General Counsel

LOCUST WALK IS LOOKING FOR A GENERAL COUNSEL TO JOIN OUR TEAM

Reports to: Andy Meyerson, Head of US Strategic Transactions (and formerly Head of Legal), member of Extended Leadership Team

Office: Boston, MA; must currently reside in the Boston metro area or be willing to relocate there before starting; must have U.S. Citizenship or Visa

Overview:

Locust Walk is a global life science transaction firm. Our integrated team-based approach across capabilities, geographies, and industry segments delivers the right products, the right partners, and the most attractive sources of capital to get the right deals done for biopharma and medtech companies. Locust Walk is the only firm to integrate strategy, market analytics, and transaction capabilities for life science companies on a global scale. We have offices in Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo and London with clients throughout the world.

We are in the process of scaling rapidly and to help us with this meteoric growth we’re currently seeking a dynamic General Counsel who can manage the legal and compliance operations of the business to both help us scale and enable the senior deal team to bring in more business.

Why is this role right for you?

If you are looking to leverage your significant legal experience with a fast-growing and highly entrepreneurial professional services firm, we’re looking for you. You can leverage your experience leading the legal function to negotiate engagement letters and CDAs, to help the firm structure our engagements, to oversee the creation and scaling of a public capital markets underwriting business, to advise on contracting/structuring matters for our biopharma clients’ strategic and financing transactions, and to handle any other legal or compliance matter. You have an ability to get to agreement with creative solutions and are more of a “how can I get it done” than a “that won’t work” person. If you are currently at a law firm and want a change of pace to move “in house” or at a boutique investment bank or advisory firm wanting more growth potential, then Locust Walk is an ideal fit. We are looking for someone who has a growth mindset and can take ownership of leading the legal and compliance function of the firm.

A week in the life for this role?

The focus for this role is to manage the legal process of the firm as the liaison with the senior deal leadership to help them close more engagements more quickly. He/she will drive all contract negotiations to close in partnership with the deal lead as well as helping to setup the compliance function for our new capital markets underwriting business. Relationships with external counsel for partnership opportunities and general connectivity is the networking part of the job. As we continue to grow, so will our complexity. He or she will work closely with the Extended Leadership Team to anticipate changes and implement new growth initiatives and streamlining how we do business so we can run and grow more profitably. He/she will be a resource to the deal team on a one-off basis on certain legal issues being encountered in a partnering and capital raising engagement. A major objective is to get the CEO and Senior Leadership team out of the legal negotiation process for our potential engagements, including interacting directly with our client’s legal counsel.

What is our culture?

We look for entrepreneurial, growth-oriented individuals who are committed to the success of others. We have a high-performance culture that rewards creative solutions to daily challenges, as well as a strong work ethic while enjoying the ride. Locust Walk offers a mindful work-life balance within the context of a transaction-focused professional services firm. While we have always connected in our physical locations, ate lunch together and enjoyed other team activities, we are currently creating out-of-the-box ways to remain connected and be mindful of the current environment. We are open and honest with each other and transparent in our dealings including information about the health of the business.

A match with our values and culture is our highest priority

This person needs to live the Locust Walk values. We’re looking first for people who fit our culture. Culture is very important to us and that fit is critical. Listed below is an overview of our core values. Please consider whether these are a match with yours:

Commitment to the success of others: Someone who is we before me and low ego but confident. Team players are a must, especially those who are committed to mentoring those below them so we can all rise up

Open and courageous communications: We want people with opinions and who know how to communicate them internally and externally in the appropriate fashion. We share with each other our candid feedback so we can continue to learn and grow

Growth mindset: Someone who has a thirst for knowledge and is constantly learning

Entrepreneurial spirit: We want someone who isn’t afraid to push hard and make a few mistakes but only making them once. A small company person who appreciates speed and growth and who isn’t afraid to help shape and build the company they want to be a part of

Enjoy the ride: Work hard, play hard isn’t our mantra. We work hard but try to integrate fun and interesting things into the core of what we do. We all have unique interests and find common ways of sharing that with each other. A life outside of work is important

Key career background & experience for this position?

Successful track record within a legal organization, investment bank or biotech company with experience being client-facing

Deal work: has worked on licensing, M&A and capital markets transactions especially those important to the life sciences. Experience with biotech preferred but not required to help understand our engagements

Public markets: Public underwriting experience a big plus as Locust Walk enters this new phase of our growth

Compliance: someone with previous FINRA/SEC compliance experience is a plus. If no direct prior experience, a strong interest in learning this side of the business is essential

In-house legal: helpful to understand how legal integrates with the rest of the organization including all aspects of accounting and tax, risk management, contracting, and deal execution

Experience in the professional services industry. We operate in an environment like other professional services firms such as investment banks and management consulting firms. Experiences in these or mid-sized and larger law firms will provide you with a good understanding of how we operate, best practices, and learnings you can contribute to our organization. Someone who has helped scale a similar company will be highly valued.

Small firm experience. We’re a small but rapidly growing nimble organization of ~50 people in five locations on three continents. While experience in larger corporate frameworks will be valuable in bringing additional systems, organization and consistency into our firm, an understanding and experience in a smaller growth environment is critical for success as is our roll-up our sleeves mentality. We need a leader who is also a doer; even if someone comes from a large firm, they need to possess a growth mindset and entrepreneurial spirit of a smaller firm to get their hands dirty as a department of one.

Passion for operational excellence. Whether interacting with finance, marketing, operations, project management and other similar activities, this person needs to have 3 things:

Passion for the role and the life science industry

Desire to create structure and systems that are “suitable weight” to our size

Attention to detail, getting things done on time and correctly

Self-starter looking to influence and drive the future of Locust Walk. We’re looking for a high-integrity individual who puts the Firm’s interests first and is transparent in their communications. A poised professional who effectively collaborates with other team members, clients and prospective partners and displays self-awareness, compassion, and especially a desire to have fun and use humor as both a relief valve and tool.

Prior positions of responsibility that might be good experience for this role?

Six years or more of relevant legal experience is a prerequisite. If you held one of the below positions of responsibility at a professional services firm, you might have generated the knowledge required to be successful in this role. However, this does not mean that if you haven’t had any of the titles below, you’re not qualified. Read between the lines, for intent and not literally:

6th year Associate or above at a law firm in a general corporate law or FINRA/SEC compliance department, where you had experience managing your own clients and/or leading transactions

General Counsel or Assistant General Counsel at a investment bank or biotech company

Head of Compliance at an investment bank

In one word, how might you describe the position?

“Backstop” because this is the person helps maintain the legal standards of the firm in our engagements, protects us from inadvertently exposing ourselves to compliance risk and helps us get rewarded for the work the firm does.

How much could someone earn in this role?

Our firm has a multi-part compensation structure:

Competitive base salary

Every person at Locust Walk has goals and will be eligible to earn a bonus based on exceptional individual and firm performance that encourages both accountability as well as teamwork and helping to grow the overall business

We offer a great competitive Total Rewards package which includes health, dental, and vision, as well as other great competitive benefits

We offer a match to each employee’s 401k

For More Information or to Apply:

Please contact Amy Brodsky, Chief People Officer by clicking Apply to this Job below.