Corporate Paralegal

Driven Brands™, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is the parent company of some of North America’s leading automotive aftermarket brands including Take 5 Oil Change, Meineke Car Care Centers, Automotive Training Institute, Maaco, CARSTAR, ABRA, Uniban, Car Wash US, FIX Automotive, 1-800-Radiator & A/C and PH Vitres d’Autos. Driven Driven Brands has more than 4,000 centers across 15 countries, and combined, all businesses generate approximately $3.8 billion in system-wide sales and service over 50 million vehicles annually.

Driven Brands is the quintessential growth company, more than tripling its revenues, brands, employees, and profits over the past six years. The primary focuses of the company are growing its franchisee’s profitability, all brands’ unit count and creating opportunities for its employees, franchisees, and investors. Our culture of meritocracy inspires high performance and innovation among our employees. We enable our employees and franchisees to go further, faster— generating growth for our franchisees' businesses and our employees' careers. For more information, visit drivenbrands.com.

The Corporate Paralegal will assist with corporate filings, manage the company’s books and records, organize and maintain vendor agreements, support M&A and other commercial transactions, and perform various other legal compliance functions within the organization.. A background in corporate governance, commercial contracts, M&A and finance, legal compliance, and/or risk management would be helpful in this role.  Key traits to have are a focus on client service, attention to detail, strong work ethic, propensity for working and managing projects independently, and managing multiple active matters.  This role will lead several new initiatives and be critical to the company’s legal and compliance functions.  Driven Legal is dedicated to creating value by providing the legal services our clients need to continue growing the business.

• Organize and coordinate the company’s corporate filings and entity registrations across the organization, including annual reports, good standings, foreign qualifications, and other corporate records management to ensure compliance with state laws
• Manage the company’s corporate books and records and attend to various projects and tasks in support of the company’s corporate governance processes, including general recordkeeping, legal research, and preparation and delivery of materials for board and committee meetings
• In collaboration with counsel, sales personnel, and senior leadership, prepare, review, and execute a high volume and diverse range of complex commercial agreements and related schedules/exhibits
• Assist counsel with the documentation of M&A and finance transactions, including the drafting of key agreements and ancillary documents, tracking the status of negotiations, preparing summaries of key terms, and assisting with closing and post-closing matters
• Identify, summarize, and document material terms and key dates of executed commercial contracts and maintain and update the company’s commercial contract database
• Utilize calendaring system to track company’s legal and contractual obligations and follow up to ensure timely performance and adherence to terms
• Create and administer departmental and company processes to: (i) ensure consistent use of best practice terms and conditions; (ii) ensure proposed changes receive appropriate review and approval; (iii) encourage use of standard legal forms; (iv) standardize approval, execution, and archiving processes; and (v) track and report all key deadlines
• Professionally interact with all internal and external stakeholders, including brand leaders and outside counsel
• Perform other paralegal duties as assigned by the company lawyers

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Strong organizational, problem-solving, and analytical skills
• Proven ability to handle multiple projects and prioritize and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Attention to detail and quality of work product
• Ability to uphold standards of complete discretion and confidentiality
• Professional, personable,  and client-focused approach to providing legal services
• Ability to deal effectively with a diversity of individuals at all levels of the organization
• Excellent judgment with the ability to make timely and sound decisions
• Creative, flexible, enthusiastic, and innovative team player
• Versatility, flexibility, and willingness to work within constantly changing priorities with enthusiasm
• Familiarity with contract documents and terms, with an ability to identify and summarize material terms
• Thorough understanding of the life cycle of contracts from development, evaluation, negotiation, to approval, tracking, close-out and day-to-day management
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Thorough knowledge and experience with Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, DocuSign, Adobe, and certain contract management platforms
• General understanding of franchise policies and procedures

Education/Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Paralegal certification preferred
• 7+ years law firm or corporate in-house experience required