Associate General Counsel

Description

Become part of an inclusive organization with over 40,000 teammates, whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of the unique communities we serve.

About UNC Health and Our Mission

UNC Health is a mission driven, public academic and community health system serving communities across North Carolina and beyond. Our work is grounded in advancing high quality patient care, medical education, research, innovation, and access for all of North Carolina and the populations we serve. The Legal & Risk Department plays a central role in enabling that mission by helping leaders navigate complexity, manage risk, and move initiatives forward in a highly regulated, rapidly evolving health care environment.

Summary:

UNC Health is seeking an Associate General Counsel to join its Legal & Risk Department, a dynamic, highly engaged legal team embedded deeply in one of the nation's most respected academic and community health systems. This role is ideal for a health care attorney who wants to move beyond narrow specialty work and into a high impact, fast paced in house practice, partnering directly with hospital leaders, physicians, and operational teams at the front lines of care delivery.

The Legal & Risk Department

UNC Health's Legal & Risk Department operates as a strategic business partner. We are organized around a pillar-based model that integrates legal, regulatory, assurance, and risk perspectives, allowing attorneys to provide practical, forward-looking counsel that supports both day-to-day operations and long-term strategy. Attorneys work collaboratively with one another and side by side with executives, clinicians, compliance professionals, risk managers, and operational leaders. The work is sophisticated, varied, and deeply connected to the realities of delivering care in academic medical centers and community hospitals.

The Role

As an Associate General Counsel, you will be a key member of a fast-moving legal team and a trusted counselor to leaders across the organization. The selected attorney will be assigned to work directly with one or more hospitals, developing deep relationships and serving as point counsel on complex operational and strategic issues. The scope of the role is broad and engaging. You will advise on hospital operations and regulatory compliance, support the Physician Enterprise and clinically integrated networks, handle a wide range of transactional and contracting matters, and provide practical guidance across the full spectrum of health law. The work spans inpatient, outpatient, and ambulatory care and touches nearly every aspect of how care is delivered. This is a role for an attorney who enjoys solving problems in real time, translating complex regulations into workable solutions, and helping leaders confidently move forward in a highly regulated environment.

The Opportunity

Unlike many in house roles, this position offers direct exposure to hospitals and physician organizations, meaningful autonomy, and day to day engagement with teammates, leadership, and clinicians. The work is challenging and varied, one day advising on regulatory compliance or physician alignment strategies, the next negotiating agreements that enable innovation, growth, and new care models.
For attorneys coming from a law firm environment, this is an opportunity to:

• Work on important, missioncritical matters with visible impact on North Carolina's health system.
• Move from issuespotting to owning business and legal issues through resolution.
• Develop a deep, practical understanding of health care operations.
• Be part of a collaborative legal team that values sound judgment, trust, and partnership.

The Ideal Candidate

The successful candidate will bring strong health law experience, excellent legal judgment, and the ability to operate confidently in complex clinical and operational settings. Just as important is intellectual curiosity, comfort with ambiguity, and a desire to be a thoughtful, pragmatic advisor rather than a purely technical specialist.

Responsibilities:
1. Documentation: Preparation Prepares, reviews and negotiates contracts for services, real property, supplies, equipment, information services, software. Prepares, reviews and negotiates documents for complex transactions with other providers and payors. Prepares and reviews other documents to assist the business and clinical functions of Health Care System. Develops systems to facilitate contract initiation, renewal and alteration to support ongoing needs.
2. Legal Advice and Counsel - Business Issues: Provides legal advice and counsel to administration and management regarding corporate, business and operational issues, reimbursement, employee relations and personnel management. Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations presents ideas in clear, concise and organized manner, knows when to use written rather than oral communications. Keeps abreast of legal developments in these areas of law, understands operational needs and practicalities, places problems in context. Identifies and focuses on appropriate issues, seeks available information and facts and makes good logical decisions, thinks independently and consults with others as appropriate. Anticipates potential impacts of a decision or deals with problems arising from a decision.
3. Legal Advice and Counsel - Health Law: Provides legal advice and counsel to administration and clinical staff regarding complex issues including professional liability, medical-legal matters, medical staff bylaws, credentialing. Expresses ideas effectively in individual and group situations presents ideas in clear, concise and organized manner, knows when to use written rather than oral communications. Keeps abreast of legal developments in these areas of law, understands operational needs and practicalities, places problems in context. Identifies and focuses on appropriate issues, seeks available information and facts and makes good logical decisions, thinks independently and consults with others as appropriate. Anticipates potential impacts of a decision or deals with problems arising from a decision.
4. Policy Development: Develops and reviews policies and procedures for business and clinical functions. Participates in managerial conferences to determine the proper course of action in administrative and policy matters. Serves on committees and assists in the formulation and implementation of policies and practices.

Other information:
Education Requirements:
* Juris Doctorate degree from an accredited school of law.
Licensure/Certification Requirements:
* Licensed to practice law in the state of North Carolina or be able to obtain a valid NC license to practice law within a year of hire
Professional Experience Requirements:
* Five (5) years of relevant experience in a hospital, health care environment or law firm
Knowledge/Skills/and Abilities Requirements:
* Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Legal Employer: NCHEALTH

Entity: Shared Services

Organization Unit: Legal Office

Work Type: Full Time

Standard Hours Per Week: 40.00

Pay offers are determined by experience and internal equity

Work Assignment Type: Onsite

Work Schedule: Day Job

Location of Job: US:NC:Chapel Hill

Exempt From Overtime: Exempt: Yes

This position is employed by NC Health (Rex Healthcare, Inc., d/b/a NC Health), a private, fully-owned subsidiary of UNC Health Care System, in a department that provides shared services to operations across UNC Health Care; except that, if you are currently a UNCHCS State employee already working in a designated shared services department, you may remain a UNCHCS State employee if selected for this job.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, status as a protected veteran or political affiliation.

UNC Health makes reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as applicants and employees with disabilities. All interested applicants are invited to apply for career opportunities. Please email applicant.accommodations@unchealth.unc.edu if you need a reasonable accommodation to search and/or to apply for a career opportunity.