Commercial and Trademark Legal Counsel

On the forefront of the financial services industry, MSCI offers a fast-paced yet collegial environment, which is created through a strong culture of teamwork and close working relationships within the legal commercial contracts team and with other functional departments at MSCI. This is an excellent opportunity for an outstanding, highly motivated lawyer with experience in data and SaaS licensing and intellectual property, including trademarks, to work closely with our Commercial Legal teams in the Americas, EMEA and APAC. In addition to attending commercial legal team meetings, the role sits within a cutting-edge, AI-focused contract negotiation team operating across these regions.

Reporting and supervision: the role reports to Chris Harte, Head of AI Contract Team (based in London), with day-to-day functional leadership from Sonal Bane (based in Mumbai), partnering with MSCI's regional Commercial Legal teams and working with MSCI's Global IP Counsel on trademark matters.

• Negotiate complex technology and data agreements to provide MSCI services, including data licenses, Software-as-a-Service arrangements, financial product licenses, managed services agreements, and redistribution arrangements primarily under New York law.
• Handle trademark matters in partnership with MSCI's IP team, including running trademark clearance knockout searches on proposed product, index and service names, providing a preliminary risk assessment, and recommending when a full search or outside counsel review is needed.
• Rapidly come up to speed on MSCI's AI capabilities, contracts, product offerings, risk tolerances, policies, and practices.
• Work collaboratively and creatively to design and implement new contract templates and provisions for new product offerings.
• Use and contribute to the development of MSCI's AI systems as an integral part of your work. No programming experience is necessary, but candidates should show self-directed adoption of new technology, i.e. tools they have taught themselves, processes they have changed or workarounds they have built, and ideally use of AI tools on live legal work.
• Work on any other legal projects, teams and assignments as they arise.

• A total of 9+ years of experience and a minimum of 4 years experience in-house or at a premier law firm.
• Ability to carefully yet swiftly negotiate a high volume of complex agreements.
• Strong project management skills with the organizational capability to manage multiple deals and projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience negotiating complex tech and IP transactions.
• Experience with intellectual property matters, particularly trademarks, including conducting trademark clearance knockout searches and assessing likelihood-of-confusion risk. Familiarity with trademark search tools and registers (e.g., USPTO, TMView) is a plus.
• Entrepreneurial "can do" spirit and proactive desire to quickly learn the business and rapidly come up to speed in new areas.
• Positive, execution-oriented outlook, with superior listening skills, drafting ability and attention to detail.
• Strong communication skills and ability to build and maintain strong relationships with clients and colleagues.
• Law degree and license to practice.
• Experience in the financial services industry and/or working on M&A deals is helpful.

What we offer you

• Transparent compensation schemes and comprehensive employee benefits, tailored to your location, ensuring your financial security, health, and overall wellbeing.

• Flexible working arrangements, advanced technology, and collaborative workspaces.

• A culture of high performance and innovation where we experiment with new ideas and take responsibility for achieving results.

• A global network of talented colleagues, who inspire, support, and share their expertise to innovate and deliver for our clients.

• Global Orientation program to kickstart your journey, followed by access to our Learning@MSCI platform, AI Learning Center , LinkedIn Learning Pro and tailored learning opportunities for ongoing skills development.

• Multi-directional career paths that offer professional growth and development through new challenges, internal mobility and expanded roles.

• We actively nurture an environment that builds a sense of inclusion belonging and connection, including eight Employee Resource Groups. All Abilities, Asian Support Network, Black Leadership Network, Climate Action Network, Hola! MSCI, Pride & Allies, Women in Tech, and Women’s Leadership Forum.

At MSCI we are passionate about what we do, and we are inspired by our vision – to power better decisions. You’ll be part of an industry-leading network of creative, curious, and entrepreneurial pioneers. This is a space where you can challenge yourself, set new standards and perform beyond expectations for yourself, our clients, and our industry.

MSCI strengthens global markets by connecting participants across the financial ecosystem with a common language. Our research-based data, analytics and indexes, supported by advanced technology, set standards for global investors and help our clients understand risks and opportunities so they can make better decisions and unlock innovation. We serve asset managers and owners, private-market sponsors and investors, hedge funds, wealth managers, banks, insurers and corporates.

MSCI Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. It is the policy of the firm to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, age, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, disability, marital and civil partnership/union status, pregnancy (including unlawful discrimination on the basis of a legally protected parental leave), veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. MSCI is also committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you are an individual with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, please email [email protected] and indicate the specifics of the assistance needed. Please note, this e-mail is intended only for individuals who are requesting a reasonable workplace accommodation; it is not intended for other inquiries.

To all recruitment agencies

MSCI does not accept unsolicited CVs/Resumes. Please do not forward CVs/Resumes to any MSCI employee, location, or website. MSCI is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited CVs/Resumes.

Note on recruitment scams

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