Legal Counsel

We are seeking a Legal Counsel to provide support across the legal, governance, and compliance functions for LawZero. This role reports to the General Counsel & VP, Legal & Corporate Affairs.

Key responsibilities

• Draft, review, and manage a range of legal agreements, including vendor and service provider agreements, partnerships, grant and donation agreements, IP and data licensing agreements, employment agreements, and confidentiality agreements. Lead the implementation of scalable processes for contract operations.
• Work with the research, product, and engineering teams to ensure legal and responsible AI considerations are embedded in the research and product development lifecycle. Identify and address regulatory, privacy, and other legal risks related to the development of frontier AI technologies.
• Act as a key support for the Corporate Secretary function, assisting with logistics for the Board of Directors, Advisory Councils, and Committees. Prepare meeting agendas, minutes, documents, resolutions, and ensure appropriate post-meeting follow-ups to ensure implementation of decisions. Support the VP in matters related to LawZero's corporate structure and governance.
• Assist with establishing and managing the organization's intellectual property strategy, including implementing internal practices and policies with the research, product, and engineering teams.
• Support the development, deployment, and monitoring of practices and policies for data sourcing and usage. Work closely with the data team to implement data governance practices and processes. Champion compliance with privacy and data protection regimes.
• Monitor developments in national and international AI legal frameworks and voluntary standards. Assist the VP with LawZero's AI governance efforts and support leadership in internal and external initiatives involving AI governance and policy.
• Monitor and research evolving regulatory requirements and establish scalable internal policies.

Skills and qualifications

• 2 to 5 years of experience practicing law
• Experience in a technology or research environment will be considered an asset
• A pragmatic and solution-oriented approach
• A no-ego, roll-up-your-sleeves attitude and willingness to work on a variety of tasks
• Member in good standing with the Barreau du Québec
• Fully bilingual (French and English)

What we offer

• The chance to contribute meaningfully to a globally critical initiative
• Comprehensive health benefits (including mental health and wellness management account)
• 20 days of vacation per year upon start
• Employer contribution of 4% to your retirement savings, with no required employee match
• Additional compensation totaling 8% of your salary to apply towards additional retirement savings or bonuses (independent of group and individual performance)
• A team of passionate world-class experts in their field
• A collaborative and inclusive work environment in our vibrant office space in the heart of Little Italy, in the trendy Mile-Ex district, close to public transportation

About LawZero

LawZero is a non-profit organization committed to advancing research and creating technical solutions that enable safe-by-design AI systems. Its scientific direction is based on new research and methods proposed by Professor Yoshua Bengio, the most cited AI researcher in the world. Based in Montreal, LawZero’s research aims to build non-agentic AI that learns primarily to understand the world rather than to act in it, giving truthful answers to questions based on transparent and externalized probabilistic reasoning. Such AI systems could be used to accelerate scientific discovery, to provide oversight for agentic AI systems, and to advance the understanding of AI risks and how to avoid them. LawZero believes that AI should be cultivated as a global public good—developed and used safely towards human flourishing. For more information, visit www.lawzero.org

You belong here

At LawZero, diversity is important to us. We value a work environment that is fair, open and respectful of differences. We welcome applications from highly qualified individuals interested in working towards our mission in a respectful, inclusive and collaborative setting.

Your personal information will be collected and processed by LawZero to evaluate your application for employment in compliance with our Privacy Policy. Under privacy laws in force in your country of residence, you may have several privacy rights, such as to request access to your personal information or to request that your personal information be rectified or erased. Details on how you can exercise your rights can be found in our Privacy Policy.