MetLife

Role Value Proposition: 

MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world’s leading financial services companies, providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. We’re united by our purpose to help our customers and each other create a confident future; we’re guided by empathy; and we’re inspired by each other to make a difference in the lives of our coworkers, customers, communities, and the world at large. At MetLife, it’s #AllTogetherPossible. Join us!  

Legal Affairs - Building confident futures is at the center of all our work at MetLife. In Legal Affairs, that means empowering our trusted advisors and advocates to focus on what’s possible while safeguarding MetLife’s global interests. Collaborating with each other and our businesses around the globe, we support innovative solutions while protecting our customers, employees, communities, and shareholders. And we work in an environment founded on integrity, trust, candor, and respect, where new challenges and diverse perspectives are encouraged and celebrated.

The senior counsel will join an active and sophisticated Investments Law group that counsels and provides transactional support to the MetLife Investments Management (“MIM”) Agricultural Investments unit on all aspects of agricultural investments from origination through the life of the investment, with such investments being primarily in the US, but also in Latin America. MIM is a registered investment advisor representing affiliated and non-affiliated clients.

The senior counsel will serve as the primary advisor on our agricultural investments providing insightful, timely and pragmatic advice to business partners.  Specifically, the senior counsel will support our business partners in originating, servicing, and managing a diverse agricultural (commercial) mortgage loan portfolio including farm and ranch, agribusiness and timber assets in the US and Latin America. The role requires an experienced and versatile attorney to structure, review and negotiate transaction documents and collaborate with other enterprise stakeholders. This senior counsel must have the initiative and skills required to drive our business partners’ goals, distill complex issues, and communicate the same to our business partners in a simple and straightforward manner, recommend courses of action based on a deep understanding of the issues, the market and MIM, and provide strategic advice to senior business leaders within Agricultural Investments.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide advice and counsel to key business decision makers on the structuring, origination and management of farm and ranch, agribusiness, and timber mortgage loans in accordance with applicable law and MetLife policy and protocols.  
• Advise business partners and manage outside counsel on loan originations, drafting and negotiating loan documents, assisting with closing due diligence, and handling all other aspects of a sophisticated agricultural finance group.
• Work with, guide, and manage outside counsel, representing MetLife Agricultural Finance on loan closings, loan servicing, special servicing, special projects, and litigation.
• Counsel internal business partners in all aspects of agricultural finance transactions, new product development, and on applicable investment management and insurance regulations.
• Prepare, initiate, advocate for, and effectively present legal points and recommendations to guide key decision makers and to represent business partners as legal counsel. 

Essential Business Experience and Technical Skills:

Required:

• Requires a Juris Doctorate and excellent academic credentials from an accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in at least one state and a member in good standing of a bar; admitted to practice before the Kansas state bar or a member of a reciprocal bar.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience with a law firm or in-house, including significant experience leading the review and negotiation of agricultural/commercial real estate mortgage loan transactions.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with proven business acumen.        
• Able to work under limited supervision.
• Creative thinker who is result oriented, finding solutions to novel issues or situations.
• Ability to work independently, grasp concepts, assess risk and make sound informed decisions quickly.
• Demonstrated strong learning agility and willingness to learn and advise on new investment asset classes.  
• Demonstrated strategic planning, analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with a proven record of proactively managing risks and outcomes.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with a track record of building relationships and effective partnerships across constituencies and stakeholders.
• Superior organizational and leadership skills, and a demonstrated ability to establish and manage priorities.
• Awareness and understanding of current economic and market trends affecting institutional investors globally. 
• The ability to work in an environment that emphasizes information sharing, collaboration, teamwork, mutual respect, and integrity.

At MetLife, we’re leading the global transformation of an industry we’ve long defined. United in purpose, diverse in perspective, we’re dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our customers.