Executive Director, Legal and Business Affairs
Park and Fine Literary and Media
New York, NYFull Time Job
Purpose:
Boutique literary agency is hiring a full-time Executive Director, Legal and Business Affairs, with practical experience blending traditional legal disciplines, such as entertainment law, contract law, intellectual property law, and business law, to oversee day-to-day Legal and Business Affairs for a 20-person independent literary agency. The position reports to two Equity Partners and the Managing Partner and works alongside Non-Equity Partners to design and implement a scalable Legal and Business Affairs vision and practices that aligns with company values and strategy. PFLM values colleagues from diverse personal and professional backgrounds.
Your Profile:
The right candidate is conscientious, detail-oriented, self-directed, and highly organized with at least five years of practical work experience. They are a critical thinker and an effective problem-solver, who enjoys the complexity of solving problems across multiple stakeholders and managing a high volume of deals and responsibilities while working with a variety of personalities and working styles. Good judgment and strong communication and research skills are essential. Must bring working knowledge of entertainment law, contract law, intellectual property law, and business law and a real commitment, passion, and curiosity for book publishing and other media related industries. JD required. Experience in a fast-growing, small business, client-centric industry, and/or book publishing, a plus. The right hire will love the complexity and energy of a creative, client-centered work environment.
Key Responsibilities:
Business Affairs includes:
IP Negotiations and Agreements: Oversees company's policies and performance regarding client publishing, tv, film, podcast, and other contracts. Negotiates boilerplates. Oversees outside contracts personnel. Articulates best practices, oversees information sharing, and strives for best-in-class contractual terms across all contracts. Advises on, and sometimes directly negotiating agreements flowing from clients' literary works, including books, film, television, podcast, and other media rights.
Client Agreements: Oversees company's policies and performance in regard to client revenue and non-revenue driving agreements, including agency agreements, collaboration agreements, amendments, NDA's, permission releases, appearance releases, podcast releases, website legal language, speaking agreements, short story agreements, endorsement agreements, acquisition agreements, assistant employment agreements. Advises colleagues and clients on legal questions as necessary and handles select agreements.
Backlist and Subsidiary Rights and Reversions: Oversees reviewing key client contracts in tandem with agents and client counsel to identify rights that are already sold, unexploited rights, reversion dates, copyright renewals, etc.
Legal Practices: Articulates and memorializes company's centralized legal practices, overseeing implementation across the entire organization in support of short- and long-term goals and objectives.
Legal Relationships: Networks with third-party legal departments and nurtures successful working relationships on the agency's behalf. Networks with key attorneys and firms and offers attorney recommendations.
Legal includes:
Advisory and Problem Solving: Investigates and provides advice and counsel to the CEO and senior executives on business matters with legal underpinnings.
Company Contracts: Negotiates, drafts, and oversees implementation of company contracts, templates, and legal forms.
Employee Agreements: Works with Employment firm to draft and maintain Employee agreements and documents.
Compliance: Participates in the definition and development of corporate policies, and procedures to ensure legal compliance.
Legal Diligence: Oversees all legal correspondence, documentation, and diligence on company's behalf.
Dispute Resolution: Oversees legal disputes with third parties, including disputes with clients, former clients, employees, former employees, other agencies, and publishers.
HR: Advises CEO and Managing Partner and works alongside Human Resources executives to shape HR policies and manage employment agreements with outside counsel, as appropriate.
Physical Requirements:
Location: In-Office position. Reasonable accommodations may be made for individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.
Salary/Benefits
$200,000.00 - 200,000.00 per year
PFLM provides medical with premium paid by PFLM, vision and dental insurance also available with partial premium paid by PFLM. We also have a 401(k) plan after 1 full year of employment. This employee has 23 days of paid vacation, 10 holidays + 1 floating holiday, Summer Fridays 9-1 from Memorial Day-Labor Day.
Additional Information
PFLM is independently funded and founded by Theresa Park and Celeste Fine. Our literary agents represent bestselling authors in fiction, nonfiction, young adult, and children's books. Around the world, our authors' works have been translated into more than 30 languages and their film adaptations have yielded close to $1 billion. Our leadership shares a commitment to business ethics that values people as much as profits, and a portion of the company budget is distributed annually to invest in employee-led initiatives in the publishing community.
Commitment to Equal Opportunity
PFLM provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
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