Legal Counsel, Funds

About AngelList

Private markets are the new public markets. The most important companies of this era are private, and almost no one can own them. What's missing is the financial system public markets spent a century building: exchanges, custodians, brokers, and ways for ordinary people to buy in. Private markets, now $28T, never had the equivalent. AngelList is building it.

The last decade of structural innovation in venture happened here: syndicates, SPVs at scale, Rolling Funds, scout programs. Today we have $200B+ in assets and 30,000+ startups funded on our platform. The rest of private markets is next. Funds is the software and services behind private funds, Nova is the banking network, Meridian is the wealth platform for accredited investors, and USVC is the brand behind a registered fund that lets anyone invest in venture.

Working here means an unusual amount of agency on a problem that matters. Titles are closer to suggestions, and there are about 200 of us building what private markets never had. Come build it with us.

 

About the Role

Most fund lawyers see a handful of structures in a career. AngelList administers thousands of funds, SPVs, rolling funds, and scout vehicles, with [$171B+] in assets [confirm figure], and we stand up new structures every week, including a registered fund. That volume produces fact patterns with no precedent, and the lawyer in this seat takes positions on them with incomplete facts and a clock running.

The second problem is deciding which of those fact patterns should never reach a lawyer again. Roughly 2,500 requests a year come through our legal intake. A growing share is handled by rules, templates, and agents the legal team builds, and this seat owns the list of what gets automated next.

We're hiring a Legal Counsel to own fund legal matters across Funds and vFunds and to run our commercial contracts desk. You will also support product work when we have strategic initiatives to launch. This is a hands-on role: you will work daily with Fund Operations, Investor Relations, Compliance, Product, and Engineering, and directly with GPs and their counsel.

You will:

• Carry a full share of the reactive legal queue for Funds and vFunds (investor consents, side letters, LP transfers, portfolio company issues, distribution and secondary questions) on SLA.
• Own commercial contract review, including the data rights, retention, and AI-training terms in vendor and customer agreements.
• Draft and negotiate fund documents for bespoke structures (scout funds, custom LPAs, side letters) and take a written position on fact-specific matters (distributions, secondaries, fee and carry questions, non-standard operational requests).
• Research and advise under the Securities Act, Investment Company Act, Advisers Act, and Reg D, including responses to regulator inquiries, and support product launches when we have strategic initiatives.
• Build the automation: identify recurring request types, write the decision rules and templates, build or spec the agent workflows, and verify their output before they go live.

You may be a good fit if you:

• JD, active bar admission in at least one state, and 3+ years of corporate, M&A, or private equity transactional experience, or fund formation and operations experience, in-house or at a firm.
• Corporate transactional capability. You can own commercial contract review, diligence, and equity and board mechanics end to end without oversight.
• Familiarity with the regulatory space. You can read a fact pattern and name the Securities Act, Advisers Act, Investment Company Act, or Reg D issue in it. Fund document fluency can be built here; regulatory instincts cannot.
• Comfortable deciding without a playbook. When the facts are incomplete and the clock is running, you document a position and move, and you know the difference between a call you should make and one that needs the CLO.
• An AI-forward approach to legal work. You use the tools, check their output, and can say which parts of a matter should be automated and which should not.
• Clear, plain-English writing. You can explain a legal risk to a GP, a product manager, a vendor, or an operations lead in a way they can act on.

Working Here

If you don’t meet every requirement above, we still encourage you to apply. We value complementary strengths and operators who learn by doing.

We operate out of hubs in New York City and San Francisco. For most roles on those teams, we work from the office at least two days per week (Tuesdays and either Wednesday or Thursday). 

Compensation:
The compensation for this role consists of a competitive base salary, benefits, and equity package. The base salary for this role is $225,000+ annually but actual will vary based on a number of factors including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location. Full details about our Total Rewards package will be provided during the recruitment process.

Benefits:
We support your life both in and outside of work.
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What Guides Us:
At AngelList, we are united in our purpose to accelerate innovation and build the future of private markets. Our beliefs and values shape what we work on and how we create impact. If the below resonate, we'd love to have you with us.
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AngelList is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.