Acumen is looking for a mission-driven lawyer to join our team based in New York. Were seeking someone with a minimum of 4 years of experience practicing funds formation and/or transactional law and managing legal projects across various stakeholders with a proven commitment to tackling poverty or social causes. The right candidate is skilled creative kind pragmatic respectful and can excel in a fast-paced environment. Acumen has a hybrid work model with 3 days in the office.
About Acumen
Acumen is a global force of entrepreneurs investors philanthropists and social innovators working together to build a world based on dignity. We were founded by Jacqueline Novogratz on the radical idea that business when cultivated with moral imagination can break the cycle of poverty. We invest in transformational companies build sustainable markets and prepare leaders with the tools they need to create a more just and inclusive future. Since 2001 we have scaled companies and shaped markets in some of the hardest-to-reach communities on the planet impacting over half-a-billion lives. Through our investment adviser Acumen Capital Partners we are responsible for $166 million in assets under management via our returnable pooled investment funds which have impacted 238 million lives and offset 48 million metric tons of CO2. To learn more visit .
About the Role
The Legal Counsel at Acumen will provide a wide range of support to the program fundraising and operations teams. Reporting to the Director of Legal and working closely with the General Counsel this legal counsel role will function primarily as a fund formation specialist with accountability for particular investors as well as a corporate and commercial generalist to effect our programs efficiently and manage overall risk to the organization. A successful candidate will be expected to provide and coordinate timely and efficient legal involvement in our transactions to manage the activities of outside counsel and to support and maintain cohesion across our global investment and support teams. The role provides an opportunity to work with experienced practitioners and operators contribute to purpose driven work and to be a key part of building a fast growing investment adviser focused on solving problems of poverty on track to have over $500 million in AUM the next year.
Principal areas of accountability are:
- Fund Marketing Formation and Oversight. The role will engage in legal support throughout the life cycle of our pooled investment vehicles from development marketing investor diligence funding proposals formation negotiation implementation operationalization reporting and through to liquidation. The role requires understanding of our returnable fund documentation across our fund products liaising with various teams (such as investment fundraising finance ESG and compliance) and outside counsel for our existing and new pooled investment vehicles negotiation of new fund offerings review of marketing and reporting materials and compliance with applicable regulatory frameworks; the role also requires the ability to communicate complex issues and implications with various team members to support decision-making. The role will be accountable for the investment adviser across the portfolio of fund products. The role should understand the requirements of various funders and be able to negotiate for consistency and good sense in new initiatives and support in managing those relationships. This role balances the fund managers needs for integrity consistency and coherence across products as well as the specific fund teams needs for a saleable effective fund product.
- Deal Diligence and Documentation and Contract Review: The legal counsel will confirm returnable fund investments meet funder requirements which may include creating investee side letters passing on certain obligations review of term sheets and diligence summaries to identify conditions to the investment and review of final documentation in coordination with outside such a role knowledge of venture capital and emerging markets investing is a plus. Additionally the incumbent will handle contractual needs for our returnable fund teams including grants vendors technical assistance and nondisclosure agreements. The role will involve ongoing monitoring of fund activities alongside the fund teams for alignment with investor notice and consent requirements.
- Collaboration with Legal Team Needs. As a hands-on 11 person internal legal team consisting of Legal (programmatic governance) Compliance and ESG accountabilities additional activities outside the pooled vehicle work may be requested. As needed such individual may be asked to 1) support our early stage pioneer investing team members in structuring and developing term sheets and documentation for Acumens venture capital debt and equity investments and driving investments to efficient closing 2) draft and review contracts for our various functional teams and 3) engage in various other initiatives to promote operational sustainability among other activities.
Skills and Qualifications
- Minimum of 4 years of experience practicing funds and transactional law and managing legal projects across various stakeholders; experience with governmental funders including the Green Climate Fund or development finance institutions is a plus as is experience working with an impact or charitably oriented organization as well as exposure to US and/or UK investment adviser regulations
- Strong organizational and diplomacy skills and the ability to work and deliver various simultaneous projects independently proactively and under pressure
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Commitment to accuracy attention to detail and follow-through
- Commitment to and enthusiasm for Acumens mission and business model a sense of the sectors inherent challenge
- Aptitude for and comfort navigating ambiguity and striving to create clarity with a constant emphasis on integrity and ethical behavior
- Ability to remain cool-headed in unexpected or emotionally charged situations use education and pragmatism to stay the course on Acumens goals and withstand the tests of a rapidly changing environment with resilience resolve empathy humor and kindness
- Amenability to working across different time zones in an efficient manner
- Self reflective and aligned with Acumen values
- Must be licensed to practice law in the US with a JD or equivalent
- Must be authorized to work in the US.
Deadline
Apply as early as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
The salary range for this role in New York is $90000 to $120000 USD plus a performance-based bonus. This range represents the present low and high end of pay range for this role. Actual compensation will vary based on various factors including but not limited to experience. Acumen has equal pay so pay is determined through comparison to a cohort of employees in the market at the same level of accountability.
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