Legal and Administrative Assistant

Museum Overview

The Brooklyn Museum is a world-renowned cultural institution dedicated to preserving and showcasing art, history, and heritage. Our mission is to bring people together through art and experiences that inspire celebration, compassion, courage, and the will to act. Our vision is to serve as an institution where art is a powerful force for personal transformation and social change. Celebrating our differences and learning about our diverse communities through our collections, exhibitions, and programming is the core of who we are and what we do.

We are committed to creating and cultivating a community of talented, passionate people who are inspired to make the Museum an important hub of community activity and a great global destination. Our staff have the opportunity to grow their professional skills and work collaboratively with colleagues they admire and respect.

About The Role

The Legal & Administrative Assistant is a member of the Director’s Office team supporting the Chief Operating & Financial Officer (COO/CFO) General Counsel (GC) in both administrative and legal operations. The Assistant will help build and maintain the Museum’s legal infrastructure - including contracting systems, compliance calendars, and policy management - while also maintaining the COO/CFO GC’s official schedules, organizing meetings and events, and ensuring smooth day-to-day coordination with the Director’s Office.

The ideal candidate for this role must thrive in a fast-paced environment that is mission-driven, results-driven, and community-oriented. The Administrative Assistant will provide attentive, intelligent, intuitive, and proactive support to the Director’s Office and the COO/CFO GC. It is essential that this candidate possess impeccable written and oral communication skills as well as strong and resourceful problem-solving and decision-making capabilities. The Assistant will coordinate and work collaboratively with the other Executive Assistants in the Director’s Office and staff throughout the Museum. The Assistant also deeply understands the importance of representing the Director’s Office and therefore the Museum, and as such is a thoughtful, proactive, and gracious communicator with the Museum staff, Board, and all our external stakeholders. In addition the best candidate is passionate about the Museum, forward-thinking, full of Brooklyn pride, and art-loving.

Responsibilities:

Administrative and Executive Support

• Manages the COO and GC’s calendars and meetings in partnership with the leadership team, including anticipatory prep for meetings such as compiling agendas and materials
• Prepares weekly projected scheduling reports with call outs to milestone meetings and projects moving forward
• Makes arrangements for the COO GC’s travel, meetings and events.
• Manage expenses, credit card reconciliations, and scheduling for key initiatives.
• Works closely with Chief of Staff to proactively secure critical meetings to move major institutional priorities forward
• Receives guests of the COO GC and builds rapport with external stakeholders to major initiatives
• Build strong working relationships with internal teams and external partners.
  
  
  

Legal and Paralegal Support

• Support preparation of materials for Board and Committee meetings. Maintain notes and meetings for other administrative meetings and events
• Manage contract review and procurement processes, including drafting, reviewing, and tracking agreements across all museum operations
• Conduct preliminary research on legal matters, governance questions, and regulatory compliance requirements
• Maintain employee handbook and policies, Board bylaws, and governance documents
• Coordinate with external counsel, including scheduling, document sharing, and maintain litigation files
• Maintain compliance calendars for insurance renewals, regulatory filings, and annual policy reviews
• Assist with responses to audits, subpoenas or agency requests.
• Monitor legislative and regulatory developments that may impact museum operations
• Help coordinate and prepare materials for legal training sessions for museum staff
• Maintain comprehensive legal files, databases, and tracking systems for all ongoing legal matters, including management of the internal Legal Sharepoint site for staff.
• Support crisis management and emergency legal response coordination when required
  
  
  

Requirements:

• Associate/ Bachelor Degree; paralegal certification or prior paralegal/legal operations experience strongly preferred.
• 3-5 years of experience supporting executives, attorneys, or legal/compliance functions.
• Highly proficient in written and verbal communications, with strong grammar, vocabulary, and composition skills
• Highly proficient in MS Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, familiarity with ContractSafe or similar CLM tools is a plus
• Detail-oriented, possessing strong organizational skills, initiative, and self-motivation
• Able to proactively prioritize and manage time, juggle multiple duties and tasks, and meet deadlines
• Able to anticipate problems, ask questions, seek solutions, and effectively communicate them to the President and her staff
• Eager to learn, grow, and thrive in a dynamic and high-paced environment.
• Able to maintain confidentiality and discretion and possess good judgment
• Professional, welcoming demeanor and an orientation towards customer service with an ability to work with a diverse group of staff, visitors, and stakeholders
• Collaborative style and ability to adapt and incorporate input from various teams across the Museum
• Passionate about arts and culture and committed to the Brooklyn Museum mission and vision
• Able to work onsite at the Brooklyn Museum four days a week and effectively remotely one day a week
• Possess excellent judgment, a great attitude, strong work ethic, and a sense of humor
  
  
  

Department: Executive Admin

Reports to: General Counsel

Position type: Full-time

Union status: Non-Union

FLSA status: Exempt

Salary: $74,298.43

Schedule: 35 hours per week, Monday–Friday, 9 am–5 pm (hybrid, 4 days per week onsite, 1 day remote)