General Counsel

If you’re looking for a purpose and not just a job, join the Smoothie King team and turn your purpose into a fulfilling passion!

Since pioneering the first nutritional Smoothie franchise in 1973, our mission has always been to inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Now, with over 1200 stores and counting, we have been ranked as the #1 Fastest-Growing concept in its category and #14 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Franchise 500” list in 2020! We’ve grown to become the largest nutritional Smoothie bar in the nation, with a simple recipe for success: Hire the best people, use the best ingredients and blend with a purpose!

We are currently searching for a General Counsel to join our Executive Leadership Team as a strategic thought leader for our legal function. Reporting to the CEO, the General Counsel will have direct responsibility and accountability for all compliance and enterprise risk, corporate governance, all legal matters related to our Franchise business, contract strategy and negotiations, as well as advising on a wide variety of legal matters that relate to our growing business. The General Counsel will be an experienced lawyer with the legal background, commercial orientation, hands-on work ethic, and interpersonal skills needed to be successful in this visible and challenging position.

Essential Functions / Major Responsibilities:

Participate fully in Executive Leadership policy and business discussions and clearly communicate how legal issues will affect business operations and recommend strategies to minimize legal risk and maximize opportunities.

Manage Smoothie King’s legal matters by providing sound, well-reasoned legal advice to various business units and maintain strong business relationships among the various internal business groups.

Responsible for managing the compliance, risk management, insurance, and legal matters of the organization, including early identification, advice to the appropriate business function, and resolution of all legal and compliance risks.

Provide legal and business input on all aspects of Smoothie King’s domestic and international franchise systems, including preparation of its FDD, franchise transfers, and franchise defaults and terminations. Support the Business Development Team and field operations teams in the development of new or revised franchise policies and procedures.

Responsible for drafting, reviewing, and negotiating a wide range of legal contracts in support of various departments and activities; effective management of contracting requirements.

Review marketing, advertising, and promotional materials for compliance with relevant advertising, privacy, and consumer laws, as well as FDA regulatory requirements for nutritional claims management.

Manage and develop strategies for the global Smoothie King trademark portfolio.

Play an integral role in managing corporate and strategic transactions, including mergers and acquisitions.

Advising on privacy law compliance, including data protection, data retention, data security, and data breach rules.

Manage Smoothie King’s litigation strategy with an emphasis on franchise, contractual, food safety, and intellectual property issues.

Create, implement, and manage ongoing corporate governance and legal compliance requirements, and provide guidance and direction to Executive Leadership regarding compliance with current and proposed franchise, food safety, nutritional claims, corporate conduct, and other related laws and policies.

Manage, instruct, and liaise with external counsel.

Specific Job Requirements

Exercise discretion and independent judgment commensurate with specialized legal skills and experience.

Respond promptly to requests from internal clients and summarize and communicate legal risks in a way that business people can understand and that logically balances risk with Smoothie King business objectives.

A champion that can initiate and lead change, encourage and promote flexibility, drive organizational learning, see the bigger picture, and envision continuous organizational future.

Demonstrate strategic ability to lead and influence the organization with integrity and respect.

Exhibit a positive and optimistic perspective and inspire others, supervise effectively, exude executive presence, establish trust and respect, display fairness and objectivity, navigate politics, display empathy, listen actively, and hold people accountable.

Ability to attract and retain top talent, motivate the Legal team, provide hands-on training and feedback to the team and others, and build strong relationships with the Legal team and others.

Ability to manage Legal team’s budget, including outside counsel expenses.

Committed to communicating, promoting, and exhibiting Smoothie King Core Values across the company.

Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills; ability to successfully communicate to diverse audiences.

Education and Experience Requirements

Law degree from accredited law school and membership in good standing with any state bar.

Significant experience working as a corporate attorney and providing legal advice on a broad range of corporate matters, with increasing levels of responsibility, preferably as a general counsel or deputy/divisional counsel with management responsibilities.

8+ years of experience practicing franchise law and general corporate and contract law, either in-house or at a national law firm.

5+ years relevant experience in the food and beverage industry supporting a franchisor.

Substantial knowledge and understanding of all aspects of franchise law, required.

Proven ability to analyze and apply legal principles and precedents to legal issues; ability to perform legal research, evaluate alternatives, and make sound recommendations to enable Smoothie King to meet its business objectives; the inclination to seek and analyze data from a variety of sources to support decisions.

Overall broad legal knowledge (corporate law, litigation, labor law, etc.)

Significant experience with a broad range of transactional work, including drafting and negotiating both complex and routine agreements, day-to-day counseling on routine matters, and exposure to large transactions

Familiarity with corporate governance requirements.

Experience advising a sole owner is a plus.

Intermediate to advanced experience with MS Office (Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel)

Personal passion for fitness is a plus.

What We Offer

Join our team and enjoy an unusually fun work environment with an upbeat atmosphere and great team members. It is our purpose to maintain an environment our team members can brag about, where our focus and belief are built on our core values: We Are Better Together, We Keep Evolving, We Live Our Mission, We Do the Right Thing, and We Focus and Finish. With our core values at the forefront of every decision we make, it allows for collaboration, passion, and a no-limits mindset when it comes to your future! We keep our team happy with our great benefits package, free smoothies, flexible work schedules, office lunches and parties, monthly fitness challenges, free gym access, and more fun activities to make Smoothie King a happy and healthy place to work.

Our Mission

Inspire people to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

Our Vision

To be an integral part of every health and fitness journey.

Our Values

We: Do the Right Thing

We: Are Better Together

We: Live the Mission

We: Keep Evolving

We: Focus and Finish