Principal Legal Counsel

About the role

PETA India is seeking a Principal Legal Counsel to lead its litigation strategy across multiple forums. The role involves formulating legal tactics, managing external counsel, drafting pleadings, and ensuring that staff operate with strong legal knowledge to advance the organisation's animal welfare objectives.

Key responsibilities

• Identify and engage reliable external counsel for PETA India cases, negotiate terms of engagement and maintain relationships.
• Conduct regular briefings with external counsel, align them with PETA India’s positions, and contribute to court and campaign strategy.
• Provide factual updates, briefing notes, research material, and schedule management to support external counsel.
• Draft legal documents including police complaints, letters to authorities, legal notices, court pleadings and agreements.
• Attend hearings before the Supreme Court, High Courts and trial courts, assisting arguing counsel as needed.
• Prepare and review in‑house legal documents, SOPs and agreements, and manage related litigation.
• Perform thorough legal research, recommend strategies and participate in internal and external strategy discussions.
• Stay current with legal developments, statutes, regulations, case law and apply them to campaigns and litigation.
• Maintain organized records of correspondence, court documents and ensure compliance with legal requirements.
• Provide legal support to campaigners, researchers, investigators and caseworkers, including participation in strategy brainstorms.

Required profile

• Relevant bachelor‑level qualification (as indicated in the posting).
• Extensive experience in litigation management, preferably in a non‑profit or animal‑welfare context.
• Proven ability to work with external counsel and draft complex legal documents.
• Strong research skills and up‑to‑date knowledge of Indian legal statutes and case law.

Required skills