ELIGIBILITY FOR THIS COMPETITION IS RESTRICTED TO STEP 1 CANDIDATES INCLUDING OPS ALOC AND OCAA LAWYERS living or working within 125 km of this location. Note: Eligible lawyers from outside the Area of Search may apply but will not be entitled to relocation or travel expenses for the transfer as set out below.
Step 1: All regular/fixed-term OCAA and ALOC lawyers on staff, current Redeployment List Members and current Articling Student Hireback Pool Members.Step 2: In the absence of qualified applicants at Step 1 the competition may be reposted so that external applicants or non-members of the above-mentioned groups would then be eligible to apply.
The Ministry of the Attorney General has an exciting and challenging opportunity to join the Legal Services Branch as Counsel for the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (“MEDJCT”), the Ministry of Energy and Mines (“MEM”), and the Ministry of Red Tape Reduction (“MRTR”).
About the job
You will work in a collegial, fast-paced, and demanding environment. You are expected to work both independently on a broad range of legal issues that are relevant to the ministries and collaboratively and effectively with others on team projects.
Duties will include:
•Negotiating, drafting and reviewing term sheets, grant agreements, secured loan agreements, memorandums of understanding, procurement agreements, and other complex commercial legal documents;
•Advising ministry program areas on Freedom of Information (“FOI”) access requests and protection of privacy, including representing MEDJCT on FOI access appeals made to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (“IPC”);
•Providing legal advice on the development of policies and operationalization processes related to funding and other support programs;
•Providing advice on business-related regulatory reduction initiatives;
•Providing risk-based legal advice to support client policy and program development, agency matters, board governance, appointments and operational work relating to the energy sector;
•Providing legal advice in policy development relating to the energy sector, including legal advice on policy development that may impact Indigenous communities;
•Drafting and interpreting legislation and regulations;
•Preparing legal opinions and briefing senior ministry officials; and
•Conducting legal research
The Legal Services branch welcomes applications from candidates who can contribute to the goal of promoting a diverse, respectful and supportive workplace.
What you bring to the team
Mandatory requirements
• Membership in good standing as a lawyer with the Law Society of Ontario
Knowledge and Skills
•Demonstrated experience in negotiating, drafting and reviewing corporate and commercial documents including secured lending documents, procurement documents, grant agreements, and other commercial legal documents with varying levels of complexity;
•Familiarity and experience with corporate law, lending, and bankruptcy and insolvency;
•Experience with agency establishment and governance;
•Experience with the energy sector, including any of the following: transmission policy or development, energy supply, nuclear policy, compliance, or indigenous partnerships;
•Experience advising on legal issues that intersect Indigenous concerns and Energy policy;
•Ability to recognize and assess legal implications in proposed and existing programs and initiatives and able to provide innovative, strategic, risk-based and helpful and solutions-oriented legal advice on complex, time-sensitive and high-profile issues that arise;
•Experience and familiarity with drafting and interpretation of statutes, regulations and other legislative instruments;
•Ability to handle a high volume practice with short turnaround times while working proactively, professionally and cooperatively with sophisticated clients and with colleagues;
•Conversant with the law, government policies and practices relating to government grants, procurements, lending and corporate and commercial law;
•Well-organized oral and written communication skills;
•Demonstrated research and opinion writing skills;
•Skill and ability in developing documents using MS Office tools including Word, PowerPoint and Excel;
•Experience in using on-line legal research tools;
•Proven client service orientation and demonstrated ability to be proactive on files, responsive to client requests and inspire client confidence; and
•Demonstrated experience with mentoring others and leading and contributing positively to teams on collaborative work projects.
How we support diversity, inclusion and accessibility
We are building an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve. We encourage everyone interested in working with us to apply, including people with disabilities, Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals, as well as people from all ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions.
Our hiring process is accessible, consistent with Ontario's
Human Rights Code and the
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. We are working to prevent and remove barriers in our hiring processes and can offer
accommodation to address specific needs related to Code-protected grounds such as disability, family status and religion. For more information about accommodation during the hiring process please
contact us.Learn more about the work the OPS is doing to create an inclusive, anti-racist, accessible and diverse workplace: