Company: The Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association (LACERA) administers and manages the $67 billion retirement fund for the County of Los Angeles. They provide retirement, disability, and death benefits to eligible County employees and their beneficiaries, and collect, deposit, invest, and manage retirement funds collected from the County, outside districts, and County employees. LACERA is the largest county retirement association in the United States with over 188,000 members. The membership is comprised of individuals from a diverse range of careers, age groups, and ethnicities.

Description: This vacancy in the Investments Section of the Legal Division, which is responsible for providing legal advice and representation to LACERA and its Boards of Retirement and Investments. The Legal Division is comprised of a Chief Counsel, a Legislative Affairs Officer, Senior Staff Counsels, Staff Counsels, Legal Analysts, Legal Secretaries, and will soon add a Director of Compliance. Legal staff work in one of four sections: Litigation, Investments, Benefits, and Disability. The Staff Counsel (Investments) position reports to LACERA’s Senior Staff Counsel for Investments and Chief Counsel.

Basic Qualifications

• 5 – 7 years’ experience practicing law.
• Four years’ experience in the practice of investments law.
• Admission to practice law in all courts of California.
• Excellent drafting, negotiating, and written and oral communication skills.
• Possess great attention to detail.
• Ability to work well both in a team environment, and independently with limited supervision.
• Excellent problem-solving capabilities and judgement.
• Demonstrated ability to do the following:
  • Research and analyze legal issues, assess risks, and distill into succinct business advice.
  • Set priorities effectively and oversee multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
  • Work well under time constraints and meet deadlines.
  • Work effectively with other in-house attorneys, outside counsel, and with business executives.
  • Manage multiple assignments simultaneously and have strong organizational skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• The role of Staff Counsel includes:
  • Providing investment professionals with legal advice relating to investment transactions.
  • Reviewing, drafting, and negotiating documentation for various investment transactions, including private equity, hedge funds, co-investment transactions, real estate, and public markets.
  • Supervising outside counsel on investment transactions.
  • Provide legal support on a wide range of transactional matters.
  • Experience drafting memos, policies, and procedures to the Board of Investments.
  • Experience drafting, reviewing, and negotiating commercial contracts relating to investments.
• Demonstrated first–hand experience independently drafting, reviewing, and negotiating:
  • Agreements relating to complex closed-end private equity fund and open-end fund investments.
  • Agreements with investment managers, advisers, consultants, and custodians relating to institutional investments and commercial contracts across various asset classes.
  • Documents for co-investment and secondary transactions.
  • Documents for real estate transactions.
  • Documents for hedge fund transactions.
  • Confidentiality agreements and non-reliance letters.
• Demonstrated experience in and ability to:
  • Provide legal advice to institutional investors, investment advisers, and other investment professionals.
  • Provide independent compliance advice, support, and oversight relating to securities trading.
  • Experience representing institutional investors and/or investment advisers at a major law firm strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with:
  • Laws governing investment transactions, such as the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, Dodd Frank Act, and federal and state securities laws relating to private offerings.
  • California public records and open meeting laws and disclosure requirements relating to California public pension funds.
  • Placement agent and lobbying restrictions.
  • Securities trading compliance laws, rules, regulations, risks, and typologies across financial markets (e.g., SEC, FINRA Rules, etc.) the Political Reform Act of 1974 and related regulations.
  • Other laws governing California public pension systems.

Travel: Within Los Angeles County.                 
Relos: Local candidates preferred.  
Compensation: $131,750.00 - $199,400.00 + Pension + Excellent Benefits  

About Major, Lindsey & Africa

Founded in 1982, Major, Lindsey & Africa is the world’s largest and most experienced legal search firm. Combining local market knowledge and a global recruiting network, MLA has earned recognition for its track record of successful General Counsel, Corporate Counsel, Partner, Associate and Law Firm Management placements. With offices throughout the U.S., Hong Kong, London, and Tokyo, MLA recruiters are dedicated to understanding and meeting clients’ and candidates’ needs while maintaining the highest degree of professionalism and confidentiality. MLA considers every search a diversity search, and has been committed to diversity in the law since its inception. For these reasons, MLA was voted “Best Legal Search Firm in the U.S.” in the most recent national survey of America’s top law firms. To learn more about MLA, please visit our website at www.mlaglobal.com.

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