Assistant General Counsel

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) has an immediate opening for an Assistant General Counsel. The person selected for this role will act as a junior counsel in all areas of the legal department.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist in legal research, drafting grant agreements, and requests for legal opinions regarding agency matters pertaining to the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act and the state grants and scholarships administered by ISAC.
• Research and draft agency administrative rules, tracking and documenting research and final drafts, and reviewing policy and procedure to report issues to senior counsel.
• Meet with other divisions to assess the current record retention needs of the Agency and with the Records Officer to draft revised record retention schedules.
• Maintain and review the record retention policies and serve as counsel for questions from without the agency with records retention questions.
• Conduct research pertaining to the State’s procurement code and any legal matters pertaining to the agency’s procurement needs and contract requirements at the direction of senior counsel.
• Assist with drafting and contract review.
• Attend open meetings, draft minutes, and respond to questions as they arise about Open Meetings Act.

• Assist senior counsel with administrative hearings, as requested by defaulted student loan borrowers, schools, scholarship and grant applicants and recipients.
• Assist senior counsel with responses to Freedom of Information Act requests and due dates to ensure timely compliance.
• Assist senior counsel with state required ethics training and reporting to ensure timely compliance.
• Assist senior counsel with research and drafting policies about new and emerging legal issues (ex: AI policy).
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Minimum Acceptable Qualifications

• Juris Doctor (J.D) law license.
• A minimum of 7 years of practice in transactional matters and/or administrative law.
• Excellent research skills.
• Excellent writing and editing skills.
• Proficient Computer Skills including Word, Excel, Outlook Microsoft Office Applications.

  Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with the Illinois Compiled Statutes, Illinois Administrative Code, JCAR, Illinois Open Meetings Act, Local Records Act, Illinois Privacy Acts, and the Illinois Procurement Code.
• Knowledge of federal and state statutes as well as federal rules and state regulations relating to grant, scholarship, and loan programs.
• Knowledge of ISAC scholarship, grant, and loan programs.
• Previous experience working for the State of Illinois.

Benefits

• ISAC offers an attractive benefits package including health, vision, and life insurance, State Employees’ Retirement System, educational benefits, and more.
• 24 earned vacation days per year.
• 12 paid sick days.
• 13 paid holidays.
• Tuition waiver at select public Illinois universities and tuition reimbursements for non-public Illinois universities.

Salary range: $110,000-$120,000

Be part of our great mission helping Illinois students on their path to education after high school! Visit us at https://www.isac.org.

For consideration, please complete an application at https://recruiter.isac.org.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the US. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of employment Visas at this time.

The person selected for this position will be required to complete a criminal background check.

ISAC does not discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person's race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.