel on high-priority or strategic initiatives.
- Working collaboratively with departments and internal experts across the university—including procurement, privacy, and investigations—as well as with external counsel and other specialized advisors, to identify legal issues, provide preventive advice, and support institutional initiatives.
- Conducting in-depth legal research on new and evolving legislation, proposed contracts, and sector-specific developments, and providing clear, actionable advice based on findings to support institutional decision-making and compliance.
- Proactively monitoring and analyzing emerging legal trends affecting the post-secondary sector and sharing relevant insights with stakeholders to ensure the university remains informed and prepared for change.
- Responding to complaints or formal inquiries involving outside agencies, including the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.
- Reviewing the Confidence Line (confidential, third-party reporting line) complaints or formal inquiries and ensuring proper assessment and appropriate delegation/referral.
- Advising on employment-related matters, including faculty and staff discipline, grievances, termina