In-House Legal | Corporate & Commercial
Location
Guelph/Oakville, ON - Hybrid
Compensation
$150,000 - $175,000 CAD
Schedule
Full-Time
Reports to
Chief Strategy Officer
Experience
3-5 years post-call
Ready to Move From Advising the Business to Being Part of It?
You've built your legal foundation. Now you may be ready to see what happens when you're inside the business making decisions with the people you're advising.
Gateway Services is looking for an In-House Legal professional to join our team and work directly with our Chief Strategy Officer and leaders across our North American business.
This is an opportunity for a lawyer with approximately 3-5 years of post-call experience who wants to make the move from private practice into corporate life - or accelerate an in-house career already underway.
You'll work on real commercial issues, learn how a growing North American organization operates, interact directly with business leaders and develop experience across contracts, employment matters, litigation, corporate transactions, compliance, intellectual property and risk.
You won't be expected to know everything on day one. What we're looking for is a strong legal foundation, good judgment, commercial curiosity and someone who wants to become a great business lawyer, not simply a great technical lawyer.
Why Make the Move to Gateway?
Get closer to the business. Work directly with the people making decisions rather than advising them from the sidelines.
Broaden your legal experience. Gain exposure to commercial agreements, employment matters, litigation, M&A, governance, IP, compliance and other issues affecting a North American business.
See what happens after the advice. Understand the operational and commercial impact of legal decisions and help implement solutions.
Work with senior leadership. Reporting to our Chief Strategy Officer, you will have exposure to leaders across Operations, HR, Finance, Sales, IT and other functions.
Develop your commercial judgment. Help the business understand its options and find practical ways forward - not simply identify legal risk.
Build an in-house career. Develop the breadth, business knowledge and judgment that can form the foundation of a long-term corporate legal career.
What You'll Work On
No two weeks are likely to look exactly the same. You will have the opportunity to:
- Draft, review and negotiate commercial agreements.
- Advise business leaders on day-to-day legal questions.
- Help identify and manage legal and commercial risk.
- Partner with HR on employment-related matters.
- Support litigation, claims and commercial disputes.
- Coordinate matters with external legal counsel across Canada and the United States.
- Support corporate governance and entity-management activities.
- Participate in due diligence and M&A-related work.
- Assist with privacy, regulatory and compliance matters.
- Help protect Gateway's trademarks, patents and other intellectual property.
- Develop templates and processes that make legal support faster and more effective.
- Learn Gateway's business and become a trusted legal partner to the teams you support.
You Don't Have to Be an Expert in Everything
We're not looking for a 3-5 year lawyer who somehow already knows every aspect of Canadian and U.S. corporate, employment, privacy, regulatory, IP and litigation law.
We're looking for someone who knows how to think like a lawyer and learn like a business partner.
You'll be expected to research, ask good questions, exercise sound judgment and recognize when specialist external counsel should be brought into a matter.
Gateway works with external legal partners who can provide specialized expertise when needed. Your role is to increasingly become the person inside
Gateway who understands both the legal issue and the business behind it.
Is This You?
- You've been called to the Bar for approximately 3-5 years.
- You have a J.D., LL.B. or equivalent law degree.
- You're a member in good standing of a Canadian provincial law society.
- You've developed a solid foundation in corporate and commercial law.
- You're comfortable drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts.
- You're interested in how businesses actually operate.
- You can explain legal issues clearly without unnecessary legal jargon.
- You enjoy solving problems rather than simply identifying them.
- You're comfortable saying, 'I don't know yet, but I'll figure it out.'
- You want exposure beyond one narrow area of legal practice.
- You're comfortable interacting directly with senior business leaders.
- You value responsiveness and understand that internal teams are your customers.
- You're looking for an opportunity to develop into a strong commercial and corporate legal professional.
Experience with employment law, litigation, M&A, privacy, regulatory matters or corporate governance is helpful - but we do not expect you to arrive with all of it.
Previous in-house experience is an asset, not a requirement.
What Success Looks Like
During your first year, we'd expect you to:
- Develop a strong understanding of Gateway and how our business operates.
- Build trusted relationships with the leaders and teams you support.
- Become increasingly independent in reviewing and negotiating commercial agreements.
- Provide clear, timely and practical legal guidance.
- Develop good judgment about what can be handled internally and when specialist counsel is required.
- Help improve Gateway's legal templates, processes and ways of working.
- Become someone our leaders want to call early, rather than someone Legal only hears from after a problem develops.
More Than a Legal Career
Gateway Services is North America's leading pet aftercare provider, supporting veterinary professionals and pet families during one of the most difficult moments of pet ownership.
Our work combines a meaningful purpose with the complexity of operating a large organization across Canada and the United States.
For a developing corporate lawyer, that creates an unusual opportunity: meaningful work and meaningful legal complexity.
You'll get exposure to the realities of operating a business across jurisdictions, managing risk, supporting growth and balancing legal considerations with commercial objectives.
Benefits You'll Appreciate
- Competitive base salary
- Annual incentive opportunity, if applicable
- Health and dental benefits
- Paid vacation
- Retirement savings program
- Employee Assistance Program
- Professional development opportunities
- Pet-related benefits/discounts, where applicable
- Hybrid working arrangement, if applicable
Ready to Make the Move In-House?
If you've spent the first few years of your legal career building your technical foundation and are ready to get closer to the business, we'd like to hear from you.
You don't need to have every answer. Bring your legal foundation, curiosity, judgment and willingness to learn. We'll give you the opportunity to build the commercial experience that comes from being inside the business.
Apply today and start building the next stage of your legal career with Gateway Services.
Equal Opportunity
Gateway Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all Team Members.
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