Counsel, IP Litigation & Enforcement

Overview

This globally scoped Counsel, IP Litigation & Enforcement role reports directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and serves as a core legal resource to the organization’s investigations, enforcement, and compliance response functions worldwide.

The role supports a high volume of concurrent matters across multiple jurisdictions and legal traditions. Responsibilities include advising enforcement teams on whether matters are actionable, helping assemble criminal referral packages alongside investigators and clients, supporting civil IP litigation with outside/local counsel, and advising on legal process routed through compliance response functions. Matters may require interpreting complex legal positions into plain-language guidance that non-lawyer teams can act on immediately.

Responsibilities

IP Investigation & Enforcement Counseling

• Act as the day-to-day legal resource for IP investigation and enforcement teams, both online and offline.
• Establish, document, and maintain investigation and enforcement legal standards, decision criteria, and escalation thresholds that work across jurisdictions.
• Provide training and written guidance so routine questions can be resolved by teams independently.
• Advise on evidence sufficiency, evidence collection methodology, documentation, and chain-of-custody so work product withstands scrutiny in civil, criminal, administrative, and customs forums.
• Identify where local law materially changes the analysis, instruct local counsel to close gaps, and escalate elevated legal, regulatory, or reputational risk to the COO with decision-ready recommendations.

IP Litigation, Escalation & Referral

• Partner with investigations and enforcement teams (and clients) to assess matters for escalation to civil litigation, criminal referral, private prosecution where available, or administrative and customs action.
• Support client civil IP litigation through its lifecycle alongside designated outside and local counsel, including:
  • Pre-suit assessment
  • Review of pleadings and submissions related to the organization’s involvement
  • Discovery and disclosure support
  • Instances where organization employees or affiliates act as expert witnesses
• Support preparation of referral packages for law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities, including factual chronologies, legal theories, loss framing, and evidentiary indices.
• Coordinate with law enforcement, prosecuting authorities, customs and border agencies, regulators, and platform partners; advise on cross-border evidence gathering and third-party disclosure tools.
• Track escalated matters through disposition, manage instructed counsel on scope, budget, and timeline, and advise client-facing teams on realistic outcomes and timelines.

Revenue Recovery

• Serve as the primary legal liaison for the Revenue Recovery team.
• Work with Revenue Recovery to ensure processes, evidentiary standards, and declarations meet legal requirements.
• In consultation with outside counsel, advise internally on claim and evidence viability, limitation periods, jurisdiction and governing law, collectability, and help standardize revenue recovery templates and workflows for legal sufficiency.

Compliance Response Solutions

• Serve as the primary legal liaison for the Compliance Response Solutions team.
• Provide the legal layer over the team’s review, triage, and fulfillment of Emergency Disclosure Requests, exigent requests, subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and other notices.
• Act as a legal escalation point for out-of-compliance, ambiguous, or novel requests, advising on scope, validity, and jurisdictional reach—along with preservation, disclosure, and rejection decisions—coordinating with client legal, trust and safety, and law enforcement response teams.
• Help maintain playbooks, escalation paths, and recordkeeping that satisfy multiple regulatory regimes and support client Service Level Agreements.

Compliance with Policies and Applicable Law

• Ensure investigative and enforcement activity is conducted in compliance with the organization’s policies, procedures, and protocols, and with applicable law in every jurisdiction in which the organization operates.
• Advise on the lawfulness of investigative methods and enforcement tactics, including evidence collection and handling, online investigation and monitoring techniques, test purchases, engagement with third parties and subjects, investigator licensing, and personal data handling—setting clear boundaries where required by law or protocol.
• Working with the COO and Counsel, Contracts & Compliance, execute and enforce legal compliance requirements and standards; monitor adherence across global enforcement and investigations operations, investigate deviations, and confirm remediation.
• Deliver and administer legal compliance education for investigations, enforcement, and compliance response personnel; maintain guidance, templates, and knowledge resources relied upon by the business.

Requirements

• Qualified lawyer in good standing, admitted or otherwise entitled to practice in the United Kingdom, an EU member state, or a United States jurisdiction, for example:
  • solicitor or barrister of England & Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland
  • equivalently qualified lawyer in an EU member state
  • JD holder admitted to a US state bar
• 3–5 years of post-qualification experience (PQE) gained in private practice, an in-house legal department, a government agency, or a prosecuting authority.
• Based in, and holding the unrestricted right to work in, the United Kingdom or the United States.
• Proven ability to carry a high volume of concurrent matters against firm deadlines with extreme attention to detail, working comfortably across time zones and jurisdictions.
• Ability to translate complex legal concepts into clear, plain-language guidance that non-lawyer operations, investigations, and client-facing teams can act on; excellent written and verbal communication in English.
• Self-starter with sound judgment: sets priorities, drives matters to closure, makes defensible recommendations on incomplete information, and exercises discretion with confidential, privileged, and sensitive material related to active investigations and legal matters.

Preferred Qualifications

• Substantive background in IP enforcement, including anti-counterfeiting, anti-piracy, trademark and copyright enforcement, marketplace and digital takedowns, illicit trade, or brand protection.
• Prior work with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, including developing or supporting criminal referrals, or prior service in a prosecutorial, police, customs, agency, or task-force role.
• Experience in a fast-paced, multi-jurisdictional services environment.
• Additional language capability beyond English is welcome.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary Range:
  • US: $110k - 140k USD (depending on experience and qualifications), plus bonus
  • UK: £70k - 90k GBP (depending on experience and qualifications), plus bonus
• Base salary is benchmarked to the market in which the successful candidate is based and reflects experience, qualifications, and location.
• Base salary and bonus are supplemented by a comprehensive local benefits package.
• Classification: Full-time, permanent (exempt where applicable)

Location, Travel & Working Pattern

• Open to candidates based anywhere in the United Kingdom or the United States.
• Fully remote or hybrid basis from one of the UK or US offices.
• Some flexibility in working hours is expected to accommodate colleagues, clients, and agencies in other time zones, including availability for urgent escalations outside standard business hours.
• Occasional domestic or international travel may be required.

Equal Opportunity

The organization seeks excellence through diversity in its staff and prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics under applicable law. Reasonable adjustments are available and can be discussed at any stage of the process.