Associate Litigation & Risk Attorney

Upwork is seeking a Litigation and Risk Counsel to join our award-winning Upwork Legal Team, which Law.com recently recognized as 2021’s “Most Innovative Legal Department”. In this position, you will handle all pre-litigation legal process and assist with assessing, mitigating and resolving litigation and user disputes. You will help scale Upwork’s compliance efforts by developing and implementing trainings and providing ongoing advice and counsel to the Product and Marketing teams as they develop new products and campaigns.

This is a remote-first role, providing the flexibility to live and work from any of our approved locations! We are a collaborative and high-performing team that loves to align our work with our values, work on state-of-the art legal issues and generate practical, innovative solutions.

Are you a motivated junior employment litigation counsel who is eager to align your work with your values? If so, this rare in-house opportunity is ideal for you.

Your Responsibilities:

• Assist Litigation lead with mitigating and resolving ongoing litigation, user disputes, and agency claims, and in managing outside counsel on pending litigation matters to help ensure cost-effective legal operations;
• Lead the handling of pre-litigation matters and information requests, including unemployment claims, subpoenas, bankruptcy filings, garnishments and liens;
• Provide legal advice and counseling to the Product and Marketing teams on upcoming rollouts, review marketing materials on legal and industry topics, and develop and execute team trainings to ensure continued compliance with relevant laws and regulations;
• Assist with process reviews, internal and external audits, internal investigations, consumer complaints, and policy creation and implementation on compliance issues;
• Assist with brand protection and intellectual property matters, including domain and trademark infringement actions, social media escalations, and other intellectual property rights enforcement matters; and
• Support tax-related updates, risk-related special projects, and tracking policy updates in matters impacting the tech industry.

What it takes to catch our eye:

• 2 to 4 years experience as a litigator and risk-mitigator.
• Experience counseling in-house clients or business partners on high-risk matters.
• Licensed to practice law, in good standing. Familiarity with federal and state (specifically California) regulations impacting the tech industry.
• Litigation experience at a top law firm. Preference for some in-house experience as well.
• Specialized knowledge in litigation and tech industry legal issues, including federal and state laws and regulations
• Nuanced legal analysis and advisory skills to develop a conclusion and explain the supporting rationale; ability to incorporate business needs into legal advice and develop creative solutions that prioritize both.
• Contributes to the development of tactical initiatives, processes, and projects, thinks beyond transactional tasks and develops an ability to identify how initiatives, processes, and projects aligns with various elements of the project and sub-specialty goals.
• Develops strong partnerships with cross-functional teams based on trust and exhibits an ability to become a trusted, sought-after partner.

The annual base salary for this position in California and Washington ranges from $145,000.00 – $196,000.00. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.