Sr Legal Counsel

Houston, TX

Equal Opportunity Employer: Minority/Female/Disability/Veteran

Waste Management (WM), a Fortune 250 company, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. We are strongly committed to a foundation of operating excellence, professionalism and financial strength. WM serves nearly 25 million customers in residential, commercial, industrial and municipal markets throughout North America through a network of collection operations, transfer stations, landfills, recycling facilities and waste-based energy production projects.

I. Job Summary

The Sr Legal Counsel – Corporate, Sustainability & Securities position will primarily work on corporate transactional matters related to the Company’s sustainability organization (recycling services, organics, and renewable energy). This position will also provide support in the areas of SEC rules and regulations related to periodic reporting and capital markets transactions, including ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance public reporting, such as Corporate Sustainability Reports and similar disclosures in SEC filings and other publications.

We are seeking a candidate with strong corporate/transactional experience, preferably with prior experience in the corporate & securities practice group of a mid-sized or large law firm. It is not a pre-requisite that the candidate has specific experience and expertise in the waste, recycling or renewable energy industries or the corporate sustainability/ESG area. However, the ideal candidate will be self-motivated to develop industry expertise on-the-job and have a passion for the rapidly developing area of corporate sustainability/ESG. Other secondary duties and responsibilities may be assigned to this role, and the individual must be open to learning new subject matters and handling an evolving set of responsibilities across multiple disciplines within the company.

The Sr Legal Counsel will report directly to the Assistant General Counsel – Recycling & Sustainability, with a dotted line to the VP – Securities & Governance / Corporate Secretary. This position is based in Houston, Texas.

II. Essential Skills, Duties and Responsibilities

Advise internal clients with respect to, and draft, review and negotiate contracts relating to, transactional matters supporting the Company’s sustainability platform, including (a) recycling services and commodities; (b) international import/export transactions; (c) renewable energy; (d) project development; (e) mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; and (f) private equity or venture capital style investment.
Assist with review and drafting of disclosures and managing such transactions. Expertise in the area of compliance with SEC rules and regulations applicable to periodic reporting, Section 16 reporting, capital market transactions and the investor relations function is required in this area.
Review and provide legal advice on ESG reporting, such as the Company’s annual Sustainability Report and similar disclosures in SEC filings and other communications/publications.
Coordinate with the Company’s Government Affairs team to provide broad-based legal counsel on strategy relating to sustainability and ESG-related regulations.
May be responsible for management of outside counsel activities as necessary, including determining overall effective legal strategy.
Provide proactive legal and practical business advice to internal clients.
Engage, collaborate, and build strategic business relationships with numerous departments and functions within the Company to work efficiently and effectively while providing a high-level of service to business partners.

III. Supervisory Responsibilities

This job has no supervisory duties but may occasionally act as a team lead and manage work of paralegals or attorneys. However, the individual will not regularly have support from another in-house attorney and must be able to perform legal functions independently.

IV. Qualifications

The requirements listed below are representative of the qualifications necessary to perform the job.

A. Education and Experience

Required:

Juris Doctorate and 7 (seven) or more years of previous experience.
Large or mid-sized law firm experience in a corporate & securities group.

Preferred Experience: The following experience areas are a plus, but not required.

Commodities, Shipping and Import/Export Transactions
Financing Transactions
FCPA
Sustainability / ESG public reporting, regulatory and governance

B. Certificates, Licenses, Registrations or Other Requirements

State Bar Licensure, Texas preferred.

C. Other Knowledge, Skills or Abilities Required

None required.

V. Work Environment

Listed below are key points regarding environmental demands and work environment of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Required to use motor coordination with finger dexterity (such as keyboarding, machine operation, etc.) most of the work day;
Required to exert physical effort in handling objects less than 30 pounds rarely;
Required to be exposed to physical occupational risks (such as cuts, burns, exposure to toxic chemicals, etc.) rarely;
Required to be exposed to physical environment which involves dirt, odors, noise, weather extremes or similar elements rarely;
Normal setting for this job is: office setting and subject to compliance with Company’s policies that may change from time to time

Benefits

At Waste Management, each eligible employee receives a competitive total compensation package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance and Short Term Disability. As well as a Stock Purchase Plan, Company match on 401K, and more! Our employees also receive Paid Vacation, Holidays, and Personal Days. Please note that benefits may vary by site.

If this sounds like the opportunity that you have been looking for, please click "Apply.”