Senior Counsel

Position Overview

Your corporate and commercial law experience is unmatched, and you can reliably provide sound legal advice on a host of matters. You understand the need to work closely with your clients and partners to achieve the best results. Sound like you? Then you should apply for our Senior Legal Counsel, Commercial role. 

In this position, you will report to the Manager, Legal Services (Commercial & Major Projects) and provide legal support on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters related to the energy industry.  You will work with our business development, finance, and project teams on energy supply matters which includes the supply of natural gas, LNG, renewable natural gas and hydrogen to develop legal strategies and negotiate large commercial transactions.  Among other things, the legal support may involve negotiating the terms of commodity supply arrangements, developing transaction structures for co-development (including with Indigenous communities) of large-scale energy delivery infrastructure, working with our finance team to ensure we have appropriate security in place with respect to a particular contract, or acting as legal lead on the commercial aspects of an acquisition.  

The successful candidate will have strong knowledge of corporate and commercial law matters, and demonstrated experience providing practical, business-oriented advice with respect to project development, commodity supply arrangements, commercial negotiations and drafting, corporate structuring, and M&A. A strong academic record, superior judgment and good interpersonal skills are required. We are interested in a service-oriented, responsive lawyer who is able to plan and deliver on a number of concurrent, complex files. Previous experience at a major law firm or in-house legal department is preferred.

Additional Information

This position can be headquartered out of any FortisBC office which includes offices in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey and Kelowna. 

In year 1, you will:

• Build a solid understanding of our business and strategic objectives and gain an understanding of the principle risks of the business and of the applicable regulatory requirements to provide quality legal advice, services, and support.
• Foster strong working relations with business units and key stakeholders.
• Be given a range of corporate and commercial files.
• Be responsible for providing practical legal advice and support to specific business units, including providing legal opinions and drafting contracts.
• Present legal issues and make recommendations to senior management and our executive leadership team.

What it takes:

• A Bachelor of Law or Juris Doctor degree, eight years of post-call experience at a law firm or in-house legal department, and good standing membership with the Law Society of B.C. (or eligible for membership).
• Strong knowledge and experience in corporate law.
• Previous experience in energy project development, commodity supply and offtake arrangements, corporate structuring, and M&A.
• A demonstrated analytical ability and attention to detail to identify, analyze, research, and evaluate legal issues, interpret legislation and provide legal opinions and advice.
• An extensive background in drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts. 
• Experience working directly with business owners and the ability to work collaboratively on a team.
• Effective organizational skills to manage multiple time-sensitive files and projects concurrently to meet business owners’ expectations.
• Ability to work with, manage, and instruct external counsel.