General Counsel

This is a Full Time Job

Job Requirements

Responsibilities:
• Quickly and accurately identify and evaluate legal risks in a complex, fast-moving media and sports business environment and provide expert and strategic legal advice to business unit leaders.
• Anticipate issues and proactively develop creative, business-oriented and brand-consistent solutions to mitigate legal risks across a wide range of practice areas, including intellectual property, rights acquisitions, multi-platform content distribution, newsgathering, advertising and marketing, digital and social media, talent and labor matters, antitrust, sports betting and gaming, college sports and athlete name, image, and likeness matters, legal compliance, government relations, and corporate governance.
• Support ESPN's sports rights negotiations, providing legal leadership on deal strategy, structure, risk allocation, and documentation.
• Orchestrate the delivery of legal services with a One Disney mindset, drawing on the ESPN legal team and shared services elsewhere in LGA to ensure responsiveness and efficiency while maintaining quality.
• Attract, develop, mentor, and motivate the ESPN legal team, upholding integrity, sound judgment, innovation and collaboration while investing in the training and support the team needs as its operating model evolves.
• Build trusted relationships with key stakeholders and the legal team, including senior executive business leaders, legal leaders, and external parties (e.g., regulators, rights holders, external counsel, partners).
• Keep abreast of relevant legislative and regulatory changes, including those affecting media, sports rights, and content distribution.

Basic Qualifications
• Minimum of 15 years of legal experience, including significant in-house leadership experience in a global media, entertainment, or sports business, leading and overseeing business legal advisors in multiple disciplines.
• Exceptional business acumen and sound legal judgment, with the ability to evaluate and advise business units on risk and develop creative, business-oriented solutions in a fast-paced, consumer-facing media environment.
• Broad experience across the practice areas described above, including intellectual property, rights acquisitions and licensing, content distribution, employment and labor, litigation, and legal compliance.
• Experience supporting or leading the negotiation of complex sports or media rights agreements.
• Proven leader of a multidisciplinary legal team at scale, with demonstrable expertise in organizational design and change management.
• Direct experience leading the evolution of a legal operating model - including deployment of legal technology tools, alternative legal service provider relationships, shared services models, and in-sourcing/out-sourcing decisions - to drive efficiency and fiscal accountability.
• Comfort making rigorous, data-driven resource allocation decisions and communicating them with transparency and care.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and ability to collaborate across legal teams, shared services, and business units with an enterprise, One Disney mindset.
• Ability to operate independently, escalating to senior leadership as appropriate.
• Law firm and budget management experience, with creative approaches to outside counsel spend and legal technology.
• Active license in good standing to practice law in a US jurisdiction and capable of meeting admission requirements in CT and NY.
• Demonstrated understanding of the sports, media, broadcast, and/or streaming industries.

Required Education
• Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree or equivalent international degree.

Disclaimer

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