Managing Director, Legal_Wealth & Advisory Solutions

Your opportunity

Schwab’s holistic wealth management strategy is focused on delivering personalized advice and investing solutions to Schwab clients. As investor demand for advice continues to grow, integrating wealth and advice strategy, products, expertise, and capabilities, allows Schwab to not only deliver a more comprehensive set of solutions and enhance the overall client experience, but also strengthen our ability to attract and retain some of our more affluent investors — a key and highly competitive segment within our industry.

Key solutions and specialist teams in this area include Schwab Wealth Advisory, Digital Advice and Planning, Sales and Tax, Trust, and Estate Specialists, and Schwab Advisor Network.

In this newly created role, we are recruiting a senior legal leader to support Schwab’s wealth management and advisory business which encompasses more than $150 billion in assets under management. Schwab’s wealth management business has experienced tremendous growth and is expected to continue to expand its reach and service offerings including discretionary offerings, as well as the digitalization of these and other products and programs.

The Managing Director and his/her team will play a highly visible leadership role in this developing area of the law and important focus area for the firm. The leader will build the foundation and internal alignment for the future on key legal topics. As an advocate internally and externally, the MD will promote Schwab’s vision and values through a legal lens and share Schwab’s impact story as a corporate citizen.

• Partner with business leaders to integrate a legal and regulatory perspective into strategy, innovation, and growth initiatives.
• Lead all legal advice efforts for Schwab’s wealth and advisory initiatives with particular focus on separately managed accounts, model portfolio initiatives, and investment advisory offerings for individual clients.
• Support and drive in the continued growth of our wealth and advice solutions products and initiatives, including support of potential acquisitions and integration of those acquisitions into existing solutions framework and programs.
• Developing and driving comprehensive, long‑term legal strategies balancing risk and business objectives.
• Deliver advice on operational matters, including trading and custody, related to the wealth advisory business.
• Mentoring and developing a team of lawyers. Prioritize the team’s workload, set goals, with realistic as well as ambitious deadlines to help them navigate our fluctuating and ambiguous business environment.
• Working cross-functionally with attorneys from other legal teams such as privacy, litigation/arbitration, regulatory, banking, and marketing. Keeping internal partners abreast of important industry and product‑related regulations.
• Ongoing support and development of digital advisory offerings, personalized indexing and high net worth client products and programs including advising senior management on new and current business strategies and products; potential risks and mitigation of those risks; operational matters; applicable new, existing, and changing regulatory requirements, and legislative and regulatory developments impacting the business.
• Develop a close partnership with the Compliance team to ensure accurate process and procedures are in place to meet applicable regulatory requirements.
• Interface directly with senior management, participate in relevant governance committees and oversight, and interact, as needed, with outside counsel and regulators, to assist in meeting Schwab’s objectives.

We are seeking someone who brings the following experience and skills.

• 15+ years of legal experience in the wealth management and investment advisory business including people leadership. Deep business and legal experience with the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and the regulatory environment applicable to registered investment advisers and the Investment Company Act of 1940 and the regulatory environment applicable to mutual funds and exchange‑traded funds, and exemptions relating to private funds and investment advisory…