Senior Associate General Counsel, Education, Research, Intellectual Property & Innovation - Office of Legal & Compliance

UAE Nationals are encouraged to apply. 

New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) seeks to appoint a Senior Associate General Counsel, Education, Research, Intellectual Property & Innovation, reporting to the Chief Counsel. 

The incumbent will lead assignments and projects independently and with small project teams of key stakeholders, as required. The candidate will have the responsibility of addressing and/or managing all of the IP legal needs of the University and will also serve as the primary point of contact for research, undergraduate and graduate education, faculty affairs, student affairs, and the creative and entrepreneurial spaces of NYUAD (i.e., Executive Education, StartAD, Art Gallery, Art Institute, External Affairs and the student newspaper.) In consultation with the New York University (NYU) Office of Technology, Opportunities, and Ventures (TOV) and NYUAD Office of Research Translation and Innovation (RTI), the candidate will advise on inventions for patentability and will provide legal advice to TOV and RTI, and Research Compliance related to research projects, engagements with faculty, and drafting, filing, and prosecuting patent applications before the USPTO, UAE’s Ministry of Economy, and other foreign counterparts. The candidate will advise and counsel clients on various IP matters involving copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets, and commercialization of IP. Will serve as an advisor to the University’s IP Committee.

Key Responsibilities:

Legal Work:

• Provides guidance and legal advice to all academic and administrative areas of NYUAD, focusing on sponsored research, applied research, commercialization, intellectual property, licensing, technology transfer, research compliance, research translation and entrepreneurship, and education portfolios of NYUAD
• Advise on compliance with sponsor requirements and research integrity standards
• Guidance and advice relate primarily to NYUAD's sponsored and collaborative research, research compliance, intellectual property rights and assets, innovation, student entrepreneurship, research ventures
• Oversee the management of the university's intellectual property portfolio, including patent prosecution, copyright registration, and trademark protection
• Collaborate with researchers and the technology transfer office to identify and evaluate the commercial potential of university research outcomes
• Advise on strategies for the protection and commercialization of university intellectual property
• Advise on student academic performance and integrity issues including policy and procedures relating to misconduct
• Supporting university compliance framework for legal, regulatory, compliance, and risk management and compliance with national standards of academic and operational performance for higher education institutions
• Cloud computing, software licensing, SaaS, data governance, privacy, and information security
• Compliance with UAE and US federal funding and sponsorship laws and regulations, and NYUAD’s related policies and procedures to facilitate review of start-up enterprises in furtherance of the University’s innovation and economic development initiativesAdvises on the formation of, and the taking of equity ownership or investment in, start-up companies; student initiatives, incubation and acceleration programs and other matters that facilitate NYUAD’s academic, education and research mission, strategy and operations
• Drafts, reviews, negotiates, interprets, and advises on strategic transactions and contracts such as nondisclosure agreements, option agreements, memoranda of understanding, option agreements, intellectual property management agreements, sponsored research and collaboration agreements, license agreements, material transfer agreements, sponsorship agreements, gift agreements, NDAs, interinstitutional/cotutelle agreements, software licensing agreements, and SaaS agreements, and IP provisions in a host of other institutional contracts
• Works with the Office of Compliance on matters related to conflicts of interest and export controls/trade compliance, the Office of Research Compliance, Strategy and Policy on research security and integrity, research misconduct, and research compliance like IRB, IACUC, and lab safety; and with other University departments that are responsible for privacy, policy management, enterprise risk, and financial matters
• Conducts legal and due diligence research on various legal and business matters
• Supports the Chief Counsel by advising on applicable laws, regulations, and NYUAD’s policies, programs, practices, and activities that are affected by legal considerations
• Works with NYUAD stakeholders to find effective, reasonable, practical solutions to challenging legal and business problems
• Generally supports the workload of the legal team as the available capacity allows

Policy, Training, and Compliance

• Works with NYUAD departments to develop, interpret, and promote adherence to NYUAD’s policies and procedures and align department actions with NYUAD’s research, academic, and economic development missions
• Provides training on and information about legal developments of interest, particularly to NYUAD faculty, post-doctoral fellows, undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. degree students; technology transfer professionals; and research contract negotiators
• Provides guidance to NYUAD department administrators and staff to facilitate their understanding of the legal and business causes and effects of their administrative actions and to implement and facilitate adherence to governance, policy, risk, and compliance requirements, with appropriate attention to any legal, political and financial risks to the NYUAD

Administration:

• Serves on NYUAD committees, as selected by the Chief Counsel, and participates in other NYUAD activities, as requested
• Assists with budget planning, management of outside counsel and consultants
• Leads department projects and other legal work as the AVC/Chief Counsel assigns

Required Education:

• Bachelors Degree from an accredited university in a STEM subject
• Law Degree from an accredited UK, US or equivelant law school
• Qualified to practice law in the United Arab Emirates, United States, United Kingdom or an equivalent jurisdiction

Required Experience:

• 10+ years of experience practicing in a broad range of legal areas within a complex organizational structure
• 5+ years of experience in intellectual property law and commercialization of intellectual property
• Excellent English oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex legal and business issues in terms that are understandable to non-lawyers
• Ability to manage multiple assignments and to complete them effectively and promptly with little or no supervision
• Demonstrated ability to make independent decisions and to ascertain the need for timely escalation of matters to higher management
• Strong listening, interpersonal, and leadership skills with an ability to effectively network and engage with others internally/externally at NYUAD
• Ability to identify, analyze, and resolve complex legal and business issues
• Interest in and ability to quickly assimilate new areas of law
• Demonstrated creative problem-solving skills
• Highly ethical cultural intelligence and sensitivity
• A team player
• Excellent use of Google Suite and Microsoft Office Suite (MS. Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint)
• Superior attention to detail
• Superior integrity and work ethic
• Ability to instill confidence in his or her capability to achieve results and maintain confidentiality
• Exhibits mature understanding of how to interact with a diverse, multi-cultural group of stakeholders and NYUAD partners to develop and maintain long-term positive relationships

Preferred Education:

• LLM in intellectual Property or Patent Agent

Preferred Experience:

• Interests in cutting-edge scientific research, the metaverse, artifical intelligence, and/or cryptocurrency

NYU Abu Dhabi is a degree-granting research university with a fully integrated liberal arts and science undergraduate program in the Arts, Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, and Engineering. NYU Abu Dhabi, NYU New York, and NYU Shanghai, form the backbone of NYU’s global network university, an interconnected network of portal campuses and academic centers across six continents that enable seamless international mobility of students and faculty in their pursuit of academic and scholarly activity. This global university represents a transformative shift in higher education, one in which the intellectual and creative endeavors of academia are shaped and examined through an international and multicultural perspective. As a major intellectual hub at the crossroads of the Arab world, NYUAD serves as a center for scholarly thought, advanced research, knowledge creation, and sharing, through its academic, research, and creative activities.