Senior Counsel, Litigation

Job Summary

Preference is that candidate's live in either Maryland, Virginia or Washington D.C.

The position is responsible for managing a portfolio of complex litigation matters which includes significant medical malpractice claims arising in Kaiser Permanente-s Mid-Atlantic States market, consisting of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

In addition to managing a portfolio of litigation matters and overseeing relationships with outside counsel, the Senior Counsel serves as a trusted legal advisor to operational leaders, risk professionals, and legal colleagues across the organization, particularly concerning Kaiser Permanente-s care delivery system.

The role requires the ability to provide practical, business-oriented legal guidance that supports strategic decision-making while advancing Kaiser Permanente's mission and operational objectives. Senior Counsel partners closely with outside counsel to develop litigation and resolution strategies, assess risk, and achieve favorable outcomes in complex matters.

The position also works collaboratively with Risk Management, Quality, and clinical leaders to identify and share lessons learned from claims and litigation, helping to drive operational improvements, strengthen processes, and reduce future risk while promoting continuous improvement across the organization.

In addition to the responsibilities listed below, this position is also responsible for managing outside counsel relationships with a team of litigators to craft overall litigation strategy with the objective of implementing or facilitating company-wide business objectives and for portfolios of high reputational and economic significance and implementing strategies for cost control and mitigation; leading collaborations with the business to implement key changes and ensuring alignment with overall business strategy; overseeing cross-functional collaborations and communications with business groups, government, clinical, and other groups within KP to ensure achievement towards a common goal; and overseeing practical and effective legal advice and promoting proactive strategies to prevent, mitigate and resolve legal, regulatory and enterprise risk.

This position may be responsible for proactively identifying government enforcement risk areas and priorities and communicating and addressing these within compliance and operations and providing training to compliance and operations on key statutes and regulations that are priorities for the government.

This position is responsible for managing relationships with a team of lawyers to facilitate efficient and proactive legal services; dealing with high-risk cases and identifying when to escalate as necessary; counseling on remediation of identified risk areas over the course of an investigation; and implementing guidelines and standards.

The position is also responsible for establishing arguments in preparation of cases; representing KP during legal proceedings, mediation, and negotiation of settlements; providing strategic legal advice and working on unique and complicated risk initiatives, remediation, and/or compliance projects;

ensuring adherence to legal obligations and settlement agreements; reviewing, evaluating, and aligning team efforts on resolving complex and unique claims and lawsuits related to unique subject matter expertise; advising the enterprise on highly complex legal and risk matters; and identifying operational concerns and collaborating with the enterprise to approve solutions to highly complex and unique concerns.

Essential Responsibilities

• Participates in the creation, review, and negotiation of legal documents by: preparing, drafting, creating, and reviewing highly complex and nuanced written legal advice, contracts, and/or other documents related to subject matter expertise;

Additional information

overseeing work product of others; and providing highly technical, expert and actionable guidance to clients and other legal professionals (e.g., legal counsel, paralegals, and legal assistants).

• Performs and analyzes legal research by: performing or managing highly complex research and analyses of case law and statutory/regulatory authority including but not limited to federal and state laws, rules, regulations, accreditation standards, and/or other applicable guidance; analyzing highly complex industry patterns and trends impacting legal questions or issues; and effectively synthesizing and communicating legal research findings and legal analysis to cross-functional senior business stakeholders to inform program-wide strategy and critical business decisions.
• Assesses legal risk and/or provides legal guidance by: applying expert knowledge of legal principles, business risks, regulatory landscape, and compliance considerations to provide legal advice and recommendations on matters highly critical to the organization; leading legal strategies for senior business stakeholders and implementing innovative solutions that mitigate legal risks, drive program-wide business strategy, and further advance Kaiser Permanentes mission; managing and overseeing outside counsel on highly technical and complex legal matters; effectively collaborating with other attorneys to leverage and share expertise and resources in a highly matrixed environment; and overseeing junior-level attorneys and other legal professionals or guiding more junior attorneys in their area of expertise, and as appropriate.
• Contributes to legal planning and strategy by: formulating and managing legal strategy for the implementation of significant and innovative solutions to unique issues; driving the resolution of highly complex legal issues through collaboration among legal colleagues and stakeholders; advising senior stakeholders on health plan and/or care delivery business and/or clinical strategies; engaging with regulatory services and government relations on Kaiser Permanentes advocacy strategies to address legislative, regulatory and litigation risk; and managing, leading, or guiding responses to regulatory actions as appropriate for practice areas (e.g., audits and enforcement actions).