Sr. Paralegal, Intellectual Property and Advertising

The Sr. Paralegal, Intellectual Property and Advertising position is a full-time position designed to play a vital part in providing strategic direction to business and legal partners on a wide variety of Intellectual Property and Advertising matters that impact marketing, Restaurant operations and the Chick-fil-A brand.

This role requires independent decision-making and the ability to excel in a fast-paced, evolving business setting, with a particular focus on rights management and advertising issues, problem-solving and project management skills, and the ability to learn and adjust rapidly to develop and implement new systems. The right person for this role will be able to work effectively across many different teams and has an eye for detail while also maintaining an appreciation for the big picture. This position also will work on various other IP-related projects as needed, including those relating to entertainment, patents, and digital infrastructure.

Our Flexible Future model offers a healthy mix of working in person and virtually, strengthening key elements of the Chick-fil-A culture by fostering collaboration and community. 

• Manage the legal clearance of external-facing branded materials and entertainment content for multiple lines of business and international markets by directing outside counsel and coordinating with in-house attorneys and business partners. This includes leading work to adapt new processes using automation and technology solutions in order to support the increasing volume of this work. This also requires managing and tracking analytics related to clearance review.
• Research, review, and analyze advertising issues, including NAD and FTC decisions, that may impact the work being done by Chick-fil-A and the Marketing department.
• Partner with in-house counsel in the development of a trade secret portfolio management program. This work includes tracking and supporting the trade secret practices across multiple areas of the business, including, without limitation, Menu & Packaging, Supply Chain, Financial Services, Operations, and Customer Technology for both US and International jurisdictions. This work also includes educating business partners on best practices to ensure trade secret protection.
• Manage sweepstakes and contest requests including adaptation of the processes our business partners use to make these requests. Work directly with outside counsel on drafting of rules and other documents needed to support sweepstakes, contests, and similar marketing activities.
• Work with business partners and in-house counsel on the development and maintenance of enterprise wide rights management program and best practices, including audit and collection of rights information, response to licensing requests, creation of forms library and processes, and coordination with business partners on maintenance of rights and restrictions information.
• Transactional support for intellectual property and entertainment agreements in partnership with multiple in-house legal counsel teams and management of content production forms with third party production partners, in-house agency, and business teams.
• Assist Sr. Counsel-level counsel in providing day-to-day direction, strategy, and guidance to the business on legal issues impacting Chick-fil-A, Inc. and its affiliated entities.
• Assist with preparation and updating of IP related training materials.
• Coordinate relationships with outside counsel and various business partners.
• Assist with negotiations of Chick-fil-A’s ownership of photographs, music, and other works of art.
• Support technology change-management for the IP team by collaborating with Legal Operations, DTT, and others on technology solutions and process improvements.
• Regularly communicate with external industry trade associations (such as the ANA) to gain updates and insights on new laws of importance to CFA.
• Conduct research on various IP- and advertising law-related matters.

• 8 years of paralegal experience in a law firm or corporate law department.
• Strong communication skills.
• Strong writing and editing skills.
• Ability to identify and set priorities.
• High level of initiative.
• Ability to partner with, advise and support cross-functional projects and teams.
• Competence in the use of technology and standard MS Office applications.
• Excellent planning and organizational skills with the ability to manage shifting demands and tight deadlines.
• Ability to support multiple lines of businesses and understand key requirements in US and potentially International markets;
• Able to thrive in a dynamic changing business environment; intellectual curiosity and desire to learn, attention to detail, ability to adapt and create new processes and systems to support attorneys and key business partners.

• Experience in retail, restaurant or other consumer facing industry.
• Paralegal Certificate from accredited program