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General Counsel
AmeriCU Credit Union
Legal
Black River, NY, USA · Rome, NY, USA
USD 148,618.91-185,773.64 / year
Posted on Sep 27, 2025
General Counsel
Location: Rome, NY
Starting Salary Range: $148,618.91 - $185,773.64 actual rate will depend on experience
Who Are We?
AmeriCU is a not-for-profit credit union based in Rome, NY with assets in excess of $2.7 Billion and serving a membership base of over 170,000 members across Central New York, the United States, and beyond. For 75 years we have been committed to our members, our employees, and our communities. In 2025, we were once again recognized as one of the Best Companies to Work for in New York State and recognized by American Banker as one of the best credit unions in the United States to work for, ranking 38th nationwide!
PURPOSE:
Consistent with the credit union mission of building connections and providing our members the right financial services to live life, dream big and achieve financial success, the General Counsel is:
The senior legal advisor to the organization and is responsible for providing legal counsel and strategic advice to the CEO/President, Chief Risk Officer, Board of Directors, and senior leadership on legal, regulatory, and business matters. The General Counsel directs all legal strategies and initiatives to represent the credit union and its subsidiaries across transactions, litigation, and legal affairs. They oversee and manage the legal function and the compliance department, safeguarding the credit union’s rights and interests while ensuring legal services adhere to compliance and ethical best practices when rendered internally and externally. The General Counsel drives responsible credit union growth by delivering expert legal leadership, mitigating legal risks, and serving as a trusted advisor on major initiatives, transactions, and issues impacting the credit union.
The General Counsel will partner with leaders in several functional and operational areas. They will be Responsible for anticipating, identifying, communicating, and mitigating potential legal or compliance risks within the organization and developing strategies to avoid disputes and litigation and appropriately managing risk.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Acts as lead counsel on major corporate transactions like mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, financings, negotiating and drafting related agreements. Review, negotiate, and draft high-value, complex contracts to protect the Credit Union’s interests. Oversees litigation matters, regulatory investigations/audits, and managing relationships with outside legal counsel. Monitors the legal/regulatory landscape and advises executives/board on significant developments impact the business.
- Develops and implements company-wide strategy for legal. Keeps Senior Management informed of emerging legal issues, statutes, and cases. Anticipates, identifies, communicates, and mitigates potential legal problems within the organization and develops strategies to avoid litigation and appropriately manages issues that can affect the credit union.
- Acts as primary liaison with the Board of Directors and Chief Leadership Team to facilitate, improve, and strengthen operations’ decision-making through integration of legal analysis as part of the business development process. Oversees subordinates who are responsible for the same with respect to business units.
- Holds primary responsibility for ensuring the credit union has an appropriate Bond and other insurance coverages, including type and amount. Monitors the credit union’s submission of various insurance claims.
- Provides the overall direction, coordination, and evaluation of the legal and compliance departments, including hiring, training, developing, and leading the teams.
- Stays abreast of all industry-specific regulations. Analyzes the impact of regulations and litigation and communicates issues and risks.
- Is responsible for providing guidance or significant support and leadership on material purchases and sales, acquisitions, engagement of vendors for new and complex services, complex business loans, current and/or future business structures and legal entities, or other special legal projects (i.e., field of membership expansions).
- Establishes legal department policies, procedures, budgets, internal controls, and information governance. Serves as a strategic advisor to enable responsible business growth while proactively managing legal/compliance risks. They function as an expert legal counselor and trusted advisor to drive key business objectives and initiatives legally and ethically.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Juris Doctor from an accredited law school and a NYS licensed attorney in good standing.
- 5 years of experience practicing law.
- Experience reviewing and negotiating contracts, especially vendor agreement.
- Experience in regulatory compliance, preferably involving financial institutions (law firm and/or in-house). Familiarity with regulations affecting financial institutions and/or credit unions (CFPB/NCUA).
- Good interpersonal, leadership, negotiating, and consulting abilities.
- Strong organizational skills and ability to handle multiple, high priority projects with attention to detail
- Excellent research, analytical, and problem-solving skill, oral and written communication skills.
An Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.