Counsel, Commercial

This U.S.-based role operates in a hybrid work arrangement located in Kingsport, TN or St. Louis, MO.

The Counsel, Commercial will provide practical, business-oriented legal support across Eastman's commercial activities, partnering closely with commodity-based and specialty-based businesses and supporting sales, marketing, pricing, supply chain, procurement, operations, and other cross-functional teams. Reporting within the Corporate and Commercial Legal department, this role will serve as the primary legal advisor for assigned businesses, commercial matters, and customer-facing transactions.
This role is well suited for an attorney who can independently manage commercial contracting matters, negotiate complex customer agreements, identify and manage legal risk, and provide clear, actionable advice that balances customer relationships, commercial objectives, operational requirements, and speed of execution. The successful candidate will build trusted relationships with business clients, exercise sound judgment, and help enable business growth while protecting Eastman's interests.

Key Responsibilities
* Commercial Contracting and Customer Agreements: Lead legal support for seller-side commercial agreements across Eastman's commodity-based and specialty-based businesses. Draft, review, negotiate, and advise on customer agreements and related commercial arrangements while balancing legal risk, commercial value, operational requirements, and business objectives.
* Commercial Counseling and Business Partnership: Serve as a trusted legal advisor to business leaders, sales teams, pricing teams, and other internal stakeholders. Provide practical guidance on contract interpretation, negotiation strategy, customer communications, and commercial risk while helping clients make informed business decisions. Identify significant legal and commercial risks early, develop practical solutions, and appropriately escalate matters with substantial business, operational, or enterprise impact.
* Competition Law and Commercial Practices: Advise business clients regarding competition-law considerations affecting commercial activities, including pricing, customer interactions, negotiations, communications, and information sharing. Support training and promote legally compliant and commercially sound business practices.
* Commercial Disputes and Risk Management: Support the resolution of commercial disputes, customer claims, and contract-related issues before escalation. Partner with business teams to evaluate contractual rights, develop practical solutions, preserve customer relationships, and protect Eastman's interests.
* Commercial Contracting Processes and Continuous Improvement: Support implementation and adoption of contracting processes, templates, playbooks, approval frameworks, and related tools. Contribute to process-improvement initiatives that increase efficiency, consistency, and risk management while supporting business execution.
* Cross-Functional Counseling and Supplemental Legal Support: Collaborate with colleagues across Legal and with functions including finance, tax, procurement, supply chain, operations, and sustainability. Provide supplemental support on commercial matters that intersect with other legal disciplines as appropriate.
* Training, Knowledge Sharing, and Legal Technology: Develop and deliver training, negotiation guidance, and practical resources that help business teams manage routine commercial issues effectively. Support legal technology initiatives, contract lifecycle management systems, AI-enabled legal tools, and knowledge-management resources that improve consistency and scalability.
* Outside Counsel and Legal Spend Management: Manage outside counsel on assigned matters, including scope, strategy, work quality, budgets, and alignment with Eastman objectives.

Minimum Qualifications

• Juris Doctor from an accredited law school.
• Active license to practice law in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• Typically, 7+ years of progressively responsible legal experience, including meaningful experience supporting commercial transactions, customer agreements, business counseling, or related commercial matters.
• Demonstrated ability to independently negotiate and manage complex commercial agreements and associated legal risks.
• Experience advising business stakeholders on contract interpretation, negotiation strategy, and commercial risk management.
• Strong judgment, writing, analytical, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder-management skills.
• Ability to manage multiple concurrent matters in a fast-paced global environment while maintaining confidentiality, professionalism, and a business-practical mindset.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior in-house experience or comparable law firm experience supporting multinational manufacturing, industrial, chemical, energy, or supply-chain-intensive environments.
• Experience supporting seller-side commercial contracting, distribution arrangements, competition-law matters, customer disputes, or related commercial transactions.
• Experience developing or supporting contract templates, playbooks, approval processes, CLM systems, or contracting workflows.
• Familiarity with legal technology, AI-enabled legal tools, and process-improvement initiatives.