Resource Attorney – Private Companies

Locations

Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Downtown Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; Palo Alto, California; Reston, Virginia; San Francisco, California; Santa Monica, California; Washington, DC

Direct Counsel is seeking a Resource Attorney to support the Private Companies practice of a premier global law firm.

This is an exceptional opportunity for a 4–6 year corporate attorney with strong startup, venture, and emerging companies experience who is interested in knowledge management, precedent development, AI-enabled legal innovation, and practice group strategy rather than traditional billable client work.

This role is ideal for a corporate associate or counsel who enjoys building systems, improving workflows, drafting model documents, and driving scalable practice innovation in a fast-moving venture and private companies environment.

Position Overview

The ideal candidate will have 4–6 years of U.S. corporate transactional experience, with meaningful familiarity in:

• Startup and venture company counseling
• Emerging growth company work
• Venture financings
• Founder and formation matters
• Commercial and governance templates
• Closing coordination and diligence workflows
• Private company lifecycle documentation

This is a non-billable attorney role focused on enabling practicing lawyers through knowledge resources, innovation, template development, and legal updates.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, revise, and maintain:
  • Template documents
  • Precedent libraries
  • Practice notes
  • Internal guidance resources
• Support AI-enabled practice innovation initiatives, including:
  • Workflow testing
  • Tool refinement
  • Prompt and document optimization
  • Legal delivery process improvements
• Monitor legal and regulatory developments impacting private companies and venture-backed clients
• Draft internal updates, legal alerts, and resource summaries
• Coordinate cross-practice input on:
  • Precedent updates
  • Publications
  • Knowledge resources
  • Process improvements
• Respond to day-to-day attorney requests for:
  • Templates
  • Model forms
  • Market terms
  • Research resources
• Lead new knowledge management and practice innovation initiatives
• Collaborate closely with attorneys, innovation teams, and business professionals

Qualifications

• J.D. from an accredited law school
• 4–6 years of U.S. corporate transactional experience
• Strong background in startup / venture / private companies work
• Excellent drafting and template-building skills
• Strong organizational and project management abilities
• Experience running closings and coordinating transaction workflows highly transferable
• Entrepreneurial mindset with strong systems thinking
• Licensed attorney in at least one U.S. jurisdiction

Compensation

Base salary range: $220,000 – $315,000

Compensation will depend on office, experience, innovation background, and overall fit.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal attorney will be:

• A former startup / venture associate who enjoys systems and precedent work
• Interested in AI, KM, and legal operations innovation
• Strong in drafting and document architecture
• Highly organized and process-minded
• Entrepreneurial and proactive
• Interested in long-term attorney-support and strategy roles

Why This Opportunity

This is an exceptional opportunity for a venture or private companies attorney seeking an alternative attorney track with elite firm sophistication, cutting-edge AI innovation work, and zero traditional billable client pressure. The combination of venture ecosystem exposure legal innovation leadership makes this especially compelling for attorneys transitioning from associate practice into strategic internal roles.