Legal Employment Litigation Manager

Do you want to be part of an inclusive team that works to develop innovative therapies for patients? Every day, we are driven to develop and deliver innovative and effective new medicines to patients and physicians. If you want to be part of this exciting work, you belong at Astellas!

Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are committed to turning innovative science into medical solutions that bring value and hope to patients and their families. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the world. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at www.astellas.com .

This position is based in Northbrook, Illinois. Hybrid work from certain states may be permitted in accordance with Astellas’ Responsible Flexibility Guidelines. Candidates interested in hybrid work are encouraged to apply.

Purpose:

The Legal Employment Litigation Manager is responsible for delivering timely and high-quality support in the global litigation area with minimal supervision, including: at the direction of the Legal Head, Litigation and Investigations (U.S., Japan and China), overseeing and executing global discovery processes and projects; supporting defense of and responses to labor employment matters; delivering training to business units; and leading various projects and initiatives. Responsible for management of temporary support as needed.

Essential Job Responsibilities:

The Legal Employment Litigation Manager will have the following responsibilities, working independently or closely with the Legal Head, Litigation, and Investigations (U.S., Japan, and China):

• Providing support to other members of the global Litigation and Investigations Team in the management of the Company’s response to litigation, government inquiries and investigations, including facilitating information preservation and collection, as well as supporting the responses to, management and analysis of labor and employment claims.

• Oversees management of global e-discovery processes and litigation/investigation-related information preservation program and projects with little or no supervision. This includes overseeing the issuance of Legal Hold Orders; managing e-discovery processes and systems; supervising and conducting document collection interviews and processes with businesspersons and Digital X, collection and organization of high volume of paper and electronic data; document review; completing projects on time and within budget; and supervision of other support staff as needed.

• Providing support for the management of internal global investigations as assigned, including partnering with and supporting Ethics & Compliance (E&C) and Legal colleagues conducting internal investigations. Providing operational support to the Global Investigation Management Team as requested.

• Working closely with global E&C colleagues, particularly the E&C Global Investigations team, in providing support on investigations related to global information preservation and collection.

• Providing Digital X support and direction on data preservation and defensible disposition of information as it relates to local and global development/implementation of new technologies, expansion of current technologies and decommission of technologies.

• Supporting a legal culture of excellence, which includes driving and fostering: (1) an agile, adaptive culture; (2) a value-based organization based on Legal’s Mission and objectives; (3) a culture of innovation, transparency and trust; (4) proactive identification/mitigation of risk in a balanced approach; (5) empowerment and engagement of the team members; (6) a collaborative culture with close coordination with other members of Legal as appropriate to leverage synergies and efficiencies; (7) a culture of compliance and good corporate governance; and (8) a continuous expectation of high performance, where “ok” is not good enough.

• Supporting other projects as may be requested.

• Overnight travel, including international travel, as needed.

Qualifications Required:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.

• Paralegal certificate or equivalent.

• Familiarity with best practices in e-discovery support, including previous work with e-discovery processes, tools and technologies, like Relativity or a similar platform.

• Strong verbal and written communication, presentation, training, organizational, and teamwork skills.

• Strong analytical ability.

• Minimum of 8 years’ experience with litigation, claims, and discovery.

• Strong project management skills, including demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and work successfully in a fast-paced environment under time deadlines.

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and creatively with all global business units.

• Understanding of the legal issues related to litigation and investigations pertaining to document preservation and e-discovery principles.

• Inspires trust and confidence through effective communication and interpersonal skills in a support of a global organization.

• Team player and able to build relationships both internally and externally.

• Strong organization and teamwork skills. Detail oriented, self-motivated, and able to motivate others.

• A strong commitment to integrity and professionalism and demonstrated passion for excellence.

• Flexibility and spirit of challenge to work on new matters.

• Computer literacy including MS Office Suite and Outlook.

• Sophisticated knowledge of IT systems, databases, document management systems and eDiscovery search tools to support the global organization.

• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and able to provide high quality and timely work product.

• Demonstrated ability to be proactive and strategic in recognizing needs, solving problems, anticipating issues, and developing resolutions.

Preferred:

• 3-5 years’ experience working in a pharmaceutical legal department.

• 3-5 years’ experience supporting global litigation and investigation efforts on document preservation and e-discovery issues.

Working Environment:

• This position is based in Northbrook, IL but the work can be conducted remotely.

Benefits:

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance

• Generous Paid Time Off options, including Vacation and Sick time, plus national holidays including year-end shut down

• 401(k) match and annual company contribution

• Company paid life insurance

• Annual Corporate Bonus and Quarterly Sales Incentive for eligible positions

• Long Term Incentive Plan for eligible positions

• Referral bonus program

#LI-TD

Category Litigation, Investigations, Employment and Governance

Astellas is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment.

EOE including Disability/Protected Veterans