Fast Facts

Seek an Associate General Counsel to support legal operations, focusing on copyright law and contract negotiations in the media sector.

Responsibilities: Provide legal advice on publishing rights and draft a variety of contracts while collaborating with various departments to assess legal implications of business strategies.

Skills: Expertise in copyright and contractual law, strong negotiation skills, and ability to review and draft complex agreements.

Qualifications: 15 years of legal experience in publishing or media, JD degree, and New York Bar admission.

Location: New York, New York, United States

Compensation: $195000 - $205000 / Annually

As an Associate General Counsel, you will play a crucial role in supporting our business, focusing primarily on copyright law, contract drafting and negotiations, and a variety of other legal issues. The ideal candidate will have a combination of law firm and in-house experience, preferably within the publishing or other media sector, to navigate the complex landscape of intellectual property and contractual law to safeguard our interests and fuel our growth.

What you'll do:

• Provide expert legal advice on all matters related to the publishing of books, podcasts, and other media.
• Draft, review, and negotiate a wide range of contracts, with a focus on publishing rights, licensing agreements, production agreements, narrator agreements.
• Collaborate with various departments to identify legal implications of business strategies, offering solutions that align with corporate goals.

What you'll bring:

• Proven ability to work independently as well as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong background in copyright, defamation, right of publicity.
• Extensive experience in pre-publication review across print and digital media.
• Knowledge of issues raised by AI, social media and privacy.
• Demonstrated ability to draft and negotiate complex licensing and commercial agreements.
• Excellent analytical, negotiation, writing and communication skills.
• Confidence to take on new challenges and the judgment to ask for support when needed.

Ideal Experience:

• A minimum of 15 years of legal experience, with a preferred combination of law firm and in-house experience.
• Extensive experience in the publishing or other media industry.
• Exceptional academic record
• Juris Doctor degree
• Admission to the New York Bar (in good standing)

This position will have an annual salary of $195,000 - $205,000.

Macmillan Publishers is the U.S. trade company that is part of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned group of media companies headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.

U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, The St. Martin's Publishing Group, and Tor Publishing Group. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, companies in the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group publish under the Pan Macmillan name. The German publishing company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are actively seeking job applicants who reflect a broad representation of differences, including race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, physical ability, neurodiversity, age, family status, economic background and status, geographical background and status, and perspective. We believe that the best companies reflect the incredible diversity in viewpoints, backgrounds, and identities of the world in their staffs, and are committed to inclusive hiring across departments and levels. The successful candidate for this position will be an employee of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.