About CDP

CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s only independent environmental disclosure system. As the founder of environmental reporting, we believe in transparency and the power of data to drive change.

Partnering with leaders in enterprise, capital, policy and science, we surface the information needed to enable Earth-positive decisions. We helped more than 24,800 companies and almost 1,000 cities, states and regions disclose their environmental impacts in 2024. Financial institutions with more than a quarter of the world’s institutional assets use CDP data to help inform investment and lending decisions.

Our team is truly global, united by our shared desire to build a world where people, planet and profit are balanced. Visit cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.

The Team:

The Regional General Counsel Team Provides legal advice and oversight within a specific geographic area for our organization. The North American General Counsel acts as a key legal advisor for the region, managing legal risks and ensuring compliance with relevant laws and regulations. They collaborate with regional leadership to support business objectives and growth. Additionally, the purpose of the Regional Counsel Team is to support the Board of Directors of the regional entity and local teams with high quality legal advice, triage issues locally and work collaboratively with wider legal team to obtain support from the Shared Services and Global Centers of Excellence.

About this role:
The Regional General Counsel, NA will have regional accountability for CDP’s regulatory and legal compliance, providing extensive legal advice and guidance to local teams and the Board of Directors of the regional entity to enable informed decision making. In addition, the Regional General Counsel, NA, will be the central point of contact for all legal matters for their region. They will need to work seamlessly with their colleagues and centers of global expertise and shared services.

What you will do:

Lead on the regional implementation of CDP's strategy and approach for legal, to enable the operational effectiveness of the global legal function
Ensure that the appropriate members of the Directorate are briefed on any existing or emerging issues or risks
Contribute to the creation and maintenance of precedents, template agreements, playbooks and know how
Guide the Grant and Development teams, provide legal advice on Grant arrangements, Service Agreements and other philanthropic engagements to support these teams to obtain external funding (leveraging CDP precedents/templates maintained by the Head of Commercial Legal’s team)
Draft, negotiate and support the Grant and Development team in engagement with sponsorship arrangements with governments, regulatory bodies and other sponsors to deliver partnerships for CDP projects that deliver its mission (leveraging CDP precedents/templates maintained by the Head of Commercial Legal’s team)
Work across the Regional Counsel Team and with the Head of Commercial Legal to prepare and deliver handbooks and training on grant arrangements including standard inter-group arrangements for sub-grants, working with the finance team to ensure that all arrangements are tax effective and appropriately documented
Collaborate with other teams involved in innovation, change, and ecosystem partnerships to ensure that legal risks are understood and mitigated for funding opportunity approval and new project initiatives
Maximize on the deployment of legal resources within the region, leverage the expertise within the global legal function effectively and provide guidance to regional stakeholders enabling delivery of CDP’s mission
Work closely with the global centers of expertise to implement internal policies, processes, procedures, and training on a regional level; to ensure regions are effectively supported
Lead on all corporate/charitable governance matters relating to the entities established within the region (US 501(3)(c)) including interacting with Board of Directors of the regional entity as necessary and appropriate
Work with the Company Secretariat or local company secretarial services to act as a gatekeeper and advocate of the CDP governance framework
Advise and support effective systems regionally to ensure compliance and adherence to data privacy requirements, and other statutory local rules to minimise CDP’s exposure
Keep the CLO informed, manage litigation and dispute resolution processes within region in order to assess and recommended appropriate courses of action
Drive legal compliance within region with applicable laws, regulations, and regional standards; to ensure alignment within the global legal function
Collaborate with the Head of Commercial, Legal to manage the drafting and review of complex contracts and agreements within region where subject to local laws or which require local regional knowledge
• Engage, instruct, and manage external legal counsel when specialist legal advice is required
Manage regional allocation of Directorate budget
• Any other duties and responsibilities reasonably required that are commensurate to the role
• Ad hoc global project work including contributing to the Directorate’s RACI

Actively contribute to an effective and engaged team, clear on its purpose and contribution, by:

Ensuring you know what is expected of you, through regular 1:1’s, having clear objectives in place, and participating in open and honest performance and development conversations
Ensuring a respectful and inclusive workplace, where team members communicate openly, share knowledge so it can be used, and respect difference
Living the CDP Values and demonstrating the behaviours appropriate to your position

Internal stakeholders include: Internal and External stakeholders within the region (e.g.: external lawyers, public authorities, courts, contract partners)
External stakeholders include: Vendors, other service providers

We’re looking for:

J.D. degree from an accredited law school, along with active membership of the New York bar and 5- 10 years’ experience
Experience advising on and ensuring fulfilment of all legal obligations applicable to a charity/not for profit and for directly supporting Trustees/Boards (as applicable)
Excellent knowledge of contractual/commercial law, litigation, IP, data privacy and broad legal and regulatory compliance experience
Strong experience working with and presenting to Trustees, Boards, Committees and senior leadership (as applicable by region)
• Experience of Company secretarial/governance work or of overseeing this responsibility
Strong ability to provide legal advice to regional stakeholders and influence decision making
Excellent communication and relationship management skills
Proven ability to foster collaboration and build relationships with regional internal and external stakeholders
Excellent judgement with integrity
Adept at dealing with challenges and disputes in an effective and efficient way without losing sight of business goals.
Be organised and methodical and able to deliver against a varied workload, managing competing priorities under your own initiative
Proactive, with a solution orientated attitude to resolving commercial/ business issues
Strong interpersonal, project management and communication skill

Before you apply :

We’ll only use the information you provide to process your application. For more details on how we use your information, see our applicant’s privacy notice. By uploading your CV and covering letter, you are permitting CDP to use the information you have provided for recruitment purposes.  

How to apply: 

Please upload your CV in the application form.

The salary banding for this role is $147,735 - $174,754

This is a hybrid role, candidates will need to live within a commutable distance of the New York office and be comfortable with 2 days in the office per week.