Counsel - Finance & AI Innovation
Title: Counsel - Finance & AI Innovation Status: Permanent, Full time Salary: Up to $180k +20% bonus + 5 weeks of vacation + health benefits + RRSP matching Location: Downtown Montreal, Quebec - Hybrid 3 days in office, 2 days work from home
TO APPLY: Please send your resume to emily.woods@groomassocies.com
Our client is an international banking and financial institution with divisions located in the Americas, Europe, Asia,and the Middle East. They are continuing to grow their first Canadian office.
The Counsel for Finance and AI Innovation provides strategic legal counsel to the banking and finance operations across the Americas, with particular focus on corporate lending and international trade. This role will prioritize transactional legal expertise with a secondary focus on AI innovation and leveraging proprietary platforms to accelerate document review and enhance work product quality.
The position serves as transactional legal advisor to senior management and front-line business units, manages external counsel relationships, and bridges U.S., Canadian and international legal frameworks. In addition, the successful candidate will contribute to AI integration within the legal function while maintaining the highest standards of legal analysis and client service.
This Montreal-based position focuses on banking and finance matters, primarily involving U.S. transactions with secondary responsibility for Canadian transactions. The successful candidate must demonstrate willingness to master both U.S. and Canadian market practices, regardless of their jurisdiction of admission.
Responsibilities:
- Draft, negotiate, and review complex financing documentation including commitment letters, credit agreements, security agreements, and guarantees for corporate lending and international trade transactions.
- Advise the bank’s global legal network on applicable U.S. and Canadian law and market practices across relevant jurisdictions.
- Design and implement AI-assisted workflows for contract analysis, due diligence, and legal research using the bank’s proprietary platform.
- Develop and refine prompt engineering frameworks and quality control protocols for LLM-generated legal content.
- Evaluate, pilot, and recommend emerging legal technology solutions.
- Maintain and update standard form libraries for supported business lines.
- Supervise and manage external counsel on assigned matters with budget accountability.
- Contribute to cross-functional projects involving risk, compliance, and business development teams.
- Support legal department initiatives and bankwide strategic projects.
Qualifications:
- Law degree (J.D., LL.B., or equivalent)
- Admission to practice law in New York State Bar or Quebec Bar or Ontario Law Society.
- Minimum of 5 years’ experience in-house (in a bank or financial institution) and/or at a law firm.
- Significant experience in U.S. and/or Canadian corporate lending and international trade financing products.
- Experience using AI tools in legal practice.
- Experience working with and supervising counsel in local jurisdictions.
- Ability to “translate” structure features for different stakeholders within the bank (i.e., from the bankers to risk managers, compliance personnel, etc.) and internal requirements for other syndicate members and counsel teams.
- Excellent analytical, written and communication skills. Solution-oriented; delivers accurate, pragmatic and actionable legal advice.
- Able to excel in a fast-paced environment while managing competing priorities.
- Demonstrates professional attitude and responsiveness in handling workload and providing legal advice to clients.
- Verbal and written communication skills in English and French required (You will need to service Anglophone clients and work with Anglophone colleagues)
We thank all those that apply however only those that meet all of the criteria will be contacted. For more information on our recruitment services please visit www.groomassocies.com
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