Legal Operations Associate Jobs in Washington (NOW HIRING)

From the beginning, our goal was to establish an advisory firm that stands apart from the rest - one that is grounded in our Core Values and dedicated to creating a positive experience not just for our clients, but for our people too. We firmly believe in the strength of collaboration, enthusiasm, generosity, and perseverance as the driving forces behind our success. With advisory solutions spanning accounting and risk, technology-enabled transformation, and transactions, we partner with our clients to solve today's challenges and deliver present and future value.
Our commitment to our people has earned us numerous awards including Inc5000's Fastest Growing Companies and Glassdoor's Best Places to Work. Explore what our employees have to say about our unique culture by clicking here.
CrossCountry Consulting is seeking an Associate General Counsel to act as a senior, enterprise-wide legal advisor. Reporting to the Chief Financial Officer, this strategic role reflects the firm's continued growth and increasing complexity.
In this position, you will lead the firm's commercial contracting function and take ownership of post-acquisition legal integration (contract assignment and novation, employment documentation, and integration of acquired agreements). You will collaborate closely with firm Partners and the Chief People and Operations Officer on employment and labor matters, oversee intellectual property and technology issues-such as the firm's proprietary CrossCore AI platform-and manage outside counsel and litigation. Additionally, you will be responsible for the firm's privacy, compliance, and records retention programs.
The role also includes implementing and continually enhancing the firm's contract lifecycle management (CLM) platform and broader legal operations infrastructure, with a strong emphasis on leveraging AI-both enterprise-wide tools and legal-specific platforms such as Harvey-to improve quality, increase efficiency, and accelerate decision-making across the legal function.
What You'll Do:
Commercial Contracting & Legal Advisory

• Research, analyze, and stay current on legal issues, laws, legislation, regulations, and court decisions affecting the consulting industry, and advise management about any impact on the business.
• Review, draft, and negotiate professional services agreements and contracts with clients, third parties, and vendors, including master service agreements (MSA), statements of work (SOW), data processing agreements (DPA), and licensing/vendor arrangements.
• Interpret and explain contract terms and conditions to internal stakeholders and confirm that transactions comply with the organization's structure, policies, and procedures.
• Advise and counsel internal teams on legal policies, risks, and the implications of proposed transactions or projects, while maintaining open communication and strong working relationships.

Mergers & Acquisitions Integration

• Lead post-acquisition legal integration in partnership with outside transaction counsel, including contract assignment and novation, customer and vendor consent processes, integration of acquired agreements into the firm's templates and CLM, offer and employment letters for transitioning employees, restrictive covenant and confidentiality coverage for new hires, and harmonization of acquired-entity policies with firm policies.

Privacy, Compliance & Records Retention

• Implement and review standardized policies, protocols, and training programs in compliance with data privacy laws.
• Own the firm's ethics, compliance, and records retention programs, including the code of conduct, conflicts of interest, and whistleblower processes.

Intellectual Property, Technology & AI

• Protect and advance the firm's intellectual property and technology assets, including trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, the proprietary CrossCore AI platform, opensource usage policies, client data rights, and AI/ML governance.
• Lead the legal function's adoption and responsible use of AI, including enterprise AI tools deployed across the firm (such as the firm's proprietary CrossCore AI platform) and legal-specific AI platforms such as Harvey, with applications across contract review and drafting, legal research, due diligence support, policy generation, and knowledge management. Establish guardrails, quality controls, and measurement to demonstrate efficiency, accuracy, and risk-managed outcomes.

Employment & Labor

• Partner with the firm's Partners and the Chief People and Operations Officer on employment and labor matters, including offer letters, partner and managing director employment terms, restrictive covenants, separation and release agreements, internal investigations, wage and hour compliance, and EEO matters across a multistate workforce.

Real Estate

• Negotiate and manage commercial real estate matters, including office leases, amendments, renewals, expansions, subleases, and assignment provisions.

Litigation, Disputes & Insurance

• Manage pre-litigation matters, disputes, demand letters, subpoenas, legal holds, and outside counsel engagements; oversee budgets and outcomes across all litigation and regulatory matters.
• Collaborate with Finance and the broker on the firm's insurance program, including D&O, E&O/professional liability, cyber, fiduciary, and employment practices liability coverage, and lead the legal aspects of claim notification and resolution.

Legal Operations & Contract Lifecycle Management

• Implement, administer, and continuously improve the firm's contract lifecycle management (CLM) system, including template library, clause library, approval workflows, reporting, and integration with Salesforce and other systems of record.

Legal Department Strategy & Resource Planning

• Conduct and maintain an ongoing assessment of the legal function's capacity against the full scope of the Senior Counsel's mandate, including identification of coverage gaps across practice areas (e.g., employment, commercial contracts, regulatory, data privacy, IP), geographic expansion requirements, and the extent to which AI-enabled tooling can offset headcount need versus where dedicated legal resources are required. Present findings and resource recommendations to the COO and CFO on a defined cadence, with clear build/buy/outsource analysis for each identified gap.

International Legal Operations

• Assess and maintain oversight of the firm's international legal entity structure, ensuring appropriate legal support is in place across all foreign jurisdictions where CrossCountry operates, including Canada, Ireland, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Africa. Serve as the primary point of accountability for identifying jurisdictional risk, evaluating the adequacy of local counsel relationships, and recommending structural or coverage changes as the firm's international footprint evolves.

Outside Counsel & Legal Spend Management

• Serve as the firm's primary relationship owner and budget authority for all legal spend, including outside counsel, legal technology platforms, and third-party legal service providers across domestic and international operations. Establish spending management discipline through matter-level budgeting, outside counsel guidelines, preferred vendor agreements, and regular reporting to the CFO on legal cost performance against plan.

What You'll Bring:

• Minimum 10 years of pertinent legal experience, whether at a law firm, in-house, or a combination of both, with meaningful in-house exposure preferred. Experience supporting a private equity-sponsored or professional services company strongly preferred.
• Proficient understanding of business sensitivities and confidentiality, with the ability to resolve and handle difficult negotiations and issues with tact and diplomacy.
• Ability to self-motivate and work independently as well as collaboratively within a team.
• Strong time management skills to manage contract volume and project workflows across multiple simultaneous projects.
• Professionalism and discretion when interacting with executives and internal clients.
• Knowledge of global privacy laws, regulations, and standards, such as CCPA and GDPR, preferred.
• Demonstrated experience implementing, configuring, and managing an enterprise Contract Management System (CMS/CLM) - including template and clause libraries, approval workflows, reporting, and integrations - is required. Hands-on experience with Ironclad is a strong plus; experience with Icertis, Agiloft, ContractWorks, DocuSign CLM, or similar platforms will also be considered.
• Demonstrated experience leading post-acquisition legal integration (contract assignment and novation, employment documentation, policy harmonization) and managing high-volume commercial contracting at scale in a high-growth environment.
• Experience selecting, managing, and evaluating outside counsel against scope, budget, and outcomes.
• Demonstrated fluency with and enthusiasm for AI in a legal context, including hands-on use of enterprise AI tools and legal-specific platforms (e.g., Harvey, Spellbook, CoCounsel, or equivalent). Track record of driving adoption, building responsible-use guardrails, and measuring impact preferred.
• Based in Tysons, Virginia, with a hybrid in-office presence at the firm's headquarters.

Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor (JD) and admission, in good standing, to the bar of a U.S. state.

#LI-TK1
#LI-Hybrid
CrossCountry Consulting is required to include an estimate of the compensation range for this role. The following range takes into account a wide range of factors including but not limited to, skills, experience, education, licenses, certifications, business needs, and internal equity. An estimate of the current range is $200,000 - $300,000 per year + annual bonus + additional benefits.
Benefits Summary
The CrossCountry total rewards package includes comprehensive healthcare options, including medical, dental, and vision coverage; flexible spending accounts; and a 401(k) with company matching. Additionally, employees can take advantage of generous parental and maternity leave policies, technology stipends, and wellness reimbursement programs, all designed to support both professional growth and personal well-being. For detailed information about benefits at CrossCountry, please visit our dedicated benefits site: https://www.crosscountry-consulting.com/careers/benefits/.
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
CrossCountry provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment and believes that respect and fair treatment are critical to creating a productive and inclusive workplace.
As an equal opportunity employer, CrossCountry is fully committed to comply with all federal, state, and local laws and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, pregnancy, genetics, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity or expression or any other protected characteristic. The company also complies with pay transparency and labor laws applicable to all terms and conditions of employment.
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.