Senior Policy Counsel

Position description

The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) is seeking a Senior Policy Counsel, who will work with ICCR senior leadership to provide the organization and its members with legal advice, and will coordinate the organization’s legal strategies related to policy and corporate accountability.

About ICCR

Founded over 50 years ago, ICCR is a pioneer coalition of over 300 institutional investor members who leverage their investments as a catalyst to address the environmental and social impacts of corporate policies and practices. ICCR members collaborate to engage the world's most powerful corporations on a range of issues impacting communities in the U.S. and globally, including human rights and worker justice, climate change, health equity, and corporate political influence. ICCR members are also involved in public policy advocacy. To learn more about our work, please visit ourwebsite.

Responsibilities

The Senior Policy Counsel will be responsible for providing timely, coordinated, and thoughtful legal advice to the organization, enhancing its ability to achieve its charitable mission and goals. The Senior Policy Counsel will engage with networks of pro bono attorneys to assist ICCR members in finding pro bono and low bono legal assistance in response to on-going legal attacks related to responsible investment and shareholder engagement. The Senior Policy Counsel will also work with ICCR’s policy and program teams, and with networks of attorneys and allied organizations to coordinate ICCR’s legal strategies related to policy and corporate accountability. The Senior Policy Counsel will report to the Chief Executive Officer.

The ideal candidate is an experienced litigator with an ability to think strategically and creatively. Experience in securities law or corporate governance is a strong plus, as is interest and/or experience in environmental law, administrative law, consumer protection, and Constitutional law. The ideal candidate will also have excellent research, writing, analytical, and public speaking skills.

Job activities include but are not limited to:

• Serve as organizational counsel and thought partner to the Chief Executive Officer, senior leadership, and board of directors.
• Work with allies in the legal community to mobilize pro bono and low bono legal support, as well as legal guidance and advice, for ICCR members who may be targeted by subpoenas or other legal threats from government authorities threatening anti-trust and other enforcement actions to chill collaborative investor engagement work.
• Coordinate ICCR’s legal strategies for policy interventions to enhance corporate accountability, utilizing the unique perspective of long-term institutional investors. These strategies will include both amicus briefs and potential affirmative litigation and will be conducted with allies and with pro bono and other legal support.
• Coordinate ICCR’s legal support for affirmative litigation strategies to hold laggard corporations accountable on critical issues related to environmental and social impacts and sound corporate governance.
• Develop written guidance and materials and lead member meetings and trainings to share information on key legal and policy issues.

The ideal candidate will have many or most of the following skills and experience:

• While a particular area of legal expertise is not required, experience in securities law or corporate governance is a strong plus, as is interest and/or experience in environmental law, administrative law, consumer protection, Constitutional law, and/or antitrust.
• Litigation experience is not required but is strongly preferred.
• Excellent research, writing, analytical and public speaking skills.
• Demonstrated experience and ease managing across functional areas and interacting effectively with internal and external stakeholders at the most senior levels.
• Effective, clear communicator and creative problem-solver with the ability to connect with people – lawyers and non-lawyers – and make complex topics understandable.
• Demonstrated experience providing thoughtful and practical legal advice.
• Mission-driven individual with commitment to ICCR’s mission and values.
• Big picture strategic and systems thinker with an ability to get into the details.
• Commitment to learning and staying current on laws and legal environment impacting ICCR’s operations and programmatic work.

Job requirements

• A JD or LLM from an accredited U.S. law school and admission, in good standing, to a state bar within the United States.
• At least 5-7 years of experience in the practice of law.
• You must have the ability to work in the United States on East Coast time. Unfortunately, ICCR is unable to sponsor applicants for employment visas for this role.
• This is a full-time position based in New York or Washington, D.C. The role is largely remote, with the NYC office available as needed. Candidates outside of the New York City or D.C. areas will be considered and are encouraged to apply, but preference will be given to local candidates. Regardless of location, all candidates must be able to travel to NYC for ICCR conferences and other in-person events, as well as other occasional travel as needed.

Salary and Benefits

The starting salary for this role will be up to $175,000 per year depending on experience. This role is full-time and includes generous benefits, including 80% health insurance (individual or with dependents), 11% pension contribution after 6 months, paid dental/vision/life/short- and long-term disability insurance, remote work stipend, and extensive time off (including vacation, sick time, personal days, 13 paid holidays, and organizational time off around July 4th and end of year). Professional development will be provided as appropriate.

It is the policy of ICCR to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, marital status, or disability. This policy is intended to reflect the values and ideals of ICCR’s members and to help ICCR itself model the equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action practices that its members urge corporations to adopt.

Timeline

Interviews are being conducted on a rolling basis, so interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible. We apologize that because of the volume of applications, we are only able to respond to those applicants granted an interview. No phone calls or emails please. All applications must be done through the BeApplied system to be considered. Applicants should upload their CVs, a cover letter, and a relevant writing sample to the BeApplied system.

Expected Start Date:12/1/2025 or sooner.

Application instructions

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