Deputy General Counsel

Job Description

THE COMPANY

The Low Income Investment Fund is a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that mobilizes capital and partners to achieve opportunity, equity and wellbeing for people and communities. LIIF innovates financial solutions to create more equitable outcomes for all by building and preserving affordable homes, quality educational opportunities from early childhood through higher education, health clinics, healthy food retail and community facilities. In this way, LIIF provides a bridge between private capital markets and communities. LIIF’s headquarters is in San Francisco and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, and Washington D.C.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS:

This position reports to the Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel and directly supervises legal department staff, including attorneys, paraprofessionals, and other assigned personnel, as applicable.

JOB SUMMARY:

The Deputy General Counsel serves as a senior legal executive and strategic advisor supporting the Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel (CAOGC) and acts as second in command for the Legal function. The Deputy General Counsel provides enterprise-wide legal leadership across lending, government contracts, grant programs, employment matters, nonprofit corporate governance, litigation oversight, regulatory compliance, and enterprise risk management.

This role operates with substantial independence, exercises sound judgment in complex legal and operational matters, supervises legal personnel, manages outside counsel, and translates legal risk into practical, mission-aligned business guidance. The Deputy General Counsel serves as a trusted partner to executive leadership and helps ensure continuity, operational excellence, and sound legal judgment across the organization.

Acts on behalf of the Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel as delegated, including advising executive leadership, managing significant legal matters, directing legal operations, and representing the Legal function in executive and cross-functional decision-making.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Legal Counsel & Enterprise Advisory

• Serve as a senior legal advisor to executive leadership and internal stakeholders across Programs, Lending, Finance, Operations, Human Resources, External Affairs, and Administration.
• Provide practical, risk-balanced legal counsel on strategic initiatives, partnerships, contracts, disputes, and emerging organizational issues.
• Translate legal and regulatory requirements into actionable operational guidance that supports informed decision-making.
• Identify material legal, regulatory, governance, and reputational risks and advise on mitigation strategies.
• Independently resolve routine to highly complex legal matters, escalating issues requiring executive or Board attention as appropriate.

Government Contracts, Grants & Program Legal Support

• Lead legal review, drafting, and negotiation of complex grant agreements with public and private funders, including both funder-facing and grantee-facing agreements.
• Review, negotiate, and advise on state, local, and federal government contracts, intergovernmental agreements, and procurement matters.
• Advise internal program teams on contractual, regulatory, and compliance matters arising from program activities.
• Ensure grant and government contracts are properly structured, approved, executed, tracked, and operationalized through contract management systems.
• Identify and escalate material risks related to funding terms, audit exposure, and regulatory compliance.

Lending, Transactions & Portfolio Legal Matters

• Advise on lending documentation, restructurings, workouts, collateral matters, defaults, and enforcement strategy.
• Support and oversee outside counsel in financing transactions, guarantees, mission-driven capital deployment structures, and other complex financial arrangements.
• Review transactional structures for legal sufficiency, enforceability, and appropriate risk allocation.
• Partner with Lending, Asset Management, and Finance on portfolio legal risk management and strategic transaction support.

Employment Law, Investigations & Workplace Risk Management

• Provide legal counsel on employment matters, including employee relations, performance management, accommodations, leave administration, policy interpretation, disciplinary actions, separations, and wage and hour compliance.
• Advise Human Resources and executive leadership on employment-related legal risk, organizational change management, and sensitive personnel matters.
• Oversee or support internal investigations involving employee complaints, whistleblower concerns, retaliation allegations, discrimination claims, ethics matters, and other workplace risk issues.
• Direct litigation hold, document preservation, and internal fact-gathering efforts related to threatened or pending employment disputes, investigations, or claims.
• Manage outside employment counsel and administrative proceedings, including EEOC, state agency, mediation, arbitration, and litigation matters, as appropriate.
• Partner with Human Resources on policy development, handbook updates, training, and legally compliant employment practices.

Governance, Compliance & Enterprise Risk

• Support Board and committee governance matters, including resolutions, delegations of authority, bylaws interpretation, and governance policy development.
• Oversee organizational legal compliance with nonprofit, corporate, funding, and regulatory requirements.
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting nonprofit finance, community development, lending, grants administration, and public funding.
• Advise on insurance, indemnification, enterprise risk, and legal controls.
• Support enterprise risk management initiatives, including internal audits, by identifying legal, operational, regulatory, and reputational risks and advising leadership on mitigation strategies.
• Advise on crisis management, incident response, regulatory inquiries, subpoenas, audits, and other high-risk organizational events.
• Ensure appropriate legal controls around records retention, confidentiality, privileged communications, and organizational information governance.

Litigation, Claims & Outside Counsel Management

• Manage litigation, disputes, claims, and pre-litigation matters.
• Retain and supervise outside counsel, including budgeting, scope management, strategy oversight, and performance evaluation.
• Maintain consistent legal positions and documentation standards across disputes and claims.
• Advise leadership on litigation exposure, settlement options, reserves, and resolution strategy.
• Track legal spend and ensure disciplined outside counsel management.

Legal Department Leadership & Operations

• Directly supervise assigned legal staff and ensure clear priorities, strong accountability, and professional development.
• Establish department priorities, staffing plans, service standards, and operating procedures to ensure efficient, consistent, and high-quality legal support across the organization.
• Develop and maintain legal infrastructure, including contract management systems, records management protocols, template libraries, outside counsel guidelines, and matter tracking/reporting systems.
• Develop legal talent through coaching, mentoring, delegation, and performance management.
• Drive continuous improvement in legal systems, workflows, templates, and operational efficiency.
• Support continuity of legal operations during periods of high demand, leadership absence, or organizational change.

Other Duties as Assigned

• Participate in special projects, strategic initiatives, internal reviews, and emerging legal matters as assigned by the CAOGC.
• Perform other duties consistent with the level and scope of the position.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Required

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school.
• Active bar membership in good standing; ability to practice in California or New York preferred.
• Minimum 10 to 15 years of legal experience in an in-house or comparable senior advisory role.
• At least 4 years of in-house legal experience advising internal stakeholders in an operational environment.
• Demonstrated experience with government contracts and public-sector negotiations.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating grant agreements.
• Experience with lending, secured transactions, or finance-related legal matters.
• Working knowledge of nonprofit legal and regulatory requirements.
• Strong contract drafting, negotiation, and risk management skills.
• Demonstrated experience supervising attorneys or legal professionals and managing legal workflows.
• Demonstrated ability to exercise executive judgment, manage sensitive matters confidentially, and influence cross-functional decision-making.
• Ability to work independently and exercise sound legal judgment.
• Clear, practical communication skills with non-legal stakeholders.

Preferred

• Experience in nonprofit, CDFI, financial services, or community development organizations.
• Employment law and workplace investigations experience.
• Experience managing outside counsel and litigation strategy.
• Experience advising Boards, Board committees, or executive leadership teams.

• Experience building legal operations systems or process improvement initiatives.
• Experience supporting regulated or government-funded programs.