General Counsel
Smith College seeks an experienced General Counsel who will bring a capacity to lead and provide thoughtful guidance in a complex and changing higher education environment. Reporting to the president and working closely with the president’s team, the general counsel will be providing a full array of in-house legal counsel for Smith College. This is a unique opportunity for a motivated self-starter to re-establish an in-house legal counsel office after 15 years of an outsourced model.
Successful candidates will have a Juris Doctorate from an ABA accredited law school with minimum 5 years legal experience and must be licensed to practice law in at least one United States jurisdiction, and will be required to seek admission to the Massachusetts Bar and maintain good standing. Expert knowledge on issues of academic freedom and the ability to navigate tensions between academic freedom and compliance with the college’s legal requirements. Unquestionable integrity, trustworthiness, and a commitment to upholding rigorous ethical standards and confidentiality. Professionalism, decorum, and diplomacy in all interactions, with the ability to engage others with respect and empathy, in line with the college’s mission and values is essential.
A Commitment to equity and inclusion and experience working with diverse populations.
To learn more about the role and to apply, click here:
https://smithcollege.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/smithcollege/job/Smith-College/General-Counsel_R-202400287
About Smith
Founded in 1871 as a private college with a mission to provide women with an excellent liberal arts education, Smith is one of the top 20 liberal arts colleges in the country. Primarily an undergraduate residential college, Smith distinguishes itself in many ways. With more than 2,300 undergraduates, approximately 300 faculty members, and an 8:1 student to faculty ratio, Smith’s enrollment and faculty size enable it to combine the curricular breadth of a small university with the close personal attention of a residential liberal arts college. Nearly 150 years ago, Sophia Smith expressed her vision of a liberal arts college for women equal to the best available to men. By means of such a college, she wrote in her will, women’s “wrongs will be redressed, their wages adjusted, their weight of influence in reforming the evils of society will be greatly increased...their power for good incalculably enlarged.” In keeping with Sophia Smith’s intent, the college aims to produce graduates distinguished by their intellectual capabilities, their capacity for leadership, their ethical values, and their readiness to contribute to the betterment of the world. Today, Smith is among the largest of the selective liberal arts colleges and offers a broad curriculum. Its programs in the arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences have expanded to respond to the intellectual interests of today’s students. A supportive academic environment is complemented by a housing program in which most students live in residential houses accommodating from 10 to 100 students. Smith students are passionate and motivated about civic issues; its faculty are engaged and productive scholars in their fields and devoted to teaching; and its staff are true collaborators with faculty and administrators.