Legal Project Manager (90K; Hybrid in Philadelphia, PA)
Location: Philadelphia, PA (Hybrid) (Potentially NYC office)
The Legal Project Manager will use legal knowledge and project management skills to assist legal matter stakeholders with benchmarking, budgeting, organizing matter project plans, managing existing matters and reviewing completed matters to assist with future budgeting/pricing efforts. The Legal Project Manager will identify reasons for variance such as rate, staffing, time overruns, or out-of-scope work, enabling Firm practice groups to budget and price matters more effectively, monitor existing matters, establish both client and internal reporting and procure new business. This position will also assist with the preparation of RFP responses and provide internal reporting to business service professionals in support of alternative fee arrangements.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
- Review and analyze complex matter data related to billing and fee arrangements, work activities, tasks, completion times and other relevant project information.
- Identify areas of improvement for budgeting, developing work plans and efficiency across practices.
- Assist partners and legal teams in viewing their practice activities and results from a business/financial management perspective.
- Apply analysis and project management concepts in a way that improves operational efficiency, forecasting, and effectiveness.
- Conduct after action reviews and analysis to assist with future pricing efforts and client relationship management.
- Develop and maintain task lists, work plans and assumption templates across practices to use for new engagements.
- Assist partners with benchmarking, creating work plans, budgets and fee proposals for new engagements.
- Perform any and all other duties as necessary and as assigned by your manager for efficient functioning of the Department, Office and Firm.
INTERACTIONS AND CHALLENGES:
The Legal Project Manager will work closely with all members of the Project Management team and interact regularly with members of the Finance dept. as well as a broad range of partners, associates, practice group administrators and members of the Marketing dept. While the position is based in Philadelphia, the Legal Project Manager will collaborate with practices across all offices, using the firm’s collaborative technology tools and visiting other offices when required.
QUALIFICATIONS / KSAs:
- 4+ years of relevant experience in law practice or practice management/administration.
- Knowledge and understanding of law firm practice and operations (litigation or transactional background).
- Strong organizational and multitasking skills required.
- Business acumen and analytical ability, particularly in relation to connecting financial data and statistics with business outcomes for analysis and forecasting.
- Experience with project management principles in business and ability to incorporate them into specific plans for handling legal matters.
- Advanced computer skills, including Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word and SQL.
- Excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Ability to explain complex concepts to professionals of different backgrounds in a clear and concise manner.
- Customer service-oriented with high quality standards and attention to detail.
- Ability to be flexible as requests and deadlines require.
- Experienced with Aderant preferred but not required.
PHYSICAL EFFORT / WORK CONDITIONS:
- This position operates in a professional office environment which is generally free of hazards and exposure to adverse environmental conditions.
- This position requires regular attendance on-site at firm’s location with some travel to different sites using various modes of private and commercial transportation. Incumbents may be required to work extended hours including evenings and weekends.
- This position routinely operates standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopy machines, fax machines and filing cabinets, and requires frequent communication with the firm’s employees and partners as well as third parties.
- This position is mainly sedentary. Primary functions require sufficient physical ability and mobility to work in an office setting; to read, sit and type for sustained periods of time; to walk, stand, reach, and bend; to open and close filing cabinets and access and retrieve materials in file rooms; to lift, carry and move files or other items of light to moderate weight; to operate equipment requiring repetitive hand movement and fine coordination; and to verbally communicate to exchange information.
- This position requires a normal audio range, with or without correction. It also requires the normal visual range, with or without correction. Specific vision abilities required include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.