Deputy General Counsel, Innovation & Product

Job title: Deputy General Counsel, Innovation & Product

Job description: The Role

As Deputy General Counsel, Innovation & Product you will report to our Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary and lead a team of seven legal professionals. You will contribute to the success of Thomson Reuters, both in your capacity as a lawyer and as a member of the General Counsel’s Office leadership team. You will have primary responsibility for leading our Innovation & Product team, which supports the Company’s strategic protection of its intellectual property. You will have the experience and capability to handle and oversee a broad range of complex legal, compliance and transactional matters. You will lead strategy formulation for the Company’s intellectual property portfolio, including identifying potentially important patentable inventions, conducting invention review boards, preparation and prosecution of patent applications, coordination of domestic and foreign patent prosecution and portfolio reviews. You will also liaise with other Thomson Reuters lawyers across a broad range of businesses and functional areas. You will supervise legal work handled by external and internal legal resources.

Major Responsibilities:

• Work with the Product, Engineering and Marketing organizations as they evolve to support innovation, marketing and product development efforts
• Advise on AI/Data Ethics regulations as they relate to our product development and maintenance
• Assertively and successfully pursue litigation/defend various patent demands/litigations and proactively advocate in the public sector in defense of strategic Thomson Reuters positions to enable future growth
• Provide intellectual property due diligence with respect to acquisitions, including evaluation of third-party intellectual property
• Provide assessment and advice on open-source software issues
• Participate in seminars, public-facing meetings and roundtables to provide thought leadership and position Thomson Reuters as a leader in its field
• Advise commercial lawyers on intellectual property issues as they arise
• Identify legal, regulatory and compliance requirements and risks associated with business initiatives, and develop and implement appropriate mitigation strategies
• Operate within policy guidelines and requirements set for Thomson Reuters lawyers to ensure compliance and consistency. Work with lawyers in practice groups and business units across Thomson Reuters to provide resources for the business
• Look for opportunities to introduce innovative and efficient ways to provide legal support to our business
• Contribute to and help lead diversity and inclusion and corporate responsibility initiatives within Thomson Reuters and the General Counsel Office
• Participate as a member of the leadership team for the General Counsel’s Office
• Coordinate hiring and supervision of external counsel. Occasional travel on an as-needed basis
• Operate within given budget guidelines and resources and uphold departmental code of conduct and guidelines
• Provide practical and insightful business and strategic advice, leveraging deep experience in the practice of law and the legal profession
• Undertake other reasonable duties as requested

Candidate Profile

Mandatory Skills & Experience:

• Significant post qualification experience in private practice and/or as in-house specializing in patent law; industry experience preferred
• Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to drive execution, put colleagues in position to succeed and develop/elevate your team on an ongoing basis
• Experience drafting and prosecuting patent applications and preparing patent opinions
• Familiarity with IP management plus strong commercial experience in negotiating relevant agreements, including support agreements, license agreements, confidentiality agreements and enterprise agreements
• Ability to think strategically and creatively to identify and resolve legal issues
• Excellent communication, organization, and analytical skills, and an aptitude for problem-solving
• Ability to learn new skills and to adapt to changing business compliance needs
• Authorized to practice law in Canada, Switzerland or relevant local jurisdiction

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• Ability to positively influence behaviour of multiple stakeholders, as well as to successfully balance the interests of the customer with maintaining a good legal, fiscal and compliance position for the Company
• Ability to successfully work in a team environment and in a matrixed organization and ability to work well as a team member and build rapport and trust with both internal and external stakeholders
• Ability to act as advisor and coach to other team members, facilitating growth and professional development.

Education / Certifications Required:

• Law degree and current practicing lawyer; technical training and background would be a plus

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Canada COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement

Individuals employed in this position are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and must complete an attestation to that effect in their first week as a condition of hire. Thomson Reuters will provide reasonable accommodation to individuals who cannot be vaccinated due to disability or any other ground protected by the applicable human rights legislation.

Do you want to be part of a team helping re-invent the way knowledge professionals work? How about a team that works every day to create a more transparent, just and inclusive future? At Thomson Reuters, we’ve been doing just that for almost 160 years. Our industry-leading products and services include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting and compliance professionals combined with the world’s most global news services – Reuters. We help these professionals do their jobs better, creating more time for them to focus on the things that matter most: advising, advocating, negotiating, governing and informing.

We are powered by the talents of 25,000 employees across more than 75 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments that celebrate diversity and inclusion. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.

Accessibility

As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer providing a drug-free workplace.

We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.

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