Associate Vice President, Counsel (Opportunistic Credit, Private Equity and U.S. Liquid Credit)

Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

Ares is looking to hire an attorney as an Associate Vice President, Counsel to the Investment Legal team in Los Angeles covering Ares’ Opportunistic Credit, Private Equity and U.S. Liquid Credit investment strategies (the “OPEL Legal Team”) as well as Ares’ Alternative Credit business. The Counsel will primarily focus on assisting with Ares’ Opportunistic Credit and U.S. Liquid Credit investment strategies, together with Ares’ Alternative Credit business, while also providing support for Ares’ Private Equity strategy as needed. The position will be based in Century City, CA and report to the Lead Investment Legal Attorney for the OPEL Legal Team.

The Ares Opportunistic Credit strategy seeks to invest in middle market companies that need flexible capital solutions, primarily in the form of debt and preferred equity and to a lesser extent, common equity. The strategy seeks to consistently invest in private market opportunities and, when deemed attractive, flex into stressed public markets, often seeking to leverage a public investment into a private follow-on opportunity. The Ares Global Liquid Credit Group is a leading participant in the non-investment grade corporate credit markets. The group’s strategies include syndicated loans, high yield bonds, and multi-asset credit as well as CLOs. The Ares Private Equity flagship corporate opportunities strategy pursues investments in growth-oriented middle market companies in North America and Europe.  Alternative Credit is an asset-based finance (“ABF”) and tactical asset investing strategy spanning directly originated private illiquid and syndicated investment grade markets focusing on investments in large, diversified portfolios of contractual cash flows that benefit from asset security, covenants, cash flow velocity and other features designed to capture value, minimize risk to principal, and offer the potential for attractive levels of current income, low correlation to traditional markets, portfolio diversification and downside protection.

Ares is a flat, flexible and dynamic organization. The firm fosters a culture of collaboration, entrepreneurialism, integrity and partnership, both internally amongst colleagues and externally amongst clients and other stakeholders. The Ares team operates with a growth mindset, communicates transparently and cultivates a high-performance and results-oriented environment.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIP

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

While experience with debt and preferred equity investments is required (and experience with the breadth of the ABF market, restructurings, securitizations and/or M&A and equity investments is also appreciated), the Counsel will not function as dedicated deal counsel. Rather, the scope includes overseeing the legal aspects of the full scope of the relevant investment strategies—e.g., capital deployment, portfolio management and monetization—and the Counsel’s responsibilities will span the breadth of it.

This is a “front-line” role working directly with investment professionals in the U.S. and Europe as well as the broader Ares Legal department and the Compliance, Finance & Accounting, Tax and Investor Relations departments.

Broadly speaking, the Counsel will function in four primary areas:

• Advising investment and non-investment professionals and/or supervising outside counsel on a wide range of legal matters relating to new investments (primarily debt and preferred equity investments) and existing portfolio companies primarily for the identified investment strategies, whether responding to inquiries or proactively issue spotting. These legal matters will include:

  • deal documentation regarding new debt and equity investments, including commitment letters and associated documents;

  • workouts and restructurings, including support agreements and associated documents;

  • ad hoc lender group matters;

  • CLO and ABF securitization matters;

  • securities laws filings and analysis;

  • regulatory filings for new investments (including merger control and foreign direct investment filings);

  • conflicts management;

  • navigating contractual restrictions, including in fund governing documents; and

  • entity management.

• Assisting with the “hands-on” completion of document workflow (e.g., reviewing, revising and/or negotiating NDAs, engagement letters, consulting agreements, capital call and distribution notices and various other agreements and disclosure documents).

• Assisting with the supervision of two paralegals and a legal coordinator within the OPEL Legal Team.

• Assisting with developing and improving the team’s standard forms / precedents and processes.

The team takes a collaborative and solutions-oriented approach to partnering with investment and non-investment colleagues to advance business objectives and mitigate risks. They are generalists who oversee a large and dynamic portfolio of legal matters touching on a variety of legal and regulatory considerations.

Qualifications

Qualified candidates will possess:

• a JD with a strong academic background;

• California Bar membership or ability to qualify as a registered in-house counsel in California; and

• 3-5+ years of relevant experience at a top-tier law firm and/or in-house, primarily with respect to debt and preferred equity investments (experience with restructurings, securitizations and/or M&A and equity investments is also appreciated).

Investment management industry experience is appreciated but not required.

Given the position’s scope of responsibilities and the desire to find someone who can grow and develop with the business, the ideal candidate is someone who:  

• is comfortable functioning as a generalist, has a growth mindset and seeks to learn and broaden/develop their skills;

• is a proficient issue spotter who sees through complexity and is a creative problem-solver;

• can thoughtfully balance the legal and commercial aspects of an issue;

• has excellent interpersonal/written and verbal communication skills, translating into an ability to concisely and persuasively convey information to and interact well with a variety of personalities; 

• is a “doer” who can execute with a high degree of attention to detail;

• is a self-starter who can balance/prioritize multiple tasks with competing and shifting priorities;

• has excellent organizational skills and can follow through on long-term projects;

• is comfortable drafting a variety of agreements/provisions;

• is a team player and willing to help mentor junior team members; and

• possesses strong integrity and professionalism.

Reporting Relationships

Compensation

$240,000 - $270,000 / annum

There is no set deadline to apply for this job opportunity. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis until the search is no longer active.