Chief Legal Officer

Job description

**This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Chief Legal Officer based in the United States.** As Chief Legal Officer, you will lead legal strategy and provide executive-level guidance for a rapidly evolving telehealth and behavioral healthcare business operating within a complex regulatory environment. You will oversee critical legal matters spanning controlled-substance prescribing, clinical practice regulations, corporate structuring, privacy, marketing, litigation, and employment law. This hands-on leadership role combines strategic decision-making with direct legal execution, requiring you to navigate federal and state healthcare regulations while supporting sustainable business growth. You will advise on emerging issues involving artificial intelligence in clinical care, consumer protection, and digital health technologies. Working closely with executive leadership and cross-functional teams, you will build scalable legal frameworks that support innovation while managing legal and regulatory risk. The Chief Legal Officer function remains distinct from the separately designated Chief Compliance Officer role. ### Accountabilities: As the senior legal executive, you will own the organization's legal strategy, manage complex regulatory matters, and build the legal function to support operations across multiple U.S. jurisdictions. Your responsibilities will include: - **Controlled-substance regulation:** Lead legal strategy for telemedicine prescribing under the Controlled Substances Act and Ryan Haight Act. Monitor DEA registrations, regulatory developments, state prescription drug monitoring program requirements, and examination rules, and manage related agency inquiries or inspections. - **Clinical practice regulation:** Advise on state-by-state scope-of-practice, supervision, and collaborative practice requirements. Support entry into new markets by assessing licensing requirements and establishing appropriate telehealth modality and consent standards. - **Corporate structure and governance:** Draft and negotiate management services agreements, intellectual property licenses, equity restrictions, succession arrangements, and intercompany agreements. Maintain appropriate boundaries relating to corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting restrictions. - **Fraud and abuse prevention:** Structure clinician, vendor, and partner arrangements in accordance with the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA), and the Stark Law where applicable. - **Privacy and data security:** Apply HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification requirements to operational systems and vendor relationships. Advise on state health privacy laws, business associate agreements, data residency, and tracking technologies. - **Marketing and consumer protection:** Advise Marketing on advertising substantiation, endorsements, testimonials, FTC requirements, negative-option and automatic-renewal rules, and state medical board advertising restrictions. Provide guidance on TCPA consent, messaging practices, and HIPAA limitations involving pixels, tracking technologies, and campaign data. - **AI and clinical products:** Assess whether AI-enabled features qualify as regulated Software as a Medical Device or fall within clinical decision support or general-wellness categories. Develop defensible legal positions on state requirements for AI in mental healthcare, including disclosures, crisis response, licensed clinician oversight, HIPAA, Section 1557 algorithmic nondiscrimination, and applicable FDA, FTC, and HHS frameworks. - **Litigation and disputes:** Establish litigation strategy, select and manage outside counsel, oversee legal budgets, direct litigation holds, and coordinate insurance notifications and claims. - **Workforce and employment:** Advise on clinician classification, multi-state employment compliance, employee separations, investigations, and executive and equity agreements. - **Commercial and payer relationships:** Negotiate payer participation agreements and vendor contracts, maintain standardized contract processes, and oversee legal aspects of billing and coding compliance. - **Governance and corporate maintenance:** Support board and committee processes, maintain corporate entities and foreign qualifications, and ensure the organization remains prepared for legal and financial due diligence. - **Legal function development:** Build and maintain legal policies, playbooks, and internal processes while determining when specialist external counsel is required. **Requirements:** The ideal candidate will bring extensive healthcare legal experience, strong regulatory judgment, and the ability to independently manage complex legal matters in a highly regulated digital health environment. You should combine executive-level strategic thinking with practical legal execution and experience building legal infrastructure in a growing organization. Required qualifications include: - A Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree and active membership in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction, with eligibility for in-house or registered in-house counsel status in your state of residence. - At least 12 years of combined law firm and in-house legal experience, including a minimum of 5 years advising healthcare providers, digital health companies, or health systems. - Direct responsibility for controlled-substance regulatory advice, including Ryan Haight Act telemedicine exceptions and the regulatory landscape following the public health emergency. - Hands-on experience drafting and negotiating management services organization (MSO) and affiliated professional corporation (PC) structures, with the ability to defend these arrangements against corporate practice of medicine and fee-splitting challenges. - Strong working knowledge of HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules applied to real-world technology systems, engineering environments, and vendor relationships. - Practical expertise in healthcare marketing and consumer protection for direct-to-consumer businesses, including FTC advertising and substantiation standards, TCPA requirements, state medical board advertising rules, and HIPAA marketing restrictions. - Experience structuring clinician and vendor compensation under the Anti-Kickback Statute and EKRA, with the ability to handle these matters without routine dependence on outside counsel. - Experience managing government inquiries from initial receipt through resolution, such as agency subpoenas, civil investigative demands, licensing investigations, or medical board actions. - Multi-state employment law experience, including contractor classification under the FLSA economic realities test and state ABC tests. - A demonstrated track record of building legal policies, playbooks, or an internal legal function from the ground up. The following qualifications would be advantageous: - Previous experience as General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer at a healthcare organization with approximately 100–1,000 employees. - Experience in behavioral health, psychiatry, or substance use disorder treatment, including familiarity with 42 C.F.R. Part 2 where applicable. - Previous government service with the DEA, HHS Office of Inspector General, a U.S. Attorney's Office, a state Attorney General's office, or a state medical or pharmacy board. - Experience negotiating commercial payer agreements, particularly during a transition from cash-pay services to insurance-reimbursed care. - Experience defending healthcare organizations against privacy class actions, including claims involving tracking technologies. - AI governance experience involving clinical tools, vendor due diligence, Software as a Medical Device, clinical decision support, Section 1557 algorithmic nondiscrimination, and emerging state requirements for AI in mental healthcare. - A current understanding of the DEA and HHS regulatory landscape for telemedicine prescribing of controlled substances, including the anticipated special-registration framework. - Relevant professional certifications, such as Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) or Certified in Healthcare Compliance (CHC). **Benefits:** - **Paid time off:** Paid time off (PTO) and paid sick leave. - **Wellness:** Dedicated wellness days each year to support rest and personal well-being. - **Retirement savings:** A 401(k) plan with company matching. - **Health coverage support:** QSEHRA eligibility to help cover medical and dental insurance expenses. - **Executive-level impact:** The opportunity to shape legal strategy and build a legal function within a growing digital healthcare business. - **Broad legal scope:** Exposure to complex healthcare regulation, telemedicine, privacy, AI governance, corporate structuring, and commercial transactions. - **Remote work:** The role is listed as remote within the United States.