Job Description
Job DescriptionResource Attorney – Private CompaniesLocations
Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Downtown Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; Palo Alto, California; Reston, Virginia; San Francisco, California; Santa Monica, California; Washington, DC
Direct Counsel is seeking a Resource Attorney to support the Private Companies practice of a premier global law firm.
This is an exceptional opportunity for a 4–6 year corporate attorney with strong startup, venture, and emerging companies experience who is interested in knowledge management, precedent development, AI-enabled legal innovation, and practice group strategy rather than traditional billable client work.
This role is ideal for a corporate associate or counsel who enjoys building systems, improving workflows, drafting model documents, and driving scalable practice innovation in a fast-moving venture and private companies environment.
Position Overview
The ideal candidate will have 4–6 years of U.S. corporate transactional experience, with meaningful familiarity in:
- Startup and venture company counseling
- Emerging growth company work
- Venture financings
- Founder and formation matters
- Commercial and governance templates
- Closing coordination and diligence workflows
- Private company lifecycle documentation
This is a non-billable attorney role focused on enabling practicing lawyers through knowledge resources, innovation, template development, and legal updates.
Key Responsibilities
- Develop, revise, and maintain:
- Template documents
- Precedent libraries
- Practice notes
- Internal guidance resources
- Support AI-enabled practice innovation initiatives, including:
- Workflow testing
- Tool refinement
- Prompt and document optimization
- Legal delivery process improvements
- Monitor legal and regulatory developments impacting private companies and venture-backed clients
- Draft internal updates, legal alerts, and resource summaries
- Coordinate cross-practice input on:
- Precedent updates
- Publications
- Knowledge resources
- Process improvements
- Respond to day-to-day attorney requests for:
- Templates
- Model forms
- Market terms
- Research resources
- Lead new knowledge management and practice innovation initiatives
- Collaborate closely with attorneys, innovation teams, and business professionals
Qualifications
- J.D. from an accredited law school
- 4–6 years of U.S. corporate transactional experience
- Strong background in startup / venture / private companies work
- Excellent drafting and template-building skills
- Strong organizational and project management abilities
- Experience running closings and coordinating transaction workflows highly transferable
- Entrepreneurial mindset with strong systems thinking
- Licensed attorney in at least one U.S. jurisdiction
Compensation
Base salary range: $220,000 – $315,000
Compensation will depend on office, experience, innovation background, and overall fit.
Ideal Candidate
The ideal attorney will be:
- A former startup / venture associate who enjoys systems and precedent work
- Interested in AI, KM, and legal operations innovation
- Strong in drafting and document architecture
- Highly organized and process-minded
- Entrepreneurial and proactive
- Interested in long-term attorney-support and strategy roles
Why This Opportunity
This is an exceptional opportunity for a venture or private companies attorney seeking an alternative attorney track with elite firm sophistication, cutting-edge AI innovation work, and zero traditional billable client pressure. The combination of venture ecosystem exposure + legal innovation leadership makes this especially compelling for attorneys transitioning from associate practice into strategic internal roles.