Legal Assistant

PEOPLE AND NATURETHRIVING IN HARMONY

We’re creating a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities.

Position summary:

The Legal Assistant provides critical support to the General Counsel and supports the activities of the Legal team.  The Legal Assistant also works closely with, and provides support to, the Global Internal Compliance, Finance & Administration business units and the Board of Directors.  The Legal Assistant coordinates and administers the organizational legal and compliance systems and processes used to ensure that Rainforest Alliance and its subsidiaries, branches and other affiliates are in compliance with corporate requirements.

Responsibilities: 

The Rainforest Alliance’s Core Values are Impact, Change, Collaboration, Openness and Trust and as such they form the basis of the behaviours we demonstrate.

• Provides administrative support for the legal team including scheduling, record keeping, travel coordination, expense management, and database management.
• Supports legal projects, including trademark portfolio, annual conflict of interest review, contract review process, data privacy program, and all-staff legal trainings.
• Coordinates all aspects of risk management calls, legal team meetings, and other regular and ad hoc meetings involving the legal and/or compliance department.
• Supports the General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel with respect to board-related matters.
• Handles onboarding of new staff to the legal department and trains legal department in new policies/procedures.
• Supports litigation and document management.
• Supports corporate registration and filing requirements for Rainforest Alliance subsidiaries, branches and other affiliates, and handles and administers US state registrations
• Supports all legal processes by organizing and/or handling project-specific teams as required, including creation of timelines and revision of documents.
• Coordinate Audit & Risk Committee meetings including agenda preparation, logistics, gathering, organizing and/or preparing materials and presentations, attending meetings, and taking minutes; coordinate other committee/board meetings in support of corporate governance manager.
• Prepare and/or assist in approvals and signature of documents of board members and senior management.
• Legalizations and shipping of international documents such as notarizations and apostilles
• Coordinate contract review process in Salesforce.
• Conduct research as directed by members of the legal team.
• Generate, coordinate, and maintain correspondence, reports, filings, and other documents and assist with responses to governmental audits, courts, agencies, insurers and others.
• Review outside counsel bills, assist in handling legal expenses within budget, assist in running outside counsel relations.
• Provide data to finance team on in-kind donations through the legal department.
• Handle administration of outside pro bono counsel matters.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university in a related field. (or functional equivalent)
• Experience in a professional work environment.
• Proficient in MS Office.
• Demonstrated excellent writing and verbal communications skills.
• Ability to multitask and set priorities to meet timelines.
• Experience with Salesforce and DocuSign preferred.
• New York State Notary Public license to be obtained within 2 months of start date.
• Strong Organizational and attention-to-detail skills highly preferred.

Level: 5

Deadline: 27 June 2025

Salary: For USA based candidates only:   

• National Salary range (Excluding NY and DC) - $44,191 - $63,129
• New York Salary Range - $52,504 - $77,005
• Washington DC Salary Range - $50,819 - $72599

Notes: Only candidates legally authorized to work in the US (New York) will be considered.

• If you have any questions about the job vacancy, please contact the HR department: recruitment@ra.org

The Rainforest Alliance encourages diversity and inclusion across the global organization. With this commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, ages, disability and any other protected group.