Head of Legal (16 month contract)

S'more about the team

This is a 16-month contract role covering maternity leave. Reporting to the North American General Counsel, this role will provide support to the entire Canadian business with some cross-border North American work. This role provides the opportunity to be a generalist with a proactive, entrepreneurial and business-focused approach. You will solve complex legal issues facing the business, both locally and internationally, and mitigate legal risk. This role is designed for a lawyer who thrives in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.

The ideal candidate will be a transactional specialist with a background in both law firms and in-house environments. You will be responsible for a heavy contract workload, cross-functional North American collaboration, and proactive risk management. We need a strategic thinker who isn't afraid to roll up their sleeves to manage the day-to-day drafting and negotiations that keep the business moving. 

This is a high-volume, contract-heavy position requiring a lawyer with deep transactional experience who thrives in a quick-turnaround environment. You must be prepared to "roll up your sleeves" to manage the daily tasks of drafting and negotiation while maintaining the strategic vision to issue-spot and escalate risks appropriately.

Lettuce share what this role will be responsible for

• High-Volume Contract Lifecycle Management: Lead the drafting, review, and negotiation for all business pillars. 
• Brand & Marketing Support: Act as the legal lead for brand partnership agreements, influencer agreements, marketing sampling programs, and so on.
• Operational Legal Support: Provide legal contractual guidance to the overall operations team (including indirect and direct procurement and fleet and logistics teams on MSAs, SLAs, agency contracts, SaaS contracting, manage the legalities of warranties, returns, terminations, and renewals, oversee some employment matters, and update and maintain templates.
• Strategic Advisory & Research: Conduct legal research as needed on the Competition Act, copyright infringement, Consumer Protection Act, privacy legislation, sustainability requirements, and emerging new laws and regulations. 
• Issue Spotting & Escalation: Proactively identify potential liabilities. Manage the balance between independent problem-solving and appropriate escalation to the US General Counsel, global or local teams.
• Advocacy & Dispute Resolution: Draft formal legal correspondence, including letters for non-payment, demand/compensation letters, liability position statements, and cease and desist letters.
• Regulatory & Government Relations: Liaise with government bodies regarding corporate matters and business licensing, communicate directly with regulators to ensure compliance.
• Cross-Border Collaboration: Work cross-functionally with the U.S. legal team to align on North American agreements and ensure consistency across the region.
• External Counsel Management: Engage and oversee external legal counsel for specialized litigation or complex corporate matters, ensuring high-quality, cost-effective delivery.
• Compliance Leadership: Represent the business as the Data Privacy Officer (DPO) and the Local Compliance Officer for Canada.
• All other duties, as assigned 

Sound a-peeling? Here's what we're looking for

• Professional Experience: You are an experienced lawyer (minimum 5+ years Ontario bar) with mandatory in house legal counsel experience, preferably at a Consumer Packaged Goods company, and also relevant law firm experience .
• Contract Specialist: You have a proven track record drafting and negotiating a wide variety of subject matters (including: marketing, procurement, operations) roles. You are comfortable managing a high volume of contracts with accuracy and speed.
• Proven "Roll up the Sleeves" Mentality: You thrive in a fast-paced environment and are willing to handle anything that comes your way - the administrative work and heavy drafting
• Experienced Issue-Spotter: You have a keen eye for detail and the professional judgment and experience to know when to solve an issue and when to escalate to senior leadership.
• Broad Legal Knowledge: Vast experience across contract negotiation, commercial law, marketing, procurement, data privacy.
• Collaboration: Ability to work cross-functionally across different time zones and business units
• Credentials: You hold a JD/LLB from an Ontario law...