Counsel, Patent and Complex Litigation

Job Description

The Role

The title of the position is Counsel, Patent and Complex Litigation.  The position is part of the Complex Litigation group on the GM Legal Staff.  We anticipate the attorney hired for this position will have four primary areas of responsibility:

• Managing GM’s patent litigation and other intellectual property litigation;
• Managing and supporting part of a large docket of consumer warranty lawsuits, including those pending in California;
• Managing a portion of GM’s product liability litigation docket or pre-suit claims related to alleged product defects; and
• Assisting as necessary in the management of GM’s other complex litigation, including class actions, securities litigation, and supplier disputes.
   

The proportion of time spent in each of the areas of responsibility will depend on the Company’s litigation docket in each area at any given time, as well as the needs of the Legal Staff.  It is anticipated that the management of patent litigation and consumer warranty litigation in California will be the primary areas of responsibility.  Management of consumer warranty litigation in California may include serving as the Company’s corporate representative in courts or mediation, particularly if the successful candidate is located in California.
 

The position requires a seasoned and accomplished litigation attorney with experience in patent and commercial litigation.  The candidate should be possessed of excellent judgment, solid character, and personal integrity.  
 

What You’ll Do (Expected Responsibilities)

• Manage patent litigation, including management of outside counsel; review of claim charts; review of interrogatory responses (infringement, validity, etc); review of briefs and motions; management of document review for compliance with case requirements and protection of privilege; coordination and management of technical and commercial information gathering from within the Company; setting strategy; settlement; and other tasks normally attendant to patent litigation;
• Management of other intellectual property litigation, such as copyright and trademark cases, in a similar way;
• Management of consumer warranty (lemon law) litigation, including management of outside counsel; review of briefs and motions; coordination and management of information gathering from within the Company according to established processes; attendance at mediations; serving as the Company’s corporate representative where necessary (including in-person appearances); settlement decision-making; and other tasks normally attendant to the management of consumer litigation;
• Management of product liability litigation or pre-suit claims related to product liability, including management of outside counsel and experts; interfacing with GM’s in-house engineering analysis team; coordination and management of information gathering from within the Company; management of document review process to ensure compliance with case requirements and for the protection of privilege; setting strategy; promoting the safety of GM’s customers; review of briefs and motions; settlement decision-making; and other tasks normally attendant to the management of product liability litigation;
• Management of complex litigation cases and issues in other areas, including class actions, supplier disputes, securities litigation, privacy litigation, and other commercial litigation;
• Preparing the Company’s response to subpoenas in a timely way;
• Assisting with the Company’s response to consumer complaints or disputes, even if outside the context of litigation;
• Ensuring litigation accruals and reserves are made accurately;
• Ensure new matters are properly entered into case management system, including required TREAD data;
• Timely review and analyze case evaluations, briefs and motions submitted by outside counsel and complete related tasks as outlined in GM’s policies and processes;
• Determine settlement value or trial recommendations for specific cases or claims as outlined in GM’s policies and processes;
• Coordinate selection of litigation consultants, expert witnesses, trial counsel, and appellate counsel;
• Work with outside counsel on deposition preparation and trial preparation;
• Review and process legal bills for counsel in assigned system and ensure that matters are managed within budget;
• Welcome opportunities for cross-functional, collaborative projects outside of the Litigation group;
• Conduct oneself consistently with GM’s Values and Behaviors. 
   

This position requires an exceptional attorney with a distinguished professional record and a strong business orientation. Candidates must be self-motivated and exhibit a passion for understanding GM’s business and contributing in a meaningful way to its long-term strategic goals. In addition to possessing the requisite legal and technical skills, the successful candidate must approach this role from an experienced business perspective and demonstrate a high degree of ethics and integrity, as well as strategic/conceptual thinking capabilities.
 

Key Qualifications For Role

• Minimum 5 years of substantive experience as a commercial litigation attorney. Prior in-house experience is not required.
• Experience with patent litigation and other IP litigation;
• Experience should include the following:
  • Preparation of answers, motions, and case evaluations;
  • Argument of substantive motions on complex matters before the court;
  • eDiscovery, including overseeing document collection and production;
  • Trial experience in both federal and state court preferred;
  • Experience in automotive product liability defense preferred;
  • Ability to interact with individuals throughout the organization and with outside counsel and other advisors in a professional and business-like manner, in order to collaborate, build relationships, and gain credibility;
  • Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously from inception to completion and achieve goals;
  • Ability to present information, cases, or analysis in a timely, clear, and concise manner;
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills;
  • Commitment to high standards of quality and ethics;
  • Proven ability to act as a guardian of the Company through speaking up to say what needs to be said, providing complete, direct, and actionable feedback to others, facing up to problems quickly and directly, and sharing all key information with management to enable them to make well-informed decisions;
  • Enthusiasm to work as part of a high-performing team to defend the Company
     
• In addition to the above skills, the successful candidate must exhibit the following individual characteristics:
  • Organizational Agility: Knowledgeable about how organizations work; knows how to get things done both through formal channels and the informal network; understanding the origin and reasoning behind key policies, practices and procedures; understands the culture of organizations.
  • Functional Expertise: Has the functional and technical knowledge and skills to do the job at a high level of accomplishment.
  • Managerial Courage: Provide current, direct, complete and actionable positive and corrective feedback to others; let people know where they stand; face up to problems quickly and directly; not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
     

Location: This role is based remotely but if you live within a 50-mile radius of (Atlanta, Austin, Detroit, Warren, Milford or Mountain View), you are expected to report to that location three times a week, at minimum.

Compensation:

The compensation information is a good faith estimate only. It is based on what a successful applicant might be paid in accordance with applicable state laws.

The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position, as well as geography of the selected candidate.

• The salary range for this role is 110,000 - $172,100. The actual base salary a successful candidate will be offered within this range will vary based on factors relevant to the position.

• Bonus Potential: An incentive pay program offers payouts based on company performance, job level, and individual performance.

• Benefits: GM offers a variety of health and wellbeing benefit programs. Benefit options include medical, dental, vision, Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Accounts, retirement savings plan, sickness and accident benefits, life insurance, paid vacation & holidays, tuition assistance programs, employee assistance program, GM vehicle discounts and more.

Relocation: This role is May eligible for relocation benefits

GM DOES NOT PROVIDE IMMIGRATION-RELATED SPONSORSHIP FOR THIS ROLE. DO NOT APPLY FOR THIS ROLE IF YOU WILL NEED GM IMMIGRATION SPONSORSHIP NOW OR IN THE FUTURE. THIS INCLUDES DIRECT COMPANY SPONSORSHIP, ENTRY OF GM AS THE IMMIGRATION EMPLOYER OF RECORD ON A GOVERNMENT FORM, AND ANY WORK AUTHORIZATION REQUIRING A WRITTEN SUBMISSION OR OTHER IMMIGRATION SUPPORT FROM THE COMPANY (e.g., H-1B, OPT, STEM OPT, CPT, TN, J-1, etc.)

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