Our client is an integrated family office serving the investments, activities, and foundations of one of the former executives to Silicon Valley’s leading tech companies, and is currently seeking to hire a Senior Legal Director, Real Estate. The entities associated with our client employ over 800 individuals worldwide, ranging from foundation staff, program managers, investment professionals, finance and accounting staff, property managers, pilots, sailors, scientists, and a diverse range of other individuals. The family office is the corporate manager and provider of centralized shared services for these entities and employees. This role will operate out of our client’s Los Angeles or Bay Area offices.

The Senior Legal Director, Real Estate will serve as the lead legal advisor across a diverse portfolio of real estate assets and transactions—including investment, commercial, and residential deals. They will provide effective and strategic legal counsel on legal matters across tax, transactions, finance, litigation, labor and employment, and environmental, partnering with teams and other experts across the organization, as applicable. The Senior Director will oversee the day-to-day legal needs of the organization’s real estate operations, including acquisitions, dispositions, financing, construction, joint ventures, leasing, property management, maintenance, and capital improvements, with the goal of developing a deep, nuanced understanding of the portfolio to ensure the organization’s interests are effectively safeguarded and optimized over time.

The Senior Director will manage the real estate legal team, and will work collaboratively with the real estate business team, finance team, tax team, corporate ops team, and other stakeholders across the organization. They will navigate complex legal and tax planning rules governing investment properties and provide pragmatic, actionable and business-oriented legal advice. In addition, they will collaborate with colleagues and manage external legal and third-party relationships to devise creative solutions to help deliver business results.

Responsibilities

• Manage the real estate legal team and serve or delegate lead lawyer responsibility for all real estate investment, commercial, and asset management activities across the portfolio, with responsibility for:
  • Running key legal components of transactions (e.g., diligence, land use, document drafting, structuring, timelines, execution), whether investment related or personal to the principals.
  • Spotting and resolving issues across a variety of legal, tax, reputation and other areas
  • Communicating relevant facts and considerations to all participants and stakeholders
  • Managing all legal aspects of the residential portfolio, and acting as the point person for all legal issues pertaining to the properties under management
  • Provide legal guidance on matters impacting the organization’s real property holdings with a focus on identifying and mitigating risk
• Independently review, draft, and negotiate commercial contracts, term sheets, and deal documents across a portfolio of diverse corporate and real estate investments.
• Serve as a strategic thought leader on real property assets, whether for long-term plans or more immediate matters.
• Build and maintain a strong network of professional experts, including outside counsel, and engage and manage external advisers as needed.
• Provide legal support for the hiring of architects, contractors, landscapers, service providers and other third-party vendors.
• Work with philanthropic program teams that hold real estate for community revitalization purposes and ensure that their legal needs are met.

Experience & Expertise      

• Background: Minimum of 8-10 years of experience in a transactional real estate practice. Strong professional credentials that include training at a top law firm and ideally experience in a business or in-house setting doing similar work.
• Asset Management: Track record of advising on strategies for real property portfolios including risk mitigation, value optimization and tax considerations throughout the asset life cycle. Experience advising an asset management firm and/or advising an organization with a significant real estate portfolio.
• Leadership Capacity & Project Management: Exceptional judgment and successful results driving complex projects with multiple stakeholders; expert at balancing substantive legal considerations with the motivations and concerns of those involved.
• Effective Communicator & Draftsperson: Strong written and verbal communications skills. Able to clearly distill and synthesize complicated concepts; a draftsperson who can turn ideas into straightforward legal documents.

Culture Impact

• Performance-Oriented Self-Starter: Figures out and anticipates needs; resourceful. Detail-oriented with high expectations and accountability mindset. Possesses high intellectual horsepower with strong analytical and pragmatic problem-solving skills.
• Business Partner: Sound business and operational judgment; demonstrated track record of being a strategic business partner to team members and stakeholders. Service-oriented and responsive approach to driving projects to close.
• Relationship Building/Influencing: Demonstrates effective and appropriate influencing skills with colleagues and senior management, combining legal knowledge with deep organizational understanding. Builds strong relationships with integrity, trust and mutual respect as the foundation. Collaborates across functions and at all levels of an organization.

Education and Bar Admission

JD from a top tier law school and state bar admission in good standing in a US jurisdiction, preferably CA.

The current targeted base salary for this position ranges from $350K – $450K, plus a potential bonus. Actual compensation is determined based on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, years of directly relevant experience, and geographic location.

Solutus has been selected as the exclusive representative for this search. Candidates applying directly to our client will be redirected to Solutus for consideration.