Managing Counsel - Contracts

Job Description:

About the Office of General Counsel:

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) provides legal services and support to the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor and senior officers for the State University of New York (SUNY) at SUNY System Administration at Albany, New York, and the presidents and administrators of the campuses within the System. Under the leadership of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and the General Counsel, the SUNY Office of General Counsel is responsible for providing legal services to the System and the 29 state operated campuses.

The OGC consists of more than 50 experienced higher education attorneys, paralegals and support staff located in Albany at the System Administration headquarters and in campus-based offices at the four University Centers, Health Science Centers, and various SUNY colleges.

The legal practice of the OGC involves a substantial array of topics, including public procurement, governance and ethics, legislation, health care, capital construction, public finance, labor grievances and arbitration, litigation oversight (the State's Attorney General defends litigation brought against the University), student affairs, and the use of real property, among others. The OGC represents the State University in interactions with State officials who may regulate the affairs of the State University, including the Attorney General, State Comptroller, the Governor and staff, and members of the State Legislature and staff as well as other state and local agencies and entities.

The Managing Counsel - Contracts will lead the OGC's Contracts Practice Group, which spearheads the OGC practice in the areas of procurement, contracts, and business transactions. Particular areas of focus include commercial transactions for services, commodities, revenue contracts, energy-related agreements, grants and memoranda of understanding; real property transactions including commercial leases, use permits, easements and abandonments; state government procurement and contracting including Requests for Proposals, Requests for Information, solicitations of Interest, advertising exemptions, debriefings, bid protests, Office of State Comptroller (OSC) audits, policy matters and assistance to campuses and campus counsel on all of the foregoing.

The Contracts Practice Group will also have primary responsibility for the development and revision of standard contract templates, in collaboration with other OGC attorneys, and related tools, policies, procedures and training to assist all SUNY clients on contract, procurement, transactional and business matters. The Managing Counsel - Contracts will directly supervise the work of the other System Administration attorneys in the OGC Contracts Practice Group.

Duties and Responsibilities:

The State University of New York System Administration, located in Albany, New York invites applications for the position of Managing Counsel - Contracts. As a staff member of the Office of the General Counsel, the Managing Counsel - Contracts will serve as the lead attorney for the OGC in providing clients across campuses with legal services related to procurement, contracts, and business transactions.

Responsibilities will include reviewing, negotiating, drafting, finalizing and assisting with obtaining regulatory approval for contracts for the organization; advising on solicitation document compliance, responses to regulator audit questions; debriefings; bid protests and bid protest appeals; draft and/or reviewing a full array of agreements which include data use agreements, subordination, attornment, estoppels, lease surrender, lease renewals, lease amendments, early termination agreements and eviction proceedings;

short-term licensing agreements for use of commercial space; affiliation and partnership agreements; and, other forms of agreement, where required; drafting and reviewing interagency Memoranda of Understanding ("MOU"); handling emergency procurements, outside counsel contracts and related regulatory approvals; researching legal issues, statutory and regulatory interpretation; managing or supervising the tracking of all contract-related…