Counsel, IP Litigation & Enforcement

Job description

Overview of the Role: This is a global role. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer (COO), the Counsel, IP Litigation & Enforcement serves as a core legal resource to IP House’s investigations, enforcement, and compliance response functions worldwide. The role is built for breadth. In a given week, Counsel may advise an enforcement team on whether a matter is properly actionable, help assemble a criminal referral package alongside investigators and a client, work with outside counsel on a client’s filed civil action, and advise on legal process routed through our Compliance Response Solutions team. Matters span multiple jurisdictions and legal traditions, so the role suits a self-starter who manages many concurrent matters with precision, holds firm to deadlines across time zones, and can render a complex legal position into plain language that non-lawyers can act on immediately. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: IP Investigation & Enforcement Counseling Serve as the day-to-day “go-to” legal resource for the 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, and provide the training and written guidance that lets teams resolve routine questions on their own. Advise on evidence sufficiency, collection methodology, documentation, and chain-of-custody so that work product withstands scrutiny in civil, criminal, administrative, and customs forums. Identify where local law materially changes the analysis and instruct local counsel to close the gap; escalate elevated legal, regulatory, or reputational risk to the COO with a decision-ready recommendation. IP Litigation, Escalation & Referral s Partner with the investigations and enforcement teams and with clients to assess matters for escalation to civil litigation, criminal referral, private prosecution where available, or administrative and customs action. Support client’s civil IP litigation through its lifecycle alongside their designated outside and local counsel — including pre-suit assessment, review of pleadings and submissions as it relates to IP House involvement, discovery and disclosure support, and instances where IP House employees or affiliates act as an expert witness. Support preparation of referral packages for law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities, including factual chronologies, legal theories, loss framing, and evidentiary indices. Act as a legal point of coordination with law enforcement, prosecuting authorities, customs and border agencies, regulators, and platform partners, and 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 counsel client-facing teams on realistic outcomes and timelines. Revenue Recovery Act as the primary legal liaison for the Revenue Recovery team. Work with the Revenue Recovery team to ensure processes, evidentiary standards, and declarations confirm with legal requirements. In consultation with outside counsel, advise internally on claim and evidence viability, limitation periods, jurisdiction and governing law, and collectability, and help standardize internal revenue recovery templates and workflows to ensure legal sufficiency. Compliance Response Solutions Act as the primary legal liaison for the Compliance Response Solutions team. Provide the legal layer over the Compliance Response Solutions team’s review, triage, and fulfillment of Emergency Disclosure Requests, exigent requests, subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and other notices. Serve as the legal escalation point for out-of-compliance, ambiguous, or novel requests — advising on scope, validity, and jurisdictional reach, and on preservation, disclosure, and rejection decisions — in coordination 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 IP House Standards & Applicable Law Ensure that investigative and enforcement activity is conducted in compliance with IP House’s policies, procedures, and protocols, and with applicable law in every jurisdiction in which the company operates. Advise on the lawfulness of investigative methods and enforcement tactics — evidence collection and handling, online investigation and monitoring techniques, test purchases, engagement with third parties and subjects, investigator licensing, and personal data handling — and set clear boundaries where the law or company protocol requires them. Working with the COO and the Counsel, Contracts & Compliance, execute upon and enforce IP House’s 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, and maintain the guidance, templates, and knowledge resources the business relies on. What You’ll Bring: Required 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 a solicitor or barrister of England & Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland; an equivalently qualified lawyer in an EU member state; or a 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, with 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 relating to active investigations and legal matters. Highly Desired Substantive background in IP enforcement — anti-counterfeiting, anti-piracy, trademark and copyright enforcement, marketplace and digital takedowns, illicit trade, or brand protection. Desired 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. Location, Travel & Working Pattern This globally scoped role is open to candidates based anywhere in the United Kingdom or the United States, working fully remotely or on a hybrid basis from one of our UK or US offices. Some flexibility in working hours is expected to accommodate colleagues, clients, and agencies in other time zones, together with availability for urgent escalations outside standard business hours. Occasional domestic or international travel may be required. Why IP House: Global Mission — help the world’s top brands protect their most valuable assets across every major market. Genuinely Global Work — a single remit spanning US, UK, EU, and wider international enforcement, rather than one country’s docket. Real Scope, Early — own enforceability calls and escalation decisions that move matters, with direct access to the COO and the executive team. Senior Mentorship — learn directly from a COO who is a qualified lawyer with 25+ years of law firm and in-house experience, alongside seasoned law enforcement professionals and online and field investigators. High Growth — join a fast-scaling organization with a strong reputation for results, and room to grow with it. Compensation Salary Range: US: $110k -140k USD (depending on experience and qualifications), plus bonus; UK: £70k-90k GBP (depending on experience and qualifications), plus bonus; Classification: Full-time, permanent (exempt where applicable) Base salary is benchmarked to the market in which the successful candidate is based and reflects their experience, qualifications, and location. Base salary and bonus are supplemented by a comprehensive local benefits package. Equal Opportunity IP House seeks excellence through diversity in its staff. We prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are happy to discuss reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process. About IP House At IP House, we empower brands, legal professionals, and rights holders to manage and protect intellectual property – both online and offline – across the globe. Through cutting-edge technology and a deep understanding of trademark, copyright, and patent processes, we deliver scalable solutions for portfolio management, enforcement, and brand integrity. Our enforcement, investigations, revenue recovery, and compliance response practices sit at the center of that mission – disrupting counterfeiting, piracy, and illicit trade for some of the world’s most recognized brands, in partnership with government and law enforcement agencies around the world.