Senior Counsel - Americas Legal

Cushman & Wakefield•Chicago, IL

6d•$161,670 - $190,200•Remote

About The Position

The Senior Counsel serves as a key legal partner to Cushman & Wakefield businesses, providing embedded, real‑time support in a fast‑paced, deal‑driven environment. As a central legal point of accountability, this attorney brings sharp commercial judgment and the ability to assess risk quickly, frame options, and guide senior leaders through complex commercial, operational, regulatory, and talent‑related matters - ensuring clear, well‑framed decisions across risk‑sensitive areas. This role requires an attorney with strong strategic judgment who can operate with agility in a transaction‑ and advisory‑intensive, client‑facing environment. Expertise in the commercial, risk, and financial dynamics of brokerage, capital markets, valuation, or similar transaction‑driven service lines is essential, along with the ability to anticipate how legal, regulatory, and market changes influence fast‑moving deal structures. The Senior Counsel leads high‑value advisory work and complex commercial matters across multiple service lines, including MSAs, integrated multi‑service engagements, and other cross‑functional structures that drive meaningful business outcomes. This is not a role for an attorney whose experience centers on routine form agreements. The ideal candidate is a commercially sophisticated attorney and innovative thinker; agile, forward‑looking, and effective working through ambiguity. A direct, business‑focused communication style is necessary to proactively streamline and modernize legal support while leveraging evolving technology and AI to enhance speed, consistency, and impact. Close partnership with Litigation, HR, Compliance, and the Contracting Center of Excellence is critical to ensuring coordinated, high‑quality, business‑aligned guidance across the organization.

Requirements

Juris Doctor and admission to practice in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
8+ years of legal experience with substantial responsibility for complex commercial contracting and advisory work, including at least 3 years of law firm experience demonstrating strong analytical rigor, high‑quality drafting, and sophisticated client‑facing skills.
Demonstrated experience advising senior business and operational leaders on complex commercial, operational, financial, and risk issues, with the ability to deliver clear, practical, business‑aligned recommendations and build trust across cross‑functional partners.
Experience supporting brokerage, capital markets, valuation, or other transaction‑driven service lines, or comparable experience advising fast‑paced commercial businesses with complex deal, risk, and financial dynamics. Must bring strong commercial judgment, the ability to quickly understand new business models, and the capacity to navigate issues with speed, clarity, and precision.
Demonstrated judgment and independence in managing multiple complex, time‑sensitive priorities in a high‑velocity environment.
Experience providing business‑facing labor and employment guidance across a range of worker classifications, including employees, independent contractors, and brokerage professionals.
Excellent communicator capable of distilling complex issues into concise, actionable guidance for senior leadership.
Executive presence with the ability to influence leaders and drive clarity across competing priorities.
Demonstrated ability and drive to lead with innovation - leveraging technology, AI, and other forward‑thinking approaches to enhance the speed, quality, and consistency of legal support.

Responsibilities

Business Partnership & Leadership. Serve as a key legal advisor to Cushman & Wakefield businesses, bringing sharp commercial judgment, innovative thinking, and a proactive, business‑aligned approach to problem‑solving. Build trusted relationships across the business and deliver clear, practical guidance in direct business terms.
Commercial & Advisory. Lead sophisticated commercial matters under time‑sensitive deadlines, including MSAs and other integrated engagement structures. Provide practical guidance on commercial terms, risk dynamics, and market‑facing considerations while enhancing efficiency and consistency in contracting.
Labor & Employment. Provide timely, business‑aligned guidance on a broad range of labor and employment matters across all worker classifications, including employees, independent contractors, and brokerage professionals. Advise on transitions, performance and conduct issues, restrictive covenants, investigations, accommodations, and separations, ensuring leaders receive clear, actionable support in a fast-moving environment. Partner closely with HR and other stakeholders to navigate sensitive and high‑risk people issues with judgment and precision.
Disputes, Risk & Litigation. Anticipate emerging risks and provide forward‑looking guidance across commercial, operational, regulatory, and talent‑related issues. Frame key considerations for leadership and collaborate with Litigation and Compliance to ensure coordinated, practical risk management.
Training & Continuous Improvement. Develop and deliver targeted training that translates complex legal and risk concepts into clear, actionable guidance. Advance opportunities to improve clarity, strengthen contracting processes, and enhance cross‑functional alignment in partnership with the Contracting Center of Excellence.

Benefits

Cushman & Wakefield also provides eligible employees with an opportunity to enroll in a variety of benefit programs, generally including health, vision, and dental insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life, and disability insurance programs, and paid and unpaid time away from work.
In addition to a comprehensive benefits package, Cushman and Wakefield provide eligible employees with competitive pay, which may vary depending on eligibility factors such as geographic location, date of hire, total hours worked, job type, business line, and applicability of collective bargaining agreements.

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