Sr. Commercial Legal Counsel, Peter Millar & G/FORE

It's fun to work in a company where people truly BELIEVE in what they're doing!

We're committed to bringing passion and customer focus to the business.

Peter Millar and G/FORE are two Maison’s owned by Richemont, but more than that, we are a team of colleagues primarily based in Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina and Los Angeles, CA.  Peter Millar was founded in 2001, producing a single cashmere sweater. Since them we have grown a lot, and our product range has also evolved. G/FORE was founded in Los Angeles in 2012 and was acquired by Peter Millar in 2018.  G/FORE’s range displays a passion for modern design combined with a love of golf. Both brands share north stars of excellence in product quality and customer service. We have our own retail stores across the US, considerable point of sale presence in the most illustrious golf and country clubs, as well as multiple quality multi-brand retailers.  Directly operated e-commerce is also a considerable share of our business.  We have an ethos of working harder and smarter than our competitors in the pursuit of long-term customer loyalty.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

As the Senior Commercial Legal Counsel for Peter Millar and G/FORE, you will be based in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina.  You will report directly to the head legal counsel for Peter Millar and G/FORE, who is based in New York City with the Richemont Americas legal team and will have functional line reporting to Peter Millar’s Chief Financial Officer.  You will have the role of managing, implementing and executing a legal and strategic review of Peter Millar and G/FORE’s commercial initiatives and matters through a legal lens in the United States, as well as exposure to legal and intellectual property matters globally.  This role requires a highly motivated and experienced legal professional with a strong transactional background, as well as experience in employment law, litigation management, and compliance.  This is a fast-paced job for a dynamic lawyer who can juggle multiple projects, prioritize and re-prioritize in a fluid environment, and who demonstrates excellent judgment in knowing when to be flexible and when to draw a hard line or escalate an issue.  At the same time, you should share our team’s commitment to treating everyone in the Peter Millar, G/FORE and wider Richemont family with kindness and respect.  To thrive you must be curious about all facets of our business and build relationships across the company based on humility, trust and empathy.

This job profile is not meant to be all inclusive of the responsibilities of this position and may include other duties as assigned, but areas of focus will be as follows:

COMPETENCIES:

• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide variety of US commercial agreements, with a primary focus on digital, technology, e-commerce and SaaS agreements, retail-related and marketing agreements, entertainment and communications agreements, distribution/logistics and master supply agreements, consulting agreements, releases, purchase order terms and conditions and other third-party vendor agreements.  Ensure that all commercial agreements comply with applicable laws and regulations, as well as company and Richemont Group policies.
• Proactively partner with internal clients and business teams to help them understand business deals, identify and mitigate key risks associated with transactions, and provide quick, concise, and commercially-focused legal advice with respect to often complex commercial transactions.
• Provide general legal advice and support to business units, including sales, marketing, operations, human resources, technology, customer service and supply chain, on a wide range of legal matters.
• Manage litigation and pre-litigation matters, including coordinating with outside counsel, conducting internal investigations, and developing litigation strategies.
• Partner with the company Human Resources colleagues and Richemont Americas employment counsel to manage employment law matters, including hiring, termination, employee relations, compliance with labor laws and drafting and reviewing employment policies and procedures.
• Partner with the company’s executive management and Richemont Americas legal and compliance teams to identify and assess legal risks, develop strategies to mitigate those risks, provide legal advice on compliance matters, such as anti-corruption, data privacy, and competition law, and develop and deliver training programs on legal and compliance topics.
• Manage outside legal counsel as needed.
• Liaise with existing indirect procurement lead to develop contract training materials and conduct training sessions for business teams.
• Support procurement lead in development of contract tools and systems to negotiate common commercial issues, including form agreements, templates, and negotiation principles/guidelines.

DESIRED EDUCATION & BACKGROUND:

• J.D. required from a leading recognized law school; strong academic credentials
• Must be a member of at least one state bar in good standing (North Carolina and/or New York are required)
• 7-10 years of transactional legal experience, preferably gained through a combination of law firm and in-house roles of increasing visibility and responsibility
• Strong general commercial contract skills and experience.
• Experience in employment law and litigation management.
• Experience in retail or consumer products industries preferred.
• Ability to think like a business person, to integrate legal and business issues and to partner with business leaders
• Must be able to manage multiple projects simultaneously, and organize workload to meet organizational timelines in a fast paced, very high-growth environment
• Collaborative nature with strong interpersonal skills, a sense of humility, a curiosity-led growth mindset and a good sense of humor
• Strong team working and project management skills, combined with ability to work as part of a cross functional team in a complex matrix environment
• With flexible work policies, must be able to regularly work in-person in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina corporate offices
• Ability to frequently travel domestically (to New York and Los Angeles), and internationally (as and if needed), is required

If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!