Senior Paralegal II Full Time

About Kendra Scott:
We are a fun, talented and driven team dedicated to providing our customers with gorgeous products and a WOW! experience. Family, fashion and philanthropy are at the core of our company and though we move at a very fast pace, we are committed to maintaining a family-oriented work environment and giving back to our community. A passion for great design, dedication to innovation and a strong social media presence are our building blocks for creating a unique and engaging lifestyle brand across all channels, including retail stores, wholesale accounts and e-commerce. Our headquarters are located in the heart of Austin, Texas, and we embrace the unique vibe and energy of our hometown as an inspiration for our brand and company culture.

Position Overview:
We have an exciting opportunity to support the continued growth of our Company at our Home Office in Austin, TX! We are open to a hybrid working arrangement for candidates in Austin, TX.  Reporting to our VP, Associate General Counsel, our Sr. Paralegal will be responsible for contract review and education, corporate governance, litigation support, employment law matters, data privacy, general corporate matters, legal compliance and project management in an effort to protect the company and reduce risk. This role requires someone who is a self starter, highly organized and great at working with cross-functional teams on multiple projects.

Responsibilities:

Contract Review, Management and Education:

• Manage the contract review and negotiation process from initial review to execution for contracts submitted to the Legal team; collaborate with cross functional teams to ensure business needs are met and approved in each contract; work closely with internal and outside counsel on contract review as needed; communicate with company vendors regarding contract matters; work directly with all parties to ensure the agreements are negotiated and signed on time.
• Work directly with business teams (up multiple levels to executives); responsible for drafting, reviewing and editing commercial agreements, including:  non-disclosure agreements;  technology, IT, e-commerce, wholesale, retail, logistics, and supply chain agreements (e.g. master services agreements, software “as-a-service” agreements, professional services agreements, consulting agreements, statements of work, purchase orders), amendments, addendums, termination letters, and various other contracts; seek feedback from attorneys as needed for higher materiality agreements but otherwise responsible for work product.
• Educate cross–functional teams on the internal contract review and negotiation process and contract terms, including Company form agreements
• Create, update and administer form-based contracts and other templates to create efficiencies in the contract review process (e.g. NDAs, Privacy Addendums, Professional Services MSA, SaaS MSA, Consulting Agreement, HR Search Agreement, HR Temp/Staffing Agreement, Wholesale Agreements, and various Waivers and Releases).
• Support insurance review of relevant contract terms (indemnification and insurance requirements) with insurance brokers and vendors/other third parties.

Corporate Governance and Related Project Management:

• Manage special projects relating to corporate governance to support the Company’s growth initiatives
• Oversee the Company’s registered agent, including for annual reports to ensure the company is in good standing with each Secretary of State on a nation-wide basis (we are registered in almost all 50 states); assist the tax team as needed with business license matters; respond to cross-functional inquiries regarding same.
• Responsible for updating the company’s capitalization table and maintaining corporate governance documents.
• Interface directly with the Board of Directors and officers for corporate governance, transactions and related matters; draft board, stockholder and manager/member actions and waivers for the Company and its parent company and subsidiaries; administer documents for review and signature.
  

 Employment Law Matters:

• Frequent collaboration directly with HR; provide legal guidance for various employee relations matters in the HO, field and DC ( e.g. employee classification, background checks, accommodations, protected leave, disciplinary action, terminations, non-competes, non-solicits, information requests etc.)
• Research and advise on new or upcoming employment laws (e.g. non-competes, pay transparency laws, pay frequency laws, wage and hour laws, meal break requirements, non-competes, etc.)
• Review and update employee forms and policies (e.g. offer letters, EPIA / restrictive covenants agreement, arbitration agreement and family guidelines)
• Research and support requests for employee sponsorship / visas
  

 Data Privacy / AI Compliance:

• Act as internal SME on Privacy related questions without escalating to legal counsel
• Provide initial review for projects and campaigns and advise on legal requirements and risk assessment, including new areas of law such as privacy and AI
• Partner with team members to ensure advertising to consumers, including with new technologies, meets legal requirements.
• Educate cross-functional partners on our company’s privacy program and applicable privacy and AI laws, including new laws coming into effect and provide trainings to business teams
• Review and analyze vendor contracts involving customer information; manage the review and negotiation of privacy addendums for necessary vendors; maintain a repository of all executed privacy addendums and amendments.
• Responsible for maintaining and updating the privacy vendor tracking spreadsheet for all Company vendors that collect or receive personal data as part of the Company’s data privacy program.
• Assist with responding to and fulfilling data subject requests.
• Advise on data collection in-store and online
• Draft and update consumer, employee and contractor privacy and data security policies and T&Cs (online, in store, in employee policies, applicant policies, etc.)
• Prepare updates to KS website for new consumer privacy laws, including consumer request forms
• Prepare template responses to consumer requests in different states (Do Not Sell, Deletion, Access, Correction)
• Create SOPs to ensure that the appropriate processes and procedures are continuously followed
• Partner with cross-functional partners to build a shared repository of documentation for our privacy program, to ensure information transfer to new team members
• Provide support as a member of privacy compliance task force (Legal, IT, Ecommerce, Marketing), which meets regularly to share updates
• Strategically educate cross-functional team on legal and risk parameters
  

 Litigation:

• Interface directly with outside counsel and business teams on litigation and claims; responsible for tracking the status of all litigation matters  and ensuring filing deadlines are met for all claims.
• Provide litigation quarterly updates and summaries to the Board of Directors and the Company’s auditors.
• Draft, revise and review legal correspondence (e.g. cease and desist letters, demand letters and responses, notices of default).
• Support claims and litigation matters in a timely manner; consult with insurance companies and brokers; and provide administrative assistance for the Legal/Risk team and cross functionally.
  

 Compliance:

• Research and advise on complex state and federal laws, including independent contractor arrangements and franchise laws and exemptions.
• Conduct quarterly meetings with cross-functional teams, provide business partners with updates regarding compliance matters and new or evolving legal regimes, and ensure that the Legal/Risk team is up to date with Company initiatives.
• Work cross-functionally and collaborate with the rest of the Legal/Risk team to help develop policies on industry-specific issues, legal or regulatory affairs.
• Accountable for ongoing store compliance-related matters at the federal and local levels; provide corporate governance support and advice to store teams.
  

General:

• Respond to incoming requests for legal advice/business guidance from cross-functional partners and exercising judgement in prioritizing requests.
• Manage special projects as needed related to any subject area impacting fashion/retail, providing research, reporting, advice and such other tasks as required in support of such projects.
• Establish, maintain, process, oversee  database of all drafts and executed contracts, correspondence, and other documents / records / files for all agreements and other legal  or risk matters.
• Responsible for tracking agreements, filings and deadlines for various matters and communicating same to Legal/Risk team and relevant cross-functional teams.
• Consult with management, outside counsel, commercial advisors, tax experts, accountants and cross functional teams as necessary.
• Act as liaison with cross-functional teams and internal stakeholders; educate them on roles and responsibilities, as well as processes and procedures, for matters involving the Company’s Legal/Risk team.
• Create legal education materials for, and explain complex legal concepts to, cross-functional partners including at multiple levels up to ELT.
• Develop strategic business partnerships and counsel cross-functional teams on general business and legal matters.
  

Our Ideal Candidate Will Have:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 7-10 years’ experience as a paralegal at a law firm and/or for a high-growth company required
• Paralegal certificate preferred
• Strong analytical, research, communication and organizational skills with ability to communicate up multiple levels to executives and Board of Directors
• A high level of accountability, reliability and initiative
• Proficiency in Smartsheets, LLM tools and the Microsoft Office Suite, including Excel spreadsheets and the track changes and document compare functions in Microsoft Word
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail, with a strong sense of responsibility and follow-through
• A proven ability to execute with consistent delivery and reprioritize based on evolving business needs
• Possess high level of discretion, tact, judgment and ability to maintain confidentiality
• Ability to communicate complex issues, risks and opportunities in easily understood and concise manner
• A solutions-oriented mentality with a data driven approach
• A strong ability to build cross functional partnerships and work collaboratively
• A growth mindset: desire to leverage past learnings, grow and embrace new ideas
• Enthusiasm to support the department and organization and eagerness to learn
• A shared appreciation for our 3 core values of Family, Fashion and Philanthropy

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company.