Vice President, Legal Counsel

Reporting to Senior Vice President, General Counsel, North & Central America, this position's primary focus is on development activities and growth in the North & Central America region. 

What is in it for you:

• Employee Discount Travel Program
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Extended healthcare plan coverage
• Opportunity to develop your talent and grown within the Company and across the globe!
• Ability to make a difference through our Corporate Social Responsibility activities such as Planet 21

What you will be doing:

• Working with Development on the negotiation and completion of confidentiality agreements, letters of intent, hotel management agreements, license and franchise agreements, brand consulting agreements, subordination and non-disturbance agreements and residential brand licensing and management agreements for Accor-branded hotels (including lifestyle hotels) and residential projects.   
• Working with Accor’s global Residential team on the negotiation, completion and amendment of association management agreements, affiliation agreements, third party affiliation agreements, and internal agreements for the administration of the Accor Owner Benefits Program.
• Administering a Franchise program for the region including the oversight of drafting and regularly updating Franchise Disclosure Documents and ensuring compliance with Franchise disclosure legal requirements.   
• Drafting and negotiating amendments and letters of understating to existing management agreements and franchise agreements including agreements relating to financings with hotel lenders.   
• Supervising “know your counterparty” (KYC) process on new development projects and managing the operator’s consent to the sale of existing hotels to new owners including negotiation of assignment and assumption agreements and Operator estoppels.   
• Managing a data base of current agreements and precedents, assisting with the implementation of Accor’s contract management tool.   Maintaining accurate summaries of current agreements for reference by other departments.
• Working with accounting and finance to determine compliant processes and billing practices for centralized/group services including technology, distribution, loyalty, and sales and marketing.
• Managing M&A projects and transactions that include joint ventures on hotel projects and other investments in hotel properties or loans or key money advanced to owners.
• Working with procurement to review procurement processes and contracts.  
• Advising on interpretation of existing agreements and material issues which may arise at hotels and corporate office).
• Maintaining and revising template agreements including the regionalization of Accor global templates. 
• Reviewing and advising on significant property level hotel operating and service contracts from a commercial and legal perspective. 
• Working with outside legal counsel and managing engagements and budgets.
• Managing other legal professionals in support of the above responsibilities. 
• Working with in-house taxation specialists on tax matters and structuring, as required

Your experience and skills include:

• 5-8 years’ experience as a lawyer and qualified to practice in one or more states of the US or provinces of Canada
• An undergraduate degree in business and/or a postgraduate degree (e.g. MBA) would be an asset
• Extensive prior HMA experience with a law firm or branded hotel operator in Canada or the US
• Spanish or French skills would be an asset
• Experience working cross functionally with different business units

Note:  Must already be legally entitled to work in Canada to be considered for the position

Our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
We are an inclusive company and our ambition is to attract, recruit and promote diverse talent.