Dir, Associate Counsel

Journey with us Combine your career goals and sense of adventure by joining our exciting team of employees. Royal Caribbean Group is pleased to offer a competitive compensation & benefits package, excellent career development opportunities, and a unique way to explore the world. The Royal Caribbean Group’s legal team has an exciting career opportunity for a full time Director, Associate Counsel, Development – Mexico , based in Mexico City.

The Associate Counsel serves as Mexican legal counsel for Royal Caribbean’s development projects and other business activities in Mexico. The Associate Counsel reviews, negotiates, prepares and advises on a variety of contracts, including those related to real estate development, construction, operations, and corporate law matters. The Associate Counsel will provide legal advice on a broad range of legal issues relating to large scale real estate and infrastructure development projects and business activity in Mexico by a foreign multinational including those related to land use, permitting, environmental authorizations and other Federal, state and municipal authorizations. This position will also provide legal support to attorneys in the Legal Department located in the Miami corporate headquarters. The Associate Counsel will liaise with and assist in the management of external Mexican legal counsel and notaries. Travel to Miami and within Mexico, particularly Quintana Roo, will be required from time to time.

• Supports Royal Caribbean with respect to cruise port development and management in Mexico including obtaining necessary concessions and other authorizations, conducting the associated due diligence, and drafting and negotiating legal agreements in connection with the design, pre-development, construction, and operation of those projects.
• Supports Royal Caribbean in connection with its current and future strategic partnerships in Mexico.
• Supports the Company’s Perfect Day and Royal Beach Club portfolio in Mexico with the due diligence and acquisition/leasing of new project sites, and the drafting and negotiation of legal agreements in connection with the design, pre-development, construction, operation, and use of the projects.
• Supports the Company with respect to its Mexican real property portfolio and strategic real estate initiatives, including real estate acquisitions, dispositions, and leasing. Includes drafting and negotiating purchase and sale agreements, leases, and various service agreements and working closely with notaries.
• Draft, negotiate, and review (a) transactional real estate documents, including, among others, letters of intent, memorandum of understanding, heads of agreement, development agreements, purchase and sale agreements, lease agreements, and confidentiality agreements, (b) loan and other financing documents, and (c) general corporate documents, including organizational documents, shareholder, partnership, and joint venture agreements.
• Research, review, and interpret Mexican legal and political developments affecting the Company’s business and stay current on new and proposed changes.
• Track and provide guidance on existing and new Mexican laws and regulations applicable to Royal Caribbean’s developments and operations in Mexico and oversee compliance with respect to applicable Mexican laws and regulations, including anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, competition, trade sanctions, conflicts of interest, human rights, and data privacy/protection. Proactively engage with the business to identify and remediate issues and ensure timely compliance. Assist in implementing updates to Company policies and processes to address local regulatory requirements.
• Responsibilities include supporting the corporate team to form new Mexican legal entities that will be Royal Caribbean affiliates and drafting associated documentation. Maintaining the Company’s existing portfolio of Mexican subsidiaries in good standing and preparing necessary shareholder consents/minutes and board consents/minutes and other documents necessary to observe required corporate formalities.
• Develops, creates, improves and drafts standard form contracts.
• Performs other duties as required. This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position. The Associate Counsel is expected to perform other job-related duties assigned by their supervisor or management.

• Duly licensed attorney in good standing in Mexico with strong academic credentials from an accredited law school.
• Minimum of 7-10 years of transactional legal experience as a practicing lawyer with real estate, infrastructure development and/or corporate law experience. Medium/large law firm and/or in-house experience preferred, especially experience serving large multinational corporations or working in their in-house legal departments.
• Excellent understanding of the role of notaries in Mexico and the administrative formalities required to comply with Mexican real property, corporate and other law.
• Candidate must be bilingual with full professional proficiency in both English and Spanish.

• Strong analytical and reasoning skills, excellent judgment, and the ability to make decisions and assess acceptable levels of business risk.
• Excellent drafting ability in both English and Spanish, including for contracts, reports, and business correspondence.
• Must be able to work independently and efficiently under time pressures and deadlines in a fast-paced environment with attention to detail primarily supporting US based (Miami) legal and business teams.
• Must work with a sense of professional pride, possess a strong work ethic, be proactive, enthusiastic, and flexible, and have business and personal integrity.
• Ability to explain Mexican law concepts and requirements in a simple coherent manner to both Spanish speaking and English speaking legal and business partners.
• Must be highly organized, detailed oriented, responsive, and dependable.
• Ability to handle multiple urgent and important matters while maintaining professional but cordial relations with internal clients.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and online research tools.