Associate General Counsel – Litigation & Risk Greater Cleveland, OH Area

About Us

WHY PRODRIVEN GLOBAL BRANDS? BECAUSE WE ARE THE PROFESSIONAL’S CHOICE! You will find our market leading products and brands on job sites all over the world.

Focusing on end users' needs and delivering exceptional customer experience drives our success. Our entire process—from research to engineering to manufacturing to commercialization—creates products that ensure ease of use, productivity, durability and safety for the end user. On jobsites across the world, ProDriven Global Brands are most preferred.

Presently this position is in a hybrid status with a minimum of 1 day per month in the office for collaboration, teamwork, and business needs. The status and minimum in-office requirements are subject to change based on evolving business needs.

Overview

The Associate General Counsel - Litigation and Risk leads and strengthens the Company's approach to significant litigation, claims, disputes, and related legal risk. Reporting to the General Counsel, this role combines sophisticated legal judgment with disciplined portfolio governance, financial acumen, and practical business leadership. The position has meaningful responsibility for matter strategy, resolution, external legal resources, claims oversight, and executive visibility into material risk.

This is a senior leadership opportunity for an attorney who can move confidently between individual matters and the broader portfolio: developing defensible strategies, improving consistency and accountability, and translating litigation experience into better decisions across the enterprise.

Responsibilities

Litigation Strategy and Dispute Resolution

Lead strategy for significant litigation, claims, and disputes involving the Company's products, operations, employees, and commercial relationships.

Assess liability, causation, damages, litigation posture, potential outcomes, and resolution alternatives, and provide clear recommendations that balance legal exposure with financial, reputational, and business considerations.

Direct matters from initial assessment and investigation through discovery, expert development, product examinations, motion practice, mediation, settlement, trial preparation, and appeal.

Identify emerging allegations, recurring fact patterns, and portfolio trends that may require broader legal or business action.

Claims Leadership and Portfolio Governance

Provide legal and strategic leadership for the Claims function and promote consistent standards for intake, investigation, documentation, evaluation, escalation, and resolution.

Maintain clear visibility into the status, strategy, critical deadlines, and potential exposure of open matters.

Ensure relevant evidence, records, products, photographs, statements, and technical information are appropriately identified, preserved, and evaluated.

Develop portfolio reporting and governance practices that support accountability, informed decision-making, and timely escalation of significant developments.

Financial and Resolution Governance

Develop and periodically reassess case evaluations and reserve recommendations based on the available facts, litigation developments, expert input, and expected exposure.

Partner with the General Counsel, Finance, Risk Management, insurers, and other appropriate stakeholders on reserve reviews, financial reporting, and portfolio forecasting.

Evaluate resolution opportunities and lead significant settlement negotiations and internal approval processes.

Monitor indemnity exposure, defense costs, settlement activity, legal spend, and other material financial developments across the portfolio.

Provide concise, supportable reporting on material matters, reserve activity, resolutions, and emerging exposure.

Outside Counsel, Experts, and Team Leadership

Select, retain, and direct outside counsel, technical experts, investigators, and other external resources.

Establish clear expectations for strategy, staffing, budgets, reporting, responsiveness, and results, and hold external teams accountable for performance and alignment with Company objectives.

Exercise appropriate oversight of significant strategic decisions, including expert retention, dispositive motions, mediation, trial preparation, and settlement approach.

Lead, develop, and mentor legal and claims professionals, promoting sound judgment, collaboration, consistency, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Enterprise Risk Partnership and Operational Excellence

Partner with Engineering, Quality, Product Development, Operations, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, Customer Care, Human Resources, Risk Management, and other functions to investigate matters and support defensible legal positions.

Advise on evidence preservation, product examinations, testing protocols, technical documentation, warnings, instructions, labeling, and related legal-risk considerations.

Translate litigation and claims experience into practical recommendations for product safety, compliance, documentation, corrective action, and risk prevention.

Support product-safety investigations, regulatory matters, internal investigations, and recall-related legal issues, as appropriate.

Develop scalable processes, technology, reporting, metrics, and knowledge-management practices that strengthen legal operations and risk visibility.

Advise the General Counsel and executive leadership on significant exposure, resolution strategy, financial implications, and enterprise risk, including through concise executive and Board-level reporting when appropriate.

What Success Looks Like

Material matters have clear strategies, accountable ownership, disciplined financial evaluations, and timely escalation.

Leadership receives concise, credible, and decision-useful visibility into litigation, claims, legal spend, resolutions, and emerging exposure.

Outside counsel and experts operate under consistent expectations and deliver high-quality work aligned with the Company's objectives.

Claims and litigation practices are consistent, well documented, scalable, and supported by reliable data and reporting.

Lessons from disputes and claims lead to practical improvements in products, documentation, processes, and risk controls.

The Legal and Claims teams are recognized as disciplined, commercially minded partners that help the business make better decisions.

Performs other duties as assigned within the scope of responsibilities and requirements of the job

Performs Essential Job Functions and Duties with or without reasonable accommodation

Working under Limited supervision

Qualifications

Education, Licenses, and Certifications

Juris Doctor degree from an accredited law school.

Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.

Years of Experience and Knowledge

10+ years of progressively responsible legal experience, including substantial responsibility for complex litigation and disputes.

Preferred Experience

Experience with litigation involving manufactured, industrial, durable, or consumer products.

Combination of in-house and law firm experience.

Experience working with cross-functional and international business teams.

Trial experience or meaningful responsibility for contested litigation.

Experience improving legal or claims processes, reporting, technology, or portfolio governance.

Skills and Abilities

Demonstrated experience directing outside counsel, technical experts, discovery, settlement negotiations, and trial strategy.

Experience evaluating litigation exposure, developing or reviewing reserve recommendations, managing legal spend, and communicating material risks to senior leadership.

Experience leading attorneys, claims professionals, or other legal personnel.

Ability to work effectively with technical, operational, financial, and business stakeholders.

Strategic legal judgment and practical business decision-making.

Sophisticated litigation, dispute-management, and negotiation skills.

Financial acumen regarding reserves, settlements, defense costs, legal spend, and portfolio exposure.

Ability to understand and clearly communicate technical and engineering issues.

Credible executive communication and the ability to translate complex legal, technical, and financial issues into actionable recommendations.

Collaborative leadership, sound judgment, discretion, and the ability to influence across functions.

Ability to manage multiple significant matters in a fast-moving environment while maintaining appropriate discipline and attention to detail.

Commitment to using data, technology, and process improvement to strengthen legal operations and risk visibility.

Travel Requirements

10% ~ 20% travel domestically and internationally required

EEO Statement

ProDriven Global Brands is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. ProDriven Global Brands is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All qualified applicants to ProDriven Global Brands are considered for employment without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status or any other protected characteristic. ProDriven Global Brands will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind based on these characteristics.

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