General Counsel

Equitable Facilities Fund (EFF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit social impact fund that’s on a nationwide mission to help high-performing public charter schools spend more money on students and less on the costs of borrowing for their facilities. We offer school leaders simple and much-needed access to low-cost, long-term loans, combined with support from an expert team that has walked in their shoes.

To date, EFF has committed over $175 million to schools that are making a big difference for over 20,000 students, providing them with funding and assistance to amplify their impact. Recently, EFF recapitalized on the bond market, allowing us to scale our fund significantly over the coming months and years.

If you’re seeking to have community-level impact on a national scale, apply to join our team!

The Opportunity

The General Counsel (GC) will have the exciting opportunity to make an immediate impact at EFF – and on the national public charter school sector as a whole – as a senior member of its dynamic, growing team. The GC will oversee all legal work related to EFF’s lending, bond offerings and other financing, exempt organization status, governance, intellectual property, employment, contracting, licensing and other corporate compliance issues. Our ideal candidate will energetically and enthusiastically approach the sometimes-ambiguous work of a startup, will contribute to building a collaborative, team-oriented culture of excellence, and will innovate alongside our entrepreneurial team.

Responsibilities

The General Counsel will be responsible for:

Supporting EFF’s governance activities by:

Reviewing and approving board of directors’ actions

Attending board of directors’ meetings

Ensuring sound corporate record keeping and board governance for both boards of EFF and EFF’s affiliated financing LLC

Ensuring compliance with organizational documents, including internal policies and procedures

Supporting EFF’s lending activities by:

Assisting with and issue-spotting related to loan transaction structures

Reviewing construction loan draws and construction management

Managing and coordinating outside counsel in the preparation of all legal documents related to EFF’s lending

Leading all loan closings in collaboration with the Chief Credit Officer, including attendance at borrower document signing meetings at various locations around the United States as necessary

Ensuring compliance with all applicable state licensing and business registration requirements

Ensuring legal compliance with respect to loan portfolio administration activities, including loan work-outs, defaults and exercise of remedies

Supporting EFF’s financing and tax-exempt bond offering activities through related LLC by:

Managing and coordinating outside counsel in the preparation of all legal documents related to EFF’s financing transactions and tax-exempt bond offerings

Ensuring compliance with applicable federal securities laws, including ensuring satisfaction of all continuing disclosure obligations related to publicly offered bonds

Ensuring maintenance of EFF’s exempt organization status, including state and federal filings and regulatory communications

Ensuring maintenance of bankruptcy-remote status of EFF’s related financing LLC, including monitoring of inter-company relationships and compliance with commercial and bankruptcy law

Leading general counsel and compliance work by:

Managing all outside counsel effectively and efficiently

Assisting Chief of Staff with preparation of board materials

Providing legal advice and/or coordinating outside counsel as needed to address any legal questions that may arise in the normal course of EFF’s day-to-day operations

Troubleshooting legal issues, such as but not limited to contracting, employment, intellectual property, cybersecurity, privacy, corporate, real estate, commercial law, bankruptcy and/or governance legal issues, as they arise

Ensuring corporate compliance under all applicable federal and state laws

Working closely with EFF leadership to ensure highly-effective and high-functioning organizational strategy, growth and operations

Qualifications

Above all, our General Counsel should be a driven, savvy, high-achieving professional with expertise in the complicated mechanics of public finance and tax-exempt bond offerings. Experience with non-profit lending and/or charter school facilities is strongly preferred. Other qualifications and qualities include:

10-15+ years of legal experience

7+ years of public finance legal experience

Legal expertise in real estate, construction, entitlements, liens, etc., strongly preferred

Experience working with 501(c)(3) non-profits (as clients or as an employee) strongly preferred

Warm and approachable while being highly engaged

Significant experience building strong relationships with and effectively managing outside counsel

Excellence with project management of complex deals and documents

Ability to produce high-quality work product under tight deadlines

Outstanding organizational and time management skills

Track record of meeting and exceeding aggressive goals

Driven to develop, motivate, and inspire all members of the team

Extraordinary communication skills

Ability to collaborate across functional areas

Thrives when working in a fast-paced, evolving environment on complex, high-impact initiatives

Thrives in start-up setting and enjoys innovating with a team of educational entrepreneurs

Problem solving and solution-oriented mindset

Highly detail- and team-oriented

High degree of integrity and authenticity

Travel will be required 20-25% of the time

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation is competitive, commensurate with experience. We are proud to offer extraordinary benefits, including unlimited PTO, as well as medical coverage and a 401(k) match.

Location

The home office is in New York City, and the candidate is expected to be in the home office at least three days per week.

Reporting Relationships

The General Counsel will report to the Chief Executive Officer and collaborate frequently with EFF’s Executive Team and team members across functional verticals.