General Counsel or Head of Legal
Independent nonprofit think tank researching and advising on legal and policy challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
Funding history
About Institute for Law & AI
LawAI conducts research and consulting on how laws, legal institutions, and policymakers should respond to increasingly capable and deployed AI systems. Its work spans US law and policy, EU law, and Legal Frontiers research.
Skills
About the Role
You will serve as the first in-house lawyer, advising leadership on legal strategy, risk, and novel questions. You will structure programs, grants, entities, contracts, and compliance arrangements; address employment and visa matters; and create practical legal processes, policies, and templates.
Requirements
- Experienced lawyer
- Excellent judgment
- Strong drafting skills
- Record of driving work forward with little oversight
- Ability to assess and communicate legal risks and recommend a path forward
- Ability to handle sensitive matters with discretion
Responsibilities
- Own legal strategy and risk management.
- Advise leadership on legal exposure, likelihood, cost, and initiative structure.
- Resolve novel and complex legal questions quickly.
- Structure new programs, grants, and specialist legal research engagements.
- Manage US, UK, and EU entity structures, governance, cost sharing, and compliance.
- Ensure 501(c)(3) lobbying compliance.
- Draft and manage agreements for publications, partnerships, law firms, events, and fellowships.
- Handle authorship, intellectual-property licensing, employment, contractor, and visa matters.
- Build legal templates, policies, and rules of thumb.
- Decide which legal work remains in-house and which is outsourced.
Benefits
- Flexible working hours
- 5 weeks of recommended PTO per year plus public holidays
- 12 weeks of paid parental leave, with additional unpaid leave available
- Employer pension or matching 401(k) contribution up to 4% of salary
- Health insurance for employees in countries without nationalized healthcare
- Annual $5,000 productivity and professional-development reimbursement
- Annual $5,000 mental-health-support reimbursement
- Annual $2,500 equipment and office-supplies reimbursement
- Annual team retreat
- Paid honorarium for the work trial
Hiring Process
Submit application by November 1, 2026; initial screening call; approximately two-hour work test; remote interviews and reference checks; paid one-day work trial (remote or in person); employment offer.