As a Associate Counsel, Real Estate and Commercial USA-CA-PR, you are responsible of the oversight of lease transactions for the geographical area of USA, and Canada, from the time of the completion of the letter of intent (LOI) through lease execution serving as a liaison with outside counsel and internal Leasing Managers on leasing issues.
The Associate Counsel should be able to provide direction and practical solutions on a wide range of real estate issues; identify, analyze, and communicate complex business and legal issues that may have a significant impact to H&M’s real estate portfolio; provide advice to proactively manage the company’s real estate portfolio from a legal standpoint, minimizing risks while supporting the business goals; independently negotiate – and/or manage outside counsel in the process of negotiation – various types of retail leases (including leases for malls, lifestyle centers and street locations) or portfolios of leases. This role should have the ability to negotiate and manage the negotiation of leases that conform to a template, or are one-off deals, and work effectively with outside counsel on standalone or complex transactions. This role is also responsible for working independently on documents that arise post-lease execution, including but not limited to the drafting, review, and negotiation of lease amendments (whether simple or complex), SNDAs, estoppels, and abstracts, as well as the prompt resolution of lease disputes and facilities issues. Multitasking is critical in this role, as is the ability to work collaboratively with various functions within the Expansion Function including Lease Administration and Facilities.  
This hybrid position is based in NY, NY within our Expansion Function and reports to our Senior Real Estate Attorney USA-CA-PR.
 

A Day in the Life
Working at H&M means no two days are ever the same, but a typical day will include the following responsibilities*
•    Lead the legal review, drafting, and negotiation of commercial agreements and contracts for H&M’s real estate portfolio in the US and Canada.
•    Provide through leadership the development of the legal strategies and the improvement of standards while guaranteeing that the corporate Global legal guidelines are met.
•    Provide strategic legal guidance, directions and practical solutions to business deal makers and executives on a wide range of real estate issues and identify, analyze, and communicate complex business and legal issues that may have a significant impact to H&M’s real estate portfolio in the US and Canada.
•    Ability to negotiate/draft leases, amendments, estoppels, SNDAs, lease abstracts, side letters – with an emphasis on amendments and conforming leases. 
•    Attends weekly and monthly meetings regarding lease status and lease approvals. 
•    Support the Senior Real Estate Attorney to bring structure, consistency, and efficiency to the real estate legal department while being involved with all aspects of expansion including construction, leasing, finance and logistics.  
•    Partners with Lease Administration, Controlling and Accounting team to manage lease portfolio in connection with co-tenancy audits, exercising kick-outs or options and renewals.  
•    Actively facilitates the resolution of lease problems whether they are based in accounting issues due to interpretation of lease language, facilities issues or any other problem that may arise in store locations.
•    Perform other general legal work as assigned from time to time, including, but not limited to, assistance with commercial contracts, collaboration other H&M attorneys, liaising with data privacy and product safety teams, customer activation, marketing, and human resources as well as due diligence, legal research and compliance verifications.
•    Act as a role model, delivering feedback, communicating in an inspiring and inclusive way, assisting in the preparation of the legal and lease administration matters the team while coaching the H&M values and the Expansion’s internal and external ways of working.
•    Demonstrate a strong understanding of best practices in LIMA, and/or other lease management software.
•    Willingness to attend occasional legal conferences.
 

Who You Are: 
•    College degree and J.D. from a U.S. accredited law school along with admission to and in good standing with the NY bar, or any bar in the United States. 
•    3 to 8 years experience in leasing required. Retail leasing and in-house experience strongly preferred but not required. 
•    Can state facts, law and legal arguments clearly and logically in written and oral form. 
•    Needs to be able to think in terms of business strategy while fulfilling legal standards 
•    Proficient in MS Office Suite (Word and Excel). Lease Administration Software (Virtual Premise,  or some similar real estate database software) knowledge preferred but not required
•    Inclusive, positive, open to feedback, willing to multitask and learn on the job

Why You’ll Love Working at H&M
•    We value diverse backgrounds, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, and disability
•    We pride ourselves on being a values-driven organization, guided by our 7 unique values that have been part of our success story for over 75 years
•    You’ll have access to our Colleague Resource Groups (CRGs) to find community and networking opportunities among colleagues
•    We are an inclusive company where you’re encouraged to be yourself at work
•    You will have access to a large global talent community, where career growth and aspirations have no limits
•    We believe in supporting your overall wellbeing and offer comprehensive benefits inclusive of health insurance, wellness and family support programs, company match  401k, paid leave programs, and paid time off, including a community day to serve your local community
•    You’ll be able to express your personal style with our employee discount at H&M, & Other Stories, and COS

Compensation: salary range is $145,954-$200,000 annually**
*This job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job and is not all-inclusive. There may be additional duties, and responsibilities assigned for this job at the company’s discretion.
**H&M, in good faith, has assessed this posted range of compensation as the accurate range for this role and location at the time of this posting. H&M may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range depending on candidate qualifications. This range may be modified in the future.
EEOC Code: PRO