Chief Campus Counsel

Required Qualifications (as evidenced by an attached resume):
Juris Doctor degree (or foreign equivalent). Candidates should have at least ten (10) years of significant and progressively responsible legal experience. Admitted to New York State Bar in good standing or eligibility for admission to the NYS Bar within six (6) months of employment. Significant legal experience working in-house and/or in higher education, an academic medical center, and/or government law on complex matters.

Preferred Qualifications:
Superior written and oral communication. Strong analytical and legal research skills. Ability to translate complex problems into practical solutions. High ethical standards and mature judgment. Ability to function effectively in a fast-paced environment with multiple and changing priorities and objectives. Experience advising clients on complex healthcare transactional and finance matters or overseeing outside counsel on such matters is preferred. Demonstrated ability to make and communicate hard decisions; demonstrated credibility to win support for those decisions. Judgment, tact, and diplomacy to partner with senior teams to help them achieve their strategic objectives. Outstanding communication and presentation skills, including the ability to communicate clearly, logically, and persuasively during interactions and utilize active listening skills. Proven ability to maintain confidentiality with regard to sensitive issues and information and exercise discretion in dealing with sensitive or potentially sensitive topics. Outstanding interpersonal skills to interact effectively and develop and maintain productive working relationships with an array of diverse interests, individuals, and constituencies. Demonstrated ability to act as a team player in all circumstances, as defined by contributing to the successful outcome of initiatives, accountabilities, and operations of others; especially in unionized environments, is a plus. Knowledge of or familiarity with statutory and constitutional framework and federal and administrative regulations applicable to a public university, and process of governance in academic settings. Proven record of ability to undertake complex legal issues, and capacity to serve as a creative thinker and problem-solver able to negotiate creative solutions to complex problems. Candidate should have an appreciation of operational implications of legal advice.

Brief Description of Duties:
The Chief Campus Counsel – Stony Brook handles a wide range of litigation issues pertaining to the operation of a large public research university and academic medical center. The Chief Campus Counsel-Stony Brook will act as lead attorney in all aspects of the management and supervision of the Office of General Counsel (OGC) satellite office for SUNY Stony Brook University, Stony Brook Medicine and its 5 Health Sciences schools — Dental Medicine, Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing and Social Welfare — as well as Stony Brook University Hospital, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, and the Long Island State Veterans Home (collectively, “Stony Brook”), including providing highly competent, professional, and timely legal services to leadership and administrators at Stony Brook, as well as effective legal advice, advocacy, and preparation and review of campus documents/policies. The Chief Campus Counsel reports to the SUNY Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and General Counsel through the Assistant Deputy General Counsel with the Stony Brook President being the chief client for all legal matters.
The Stony Brook Chief Campus Counsel will provide legal guidance to colleagues in the Stony Brook OGC Office and campus administrators on areas within subject matter expertise and/or working with subject matter experts; manage the office; manage complex transactions; support the implementation of OGC’s strategic plan; serve as a liaison to the Attorney General’s Office and other state and federal agencies; and perform other duties as requested and/or needed by OGC leadership and campus leadership.

The ideal candidate will have legal experience or oversight in the following areas:

• Civil litigation;
• SUNY governance (Stony Brook Council and SUNY Board of Trustees);
• Human resources (hiring, firing, tenure, promotion, disabilities), labor relations (discipline and termination), discrimination (Title IX, ADA, 504, DHR), and other employment matters;
• Clinical trials & sponsored research from government and foundation funders; clinical trials; compliance programs, including basic science, product development, animal and human subjects research, and clinical trials);
• Research compliance (including animal research; scientific misconduct; research conflicts of interest; lab safety (environmental concerns), and export controls;
• State contracts & procurement including construction, leasing and real estate transactions (and familiarity with New York State finance laws);
• Non-procurement agreements (such as Inter-Agency MOU’s, affiliation, and academic agreements);
• Student affairs issues, including but not limited to Federal CLERY, FERPA, and Title IX compliance, student complaints and student discipline matters;
• Crafting and interpretation of legislation;
• Complex legal matters related to contracts, fraud and abuse, general health law, hospitals, medical affairs, and regulatory issues;
• Legal issues related to graduate medical education and research, credentialing, medical staff bylaws, and professional licensure;
• Ethics and public officers law compliance;
• Media relations;
• Stark and Antikickback laws;
• Corporate legal functions and activities of a hospital or academic medical center, with specific responsibility for healthcare/corporate transactions; major business transactions, and financings, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, affiliations; and,
• Managed care; medical malpractice; Medicare/Medicaid cops and provider-based rules; pharmacy/controlled substances; quality/patient safety collaborations; revenue cycle appeals; risk management/clinical safety; telemedicine; EMTALA; fraud and abuse; health information technology; HIPAA, release of phi, forms; licensure (including faculty, staff, facilities); serving as a primary advisor related to healthcare matters, including healthcare compliance;

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing, negotiating, reviewing academic agreements with other colleges and universities;
• Providing advice and recommendations regarding campus-based policies;
• Advising in various student-related matters concerning reasonable accommodations, academic leaves, student discipline, and dismissal;
• Providing oversight of OGC attorneys representing Stony Brook in state and federal administrative agency proceedings as well as, on occasion, in state and federal courts;
• Providing oversight of OGC attorneys representing Stony Brook in employee and student discipline matters, discrimination cases and internal investigations, and with labor and employment issues;
• Developing and delivering training to campus constituencies on key compliance issues including First Amendment/free speech, attorney-client privilege, record retention/e-discovery, email, FOIL, media response, and other areas of importance to the campus;
• Maintaining an awareness of the activities of the organization, its constituent hospitals and other corporations to provide more comprehensive up-to-date legal advice;
• Identifying areas which could benefit from proactive action by corporate and hospital personnel in order to minimize liability and other risks and working with such personnel to develop programs, policies and procedures to address the impact of such risks, laws and regulations;
• Supervising Stony Brook attorney(s) and/or legal support staff;
• Providing advice and mentoring attorneys on a variety of topics; and
• Performing non-litigation assignments and special projects as well as other duties as assigned as appropriate to rank and departmental mission.

Administrative Duties: The Chief Campus Counsel is responsible for the direct administrative management and oversight of the Stony Brook OGC satellite office, including the supervision of deputy/associate/assistant counsels, and paralegals, the assignment of legal matters, and other office administrative matters. The Chief Campus Counsel directly handles or delegates to direct reports all other duties as may be assigned by the SUNY General Counsel. The Chief Campus Counsel may recommend to the Campus President, with approval of the SUNY General Counsel, the engagement of outside counsel for certain legal matters and offer recommendations to the SUNY General Counsel and the President on hiring/termination of direct reports.

SUNY Office of General Counsel Duties: This position reports directly to the Assistant Deputy General Counsel regarding all aspects of the position. In addition, the Chief Campus Counsel interfaces with other OGC colleagues to coordinate the delivery of legal services, including participation in OGC staff meetings and training.
Additional responsibilities include an extensive range of legal matters on behalf of SUNY, including statutory and regulatory interpretation; drafting legal guidance; and answering legal inquiries from campus clients; and, performing special projects as well as other duties as may be assigned.

Special Notes:
This is a Management Confidential position. This is a full time appointment. FLSA Exempt position, not eligible for the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Minimum salary threshold must be met to maintain FLSA exemption.

Essential Position: This has been designated as an essential position based on the duties of the job and the functions performed. Positions that are designated as such may be required to report to work/remain at work even if classes are canceled, and the campus is working on limited operations in an emergency.

Stony Brook University is committed to creating and maintaining a workplace and educational environment that is safe, accessible, and free of all forms of discrimination, sexual misconduct or research misconduct, among other infractions. In support of this commitment, certain candidates for employment will be required to disclose such employment-related misconduct findings and pending investigations or proceedings, and final candidates for certain faculty and staff positions will authorize their current and previous employer(s) from the last seven (7) years to disclose such information to the University. A final offer may be contingent on the satisfactory outcome of this disclosure and review process. If the University becomes aware of a failure to disclose or misrepresentation of any such matter after your employment commences, you may be subject to discipline, up to and including termination.

THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH ONLY APPLIES TO POSITIONS THAT MAY COME IN CONTACT WITH PATIENTS OR PATIENT CARE EMPLOYEES.
In accordance with federal and state regulations that all hospitals and nursing homes require personnel to be vaccinated against COVID-19, candidates who are not already fully vaccinated must obtain the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine within three (3) calendar days of acceptance of a conditional job offer and must obtain any subsequent doses in accordance with that particular vaccine manufacturer’s protocol. Candidates who are partially vaccinated, but not yet fully vaccinated, must complete their vaccination series within three (3) calendar days of a job offer or in accordance with that particular vaccine manufacturer’s protocol, whichever comes later.
The state regulation also includes those who may be affiliated with or interact with employees of a hospital or nursing home. The regulations allow for limited exemptions with reasonable accommodations, consistent with applicable law.

Resume/CV and cover letter should be included with the online application.

Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in diversity and the creation of an inclusive learning, and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status and all other protected classes under federal or state laws.

If you need a disability-related accommodation, please call the university Office of Equity and Access (OEA) at (631) 632-6280 or visit OEA.

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