Assistant General Counsel I, Office of General Counsel and Early Drug Development Service

The people of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) are united by a singular mission: ending cancer for life. Our specialized care teams provide personalized, compassionate, expert care to patients of all ages. Informed by basic research done at our Sloan Kettering Institute, scientists across MSK collaborate to conduct innovative translational and clinical research that is driving a revolution in our understanding of cancer as a disease and improving the ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat it. MSK is dedicated to training the next generation of scientists and clinicians, who go on to pursue our mission at MSK and around the globe. 

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Assistant General Counsel I, Office of General Counsel and Early Drug Development Service

At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), we strive to lead the way in every stage of the research process. Nearly every treatment available today for people with cancer is the result of a clinical trial that started with a phase I study. Our Early Drug Development (EDD) Service conducts phase I trials of promising new drugs in adult patients and pediatric patients with solid tumors in the body or brain. We run broad phase I clinical trials across disease types and molecular targets.

MSK is currently conducting more than 600 clinical trials in all phases of research for many types of cancer. Of those, our EDD team is conducting more than 35 phase I studies (with plans to grow), working closely with doctors and scientists in the Department of Medicine, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology, Precision Pathology Biobanking Center, Functional Genomics Initiative, Center for Epigenetics Research, and Brain Tumor Center.

MSK’s Office of General Counsel is seeking an experienced attorney to join its Research Contracting team and primarily support our EDD Service. In this role, you will negotiate contracts to provide MSK patients with the earliest opportunities to access the latest drugs against a specific cancer or cancer mutation, advise our experienced investigators and clinical research leaders, contribute to the growth of our EDD service, and advance MSK’s mission of ending cancer for life.

Role Overview:

• Independently draft, review, negotiate, and/or manage agreements for all types of research relationships and transactions, especially for requests from across our EDD service.
• Proactively update and develop strong working relationships with investigators and other internal stakeholders.
• Develop and implement MSK contract guidance documents, workflows, policies, SOPs, and tools for tracking and managing agreements, adapting for our EDD service where applicable.
• Collaborate closely with other members of the MSK Legal team, sharing and addressing new legal, business, and institutional issues as relevant.
• Contribute to special legal projects and initiatives assigned by the Vice President, Associate General Counsel & Chief IP Counsel, the Lead Assistant General Counsel for Clinical Research Contracting, and the Chief of EDD.

Key Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor with active bar membership in good standing.
• Approximately 4-6 years of experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating research contracts (e.g., clinical trial agreements, sponsored research agreements, research collaboration agreements, material and/or data transfer agreements, multi-center or consortium agreements), preferably on behalf of an academic medical center or non-profit institution.
• Demonstrated knowledge of contract law, intellectual property issues, and research or healthcare transactions.

Core Skills:

• Outstanding written and verbal communication.
• Excellent issue spotting and negotiating with sharp attention to detail.
• Exceptional professionalism and client service, including discretion, diplomacy, and sound legal and business judgment.
• Adeptness at building partnerships and working collaboratively across teams to meet shared objectives.
• Strong project management and prioritization, comfortable working in a fast-paced environment notable for a high volume of contract requests and deadlines.
• Enthusiasm for designing new workflows and processes and performing ongoing optimization.

Additional Information:

• Location: Hybrid with at least two days (currently Mondays and Tuesdays) on-site at 633 Third Avenue, in NYC.
• Schedule: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.
• Reporting directly to the Vice President, Associate General Counsel & Chief IP Counsel (and indirectly to the Lead Assistant General Counsel for Clinical Research Contracting and the Chief of EDD).

Pay Range: $131,800 - $217,500.

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• MSK Compensation Philosophy
• Review Our Greats Benefits Offerings

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