Corporate Lawyer II

Zurich North America is hiring a Corporate Lawyer II to join our Legal team! We are open to hiring talent in our Schaumburg, IL headquarters locations.

Job Summary:

An experienced litigation attorney to manage complex litigation and arbitration matters from inception through resolution. The attorney will be responsible for developing case strategy, managing outside counsel, assessing legal and business risk, controlling litigation spend, and keeping internal stakeholders timely and clearly advised of material developments, strategic options, exposure, and recommended next steps.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a portfolio of complex business, commercial, and bad faith litigation, arbitration, threatened litigation, and pre-litigation disputes involving significant financial, regulatory, reputational, operational, or business risk.
• Develop and execute litigation strategy, including early case assessment, risk analysis, discovery strategy, motion practice, settlement posture, trial preparation, appeal considerations, and resolution planning.
• Select, retain, supervise, and evaluate outside counsel; ensure counsel performance aligns with matter strategy, budgets, reporting expectations, and company objectives.
• Provide practical, business-oriented legal advice to internal stakeholders and senior leaders regarding litigation risk, exposure, likely outcomes, settlement opportunities, and strategic alternatives.
• Keep stakeholders advised through clear, timely, and concise communications, including matter updates, risk assessments, escalation notices, executive briefings, and recommendations for decision-making.
• Oversee discovery, document preservation and collection, legal holds, witness preparation, subpoenas, expert engagement, mediation, arbitration, and trial-related activities.
• Identify and escalate matters involving significant exposure, recurring fact patterns, systemic issues, reputational risk, regulatory implications, senior management involvement, or sensitive stakeholder concerns.
• Effectively manage litigation budgets, and legal spend, and drive cost-effective resolution of disputes while maintaining appropriate defense quality.
• Prepare and maintain accurate matter reporting, including exposure analysis, status updates, reserves or financial inputs where applicable, and reports required for internal governance or external disclosure processes.
• Support continuous improvement by developing litigation management practices, templates, guidance, training, and lessons learned from significant matters.
• Supervise and mentor paralegal staff as necessary.

Basic Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor and 7 or more years of experience in the Legal area
  AND
• Member of the Bar
• Knowledge of NILS, Lexis or Westlaw

Preferred Qualifications:

• Insurance Industry experience
• Strong organizational and analytical skills
• Excellent communication skills

We offer competitive pay and comprehensive benefits for employees and their families. [Learn more about Total Rewards here.]

Why Zurich?

At Zurich, we value your ideas and experience. We offer growth, inclusion, and a supportive environment—so you can help shape the future of insurance. Zurich North America is a leader in risk management, with over 150 years of expertise and coverage across 25+ industries, including 90% of the Fortune 500®.

Join us for a brighter future—for yourself and our customers.

Zurich in North America does not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, age, disability, protected veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy or other characteristics protected by applicable law. Equal Opportunity Employer disability/vets.

Zurich complies with 18 U.S. Code § 1033.

Please note: Zurich does not accept unsolicited CVs from agencies. Preferred vendors should use our Recruiting Agency Portal.

Location(s): AM - Schaumburg
Remote Working: Hybrid
Schedule: Full Time
Employment Sponsorship Offered: No  
 
Linkedin Recruiter Tag: #LI-JM1 #LI-ASSOCIATE #LI-HYBRID