Corporate Counsel - Contracts

Job Description

Job Description

Job Title: Corporate Counsel – Contracts

Company: AISIN World Corp. of America

Department: General Administration, Legal Affairs Department

Location: Northville, MI

Position Summary

AISIN World Corp of America, Inc. (“Company”) is looking to hire a dynamic, energetic, and team-oriented in-house attorney for the position of Corporate Counsel – Contracts (“Contracts Counsel”). The ideal candidate will have direct experience working on an in-house legal department team and managing an enterprise-wide contract program. This candidate will have expertise in contract review, transactional support, and contract lifecycle management. This position will oversee and coordinate contract review, lifecycle management, education, and standardization efforts for the Company and its affiliates and subsidiaries.

The Contracts Counsel role involves managing the Company’s contract program, including contract review and lifecycle management. Responsibilities include reviewing contracts, providing markups and revisions, drafting contracts, and preparing other legal documents as necessary. The role will also involve negotiating contracts with external parties alongside company team members to protect the company’s legal interests and ensure a clear understanding of the risks associated with each transaction. Additionally, the role includes collaborating with the Company’s legal vendors and law firms on outsourced contract reviews.

This position reports directly to the Company’s general counsel and is based at the Company’s Northville, Michigan office. The role requires a hybrid work schedule, with three (3) days per week on-site (subject to meetings and travel). Attendance is a key requirement for employment. This hybrid schedule may be adjusted according to the Company’s HR policies.

Position Responsibilities

The incumbent is expected to perform the following functions that the company has determined are essential to this position:

Legal:

• Legal review of commercial and transactional documents.
• Review markups of commercial and transactional documents.
• Draft commercial and transactional documents.
• Manage employee expectations and communicate effectively with Company staff regarding the review processes and lead times for commercial and transactional documents.
• Provide legal advice and guidance to Company employees on issues related to commercial and transactional documents, negotiations, and contract disputes.
• Collaborate closely with Company staff during contract negotiations and transactions.
• Negotiate with customers, suppliers, vendors, and other external parties to protect the Company’s legal interests.
• Oversee legal vendors and law firms in relation to contract review assignments and legal tasks.
• Report to the general counsel on ongoing projects, including contract negotiations, review statuses, and legal support for disputes.
• Conduct training sessions for Company employees on best practices for contracts.
• Work with multiple teams internal to the Company to support decision-making relating to contracts and transactions among the various departments.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

Contract Document Review:

• Monitor the company’s cloud-based contract queue daily.
• Monitor the legal department’s email dedicated to contract issues.
• Conduct regular reviews of contract documents received in the queue promptly.
• Evaluate and decide how to handle contracts.
• Triage and assign contracts to internal and external counsel for legal review.
• Coordinate and facilitate communication of legal reviews between counsel and team members.
• Maintain clear expectations with company employees and communicate effectively regarding contract reviews and lead times.
• Issue legal approvals or denials for contracts.
• Update the cloud-based queue daily with the status of contracts.
• Oversee and manage outside counsel’s review of contracts, including issues like timing, cost, and information facilitation.
• Train team members on using the contract document review program.
• Perform any other tasks related to the contract document review program as needed

Contract Lifecycle Management:

• Monitor the Company’s contract lifecycle management system.
• Upload, tag, and organize executed contracts as needed.
• Collaborate with team members to assist in uploading all executed contracts.
• Work with team members to ensure proper tagging and organization of all executed contracts.
• Help identify contract champions at each of the Company’s locations as needed.
• Partner with contract champions to train and facilitate the correct use of the contract lifecycle management system.
• Upload, tag, and organize executed contracts as necessary.
• Work with the Company and team members to locate, obtain, and upload legacy contracts at each location.
• Perform any other tasks related to the contract lifecycle program as needed.

Standardization:

• Manage all of the Company’s standardized contracts.
• Ability to identify needs for additional standardized contract documents.
• Update and revise standardized contracts as directed by internal counsel.
• Manage the Company’s standardized eContract system.
• Train team members in the proper use and application of standardized contracts.
• Assist team members with using and implementing standardized contracts as needed.
• Develop and maintain contract playbooks regarding the legal department’s stance on various contract clauses and language.
• Perform any other tasks related to standardized contracts as required.

Required Skills and Abilities

Essential Skills and Experience:

• At least five (5) years of verifiable prior experience in an in-house legal department reviewing contracts and providing advice and counsel on contracts and transactions.
• Self-directed leader with the ability to work independently and show initiative.
• Strong business acumen and proficiency in the automotive industry and supply chain issues are essential.
• Outstanding client service mentality.
• Ability to manage many contracts simultaneously.
• Good with technology and software applications
• Ability to manage client expectations.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Detail-oriented.
• Strong attention to detail with a factual and legal analytic capability
• Ability to interact effectively with individuals of varied backgrounds and skill levels.
• Comfortable with aggressive and proactive defense strategies
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Impeccable communication, both written and verbal, with strong negotiation skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.... Including the ability to “track changes” and redline documents.

Beneficial Skills and Experience

• Prior experience in the automotive industry.
• Prior experience with Japanese companies.
• Prior experience with an enterprise-wide contract document review and contract lifecycle management program.
• Prior experience with Canadian and Mexican contracts/transactions.
• Contract Management Software
• Form-Building Software

Education/Training/Certifications

• J.D. or LLM with Foreign License is required.
• MBA or Undergraduate in Business Administration is preferred.

Travel Requirements

• Approximately 5% or less
• Domestic trips to CA, TX, KY, TN, IN, IL, OH, GA
• Passport required for possible international trips to Canada and Mexico.
• Must be willing and available to travel to such locations and with such frequency as is necessary and desirable to meet business needs.

Work Environment Requirements

With reasonable accommodation:

• Must be able to operate a personal computer, telephone, and other office equipment.
• Must perform job duties onsite, when necessary, except those duties that are customarily or by their nature performed offsite (for example, offsite customer visits).
• Must be able to work effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Must be able to work on multiple assignments at once, and complete assignments within deadline and budget (if applicable) with satisfactory quality.
• Must be able to operate as an effective team member.
• Must be committed to a high standard of safety and be willing and able to comply with all safety laws and all company safety policies.
• Physical demands: Mostly sedentary. Light work. Occasional lifting of between 15 lbs. – 30 lbs.

Attendance/Work Hour Requirements

• Must maintain an acceptable attendance record.
• Must be willing and available to work weekends and holidays as necessary and desirable to meet business needs.

Company Description

AISIN Corporation is consistently ranked as a Top 10 global Tier One automotive supplier, providing essential parts, components and technologies for most vehicles on the road today, including hybrid and electric vehicles. These products include brakes, transmissions, navigation systems, drivetrain, chassis, body, engine-related parts, electronics, and intelligent parking systems.

A $32 billion company, AISIN is the largest manufacturer of automatic transmissions in the world and employs more than 120,000 team members at 200 consolidated companies.

AISIN leads the way in developing parts, systems and technologies that address the primary concerns of the industry today – electrification and zero emissions. In addition, we are dedicated to providing mobility solutions for everyone throughout the world through our innovative approach and combined technological experience.

"Chances are the vehicle you are riding in is equipped with an AISIN product."

Company Description

AISIN Corporation is consistently ranked as a Top 10 global Tier One automotive supplier, providing essential parts, components and technologies for most vehicles on the road today, including hybrid and electric vehicles. These products include brakes, transmissions, navigation systems, drivetrain, chassis, body, engine-related parts, electronics, and intelligent parking systems. \r\n\r\nA $32 billion company, AISIN is the largest manufacturer of automatic transmissions in the world and employs more than 120,000 team members at 200 consolidated companies.\r\n\r\nAISIN leads the way in developing parts, systems and technologies that address the primary concerns of the industry today – electrification and zero emissions. In addition, we are dedicated to providing mobility solutions for everyone throughout the world through our innovative approach and combined technological experience.\r\n\r\n"Chances are the vehicle you are riding in is equipped with an AISIN product."