Legal Counsel, Search and News

As Legal Counsel at Google, you work on legal issues as technological innovations require creative and proactive legal guidance. You are part of a group of in-house lawyers and the projects and cases you take on challenge you to think differently. You will partner in initiatives that influence all aspects of the business and work with Googlers from all over the Company. As an integrated part of the team, you will proactively assess legal risks and advise on products.

In this role, you will focus on drafting and negotiating agreements with strategic partners for the Search and News product teams. You will work with business development and product teams to design IP license and collaboration agreements, negotiate with must-have partners to initiate key product launches, develop scalable templates, and create resources to support long-term pipelines. You will train clients on best practices and continuously collaborate with each other to maintain and expand our internal online resources. You will routinely counsel Directors and VPs from both the Business Development and Product Management teams on agreement strategy, agreement interpretation, IP rights, and partner relationship issues. You will also work closely with Product Counsel and cross-functional legal teams, including Privacy Legal, Copyright, Competition, and Regional Counsel, to ensure that our agreements can scale globally.

20th century laws don’t always solve 21st century problems, and Google Legal crafts innovative approaches for working with some of the toughest legal challenges of the information age. Whether you’re a patent attorney, an intellectual property expert or an engineer headed to law school, Google Legal lets you address unanswered legal quandaries and create new precedents. Our innovative services raise challenging questions that demand creative and practical answers. We provide those answers by working at the crossroads of the law and new technology, helping Google build innovative and important products for users around the world.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate a variety of commercial agreements and design agreement templates that reflect Google’s policies, local law, and the fluid market.
• Work with the Business Development and Product Management teams from News and Search on inbound licensing agreements with content providers and partnership agreements for Google Search and News initiatives.
• Advise on commercial-related News and Search features, such as digital subscriptions and payments. Work closely with teams to ensure compliance with applicable consumer protection laws and Google’s global strategy.
• Advise executive management, business clients, and regional legal teams on legal strategy.
• Counsel pragmatically on legal issues and risks, agreement structures, product design considerations, and company policies in a risk-tolerant, product-driven environment.

Minimum qualifications

• JD, LL.B., equivalent degree, or equivalent practical experience.
• 7 years of attorney-level experience in government, in-house, or at a law firm.
• Experience in negotiating, drafting, and advising clients on commercial agreements, including multi-jurisdictional transactions, IP licensing, and marketing and promotion arrangements.
• Admitted to the bar and in good standing or otherwise authorized to practice law (e.g., have registered in-house status) in England and Wales.

Preferred qualifications

• Experience collaborating with legal specialists, including copyright, patent, privacy, competition, and litigation teams.
• Experience with the EU Copyright Directive.
• Experience in consumer protection, privacy, data protection, and competition law, including EU laws (e.g., GDPR and EU Consumer Law Directive).
• Ability to manage and prioritize multiple clients, projects, and deadlines.
• Ability to respond quickly with legal advice to requests from business development, product management, marketing, and other clients.

Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.