Director, Legal Counsel – Complex Cross-Functional Litigation

Your opportunity

At Schwab, you are empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us “challenge the status quo” and transform the finance industry together. The Litigation, Enforcement, and Internal Investigations team is affectionately and colloquially known as the flagship of Schwab’s Legal Department. The team encompasses several areas, including civil litigation, regulatory defense, arbitrations, internal investigations, and crisis-type situations.

We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in our Westlake, Texas location. This role is expected to work in the office at least 4 days a week.

As a Director, Legal Counsel-Complex Cross-Functional Litigation, you will work on a variety of the most complex matters at Schwab, such as class action complaints and high stakes regulatory enforcement matters. This role is expected to help senior leaders across the enterprise navigate difficult challenges to their businesses and work toward expeditious resolution. Your work would include day-to-day matter management and, more importantly, providing strategic guidance and counsel to many of the most senior executives at Schwab.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Providing strategic direction: Lead and guide the firm’s strategic approach toward case management and successful resolution. This is the most challenging and rewarding part of the job because we are asked to represent Schwab in matters that can’t be easily categorized or that involve widespread impact.
• Litigation: Manage and litigate high-profile cases, regulatory matters, and FINRA arbitration claims. Responsibilities include conducting research; factual investigation and discovery; interviewing witnesses; drafting pleadings and written submissions; negotiating with opposing counsel; and appearing in Court or in FINRA arbitrations on behalf of Schwab.
• Counseling and collaborating: Work across the legal department and with business counterparts and corporate affairs to ensure transparency and alignment; proactively identify risks and recommend mitigation strategies; and lead and conduct training for legal, compliance, and business teams.
• Leading: Supervise, manage, and direct outside counsel, ensuring that case assessment, strategy, and execution are aligned with Schwab’s vision and objectives.
• Learning: Work on cutting edge financial and regulatory issues essential to Schwab’s business strategy. You will have the opportunity to learn and expand your comfort zone because we work on a wide variety of cases. And you will continuously expand your knowledge and skills to best advise on issues essential to Schwab’s business strategy.
• Having fun: Culture is vital to us! You’ll be joining a terrific team and some of the best professionals in the industry. While this is serious work, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
• Other duties as assigned: IYKYK. And when you’re a litigator, you know it’s impossible to capture everything in a simple job description.

What you have

To ensure we fulfill our promise of “challenging the status quo,” this role has specific qualifications that successful candidates should have: 

Required Qualifications:

• A law degree (JD, LLB or equivalent) from an accredited US law school and admitted to and in good standing with at least one U.S. state bar.
• Eight plus years of experience as a practicing attorney in-house or at a law firm.
• Three plus years of experience leading complex litigation, regulatory, and arbitration matters, preferably relating to financial services matters.
• Knowledge of and interest in the securities industry, regulatory practices, and securities rules. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience litigating complex matters in court or in arbitrations.
• Experience practicing with or before the SEC, FINRA, DOJ, or other comparable governmental entities.
• Strategic, practical, and creative insights with excellent emotional intelligence and outstanding client relationship management and negotiation skills.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Extraordinary interpersonal and communication skills and excellence at communicating information effectively internally and externally, including to non-legal audiences.
• Excellent judgment and comfort making critical decisions under challenging circumstances and compressed timelines.
• Comfort with people – from the most senior executive leaders to colleagues who have never spoken to a lawyer before – and being equally at home in a conference room, a board room, a virtual meeting, or a courtroom.
• Confidence and decisiveness.
• A love for challenges and solving problems, taking pride in your work, and finding joy in the process.

In addition to the salary range, this role is also eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities.