Asst General Counsel, Litigation

Position Details

The Assistant General Counsel, Litigation reports to the VP, Associate General Counsel & Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer and serves as Grainger’s senior leader responsible for its global litigation and disputes portfolio. This role manages all enterprise litigation and pre-litigation disputes, leads a team of legal professionals, ensures the company's litigation posture supports enterprise objectives, and advises senior executives and the Board of Directors.

The Assistant General Counsel, Litigation collaborates extensively across the business—including with Finance, Internal Audit, Ethics & Compliance, and senior leadership—to drive disciplined litigation management, elevate reporting and analytics, and proactively minimize risk. The position requires exceptional litigation judgment, leadership capability, and experience operating in a complex, multinational environment. This is a hybrid role based in Lake Forest, IL

You Will

Manage Litigation and Strategy:

• Lead Grainger’s global portfolio of litigation, claims, and disputes, including products/tort, commercial, intellectual property, employment, and regulatory matters.
• Develop and implement litigation strategies that balance legal, financial, and reputational considerations to achieve favorable outcomes.
• Manage and evaluate outside counsel, ensuring performance excellence, effective staffing, and cost-efficient representation.
• Oversee discovery strategy, eDiscovery processes, and document management systems, ensuring compliance and operational effectiveness.

Advise Senior Leaders and Board of Directors

• Provide strategic counsel to senior executives and the Board of Directors on significant litigation matters, emerging risks, trends, and potential business impacts.
• Prepare Board materials and litigation updates, ensuring clarity, accuracy, and alignment with enterprise priorities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor and thought partner on dispute resolution, settlement strategy, and risk mitigation; provide trainings on litigation-related topics.

Control Spend and Enhance Reporting

• Partner closely with Finance, Controllership, and external auditors to support accruals, reserves, and litigation-related financial reporting.
• Champion operational discipline through robust data management, spend analytics, matter reporting, and performance dashboards; establish KPIs to evaluate litigation performance.
• Enhance internal processes for case tracking, matter budgeting, forecasting, and trend analysis to improve transparency and productivity.

Lead and Develop a Team

• Lead and mentor a team of legal professionals—including direct report(s) and supporting team members—ensuring strong performance, development, and engagement.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement within the legal function.
• Strengthen cross-functional alignment with internal partners to ensure consistent, enterprise-wide litigation strategy and readiness.

You Have

• Juris Doctor (JD) from an accredited law school; licensed to practice law in Illinois.
• Minimum 10+ years of litigation experience, including at least 4 years of in-house experience and prior experience trying or litigating cases in private practice or at a government agency.
• Proven ability to manage complex litigation portfolios and outside counsel.
• Strong business acumen and ability to influence senior stakeholders.
• Must have experience with ediscovery and document management systems.
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving.
• Excellent negotiation and communication skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• The ability to build strong working relationships – internally within Grainger, external partners and counsel, and to communicate complex legal concepts to non-legal stakeholders.
• Must have impeccable judgment and the highest ethical standards, that is, someone who will always do the right thing.