Legal Counsel

**Legal Counsel**
**Starting Date**: As soon as possible
**Contract type**: Full-time and open-ended
**Salary**: CHF 111’400, commensurate with relevant seniority and experience
**Location**: Geneva, Switzerland
**Application closing date**: 30th September 2024

**About the Job**
Better Cotton is now seeking an In-house Legal Counsel to join the Finance & Services function to
help support the organisation in achieving its new strategic direction by ensuring our legal risks are
minimised.

The In-house Legal Counsel will report to the Director of Finance & Services and take the lead in
legal, compliance and risk management best practice throughout the organisation. The role includes
responsibility for day-to-day legal reviews and responding to legal issues and questions arising from
Better Cotton and Better Cotton Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) operations and programmes.

This is our first in-house legal counsel role. The Legal Counsel will manage outside counsel and
collaborate closely with law firms that provide legal support for the organisation.

This challenging role offers excellent opportunities for personal and professional development,
supporting us to deliver the organisations mission.

**Areas that play to your strengths**
We are seeking a motivated Legal Counsel to join our Finance Team. In this role, you will be
responsible for**:
- protect Better Cotton’s interests and manage Better Cotton’s legal affairs in support of its

mission;
- support the CEO and COO through providing advice on suitable corporate structures to

enable efficient execution of strategy, manage risk and support our people in the countries
where we operate;
- advise and counsel the GIF Board and Better Cotton Council and Senior Management on a

broad range of legal issues;
- carry out initial legal reviews of all Better Cotton and Better Cotton GIF contracts to support

programmatic activities in accordance with the law;
- identify and develop efficient solutions to address potential legal issues and exposure,

including adherence to international, Swiss, finance laws and disclosure laws;
- support the Finance and HR teams in ensuring that rules relating to the tax-exempt status of

each Better Cotton entity, employment practices, and human resources requirements are
adhered to - referring to outside counsel as appropriate;
1 Legal Counsel - September 202
- conduct initial and ongoing reviews of current practices, including, but not limited to, taxes,

document retention, employment actions, governance, leases and contracts, insurance, and
financial controls to identify and address legal issues;
- support the Procurement team with the ongoing revision of contract templates; preparation

of standard contracts for procuring goods, services, facilities, and supplies;
- prepare corporate governance and organisational policy documents, including resolutions

for consideration by the Council and Board of Directors, and advise on other governance
matters;
- strengthen Better Cotton’s ability to forecast by staying up to date on the law, legal trends,

and industry developments in relation to operations and reporting;
- reduce our organisational risk by supporting the drafting of the legal clauses for grant

contracts. This will require close collaboration with members of the leadership team and
fundraising team members to ensure an efficient contracting process;
- work closely with the COO and Senior HR Manager on legal matters relating to employment

policies, personnel management, and human resources compliance:

- initial review of and response to any legal claims against Better Cotton in coordination with

outside counsel;
- support training and skills-building of Better Cotton staff around compliance, risk

management, and reporting requirements;
- lead on the governance review project which is an organisational thematic priority for Better

Cotton in 2025-2027;
- have oversight of the trademark portfolio of Better Cotton, and
- any other duties as assigned by management.

**We are looking for someone who is having**
the following skills, knowledge, and experience:
**_Essential
- **
- Law degree with work experience in the field of law and licensed to practice law in

Switzerland.
- Experience in the not-for-profit sector, ideally at an international level.
- Demonstrated ability to navigate legal frameworks from various countries.
- Ability to identify legal issues and risks in various areas, including tax-exempt organisations,
- human resources, intellectual property rights, and contract rights and obligations.
- Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills with a proactive approach to finding and
- proposing solutions.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills in English with the ability to communicate
- clearly and concisely to audiences without legal expertise.
- Good organisational skills and capacity to multi-task and handle a set of different priorities.
- Proficient IT skills, including but not lim