Associate Director - Client Agreements

Husch Blackwell•Milwaukee, WI

2h•$136,000 - $308,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Husch Blackwell LLP is a full-service litigation and business law firm with multiple locations across the United States, serving clients with domestic and international operations. The firm is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering an engaged, diverse, and inclusive team culture of accountability and purpose. They seek motivated professionals who value teamwork, collaboration, client service, and innovation. The Associate Director – Client Agreements provides strategic leadership and oversight for the Conflicts Special Projects and Client Agreements functions, establishing governance, processes, and systems that mitigate risk, support firmwide business intake, and enable consistent execution through functional managers. This position may be filled remotely or in any of their office locations.

Requirements

JD degree required and active bar license.
Three (3) or more years of experience managing, drafting, negotiating, and/or reviewing engagement letters and/or Outside Counsel Guidelines required.
Deep understanding of legal ethics, conflicts of interest rules, waivers, and professional responsibility standards.
Ability to demonstrate integrity, discretion, and good judgment in personal and fiduciary matters.
Experience working with senior leadership to make recommendations and build consensus.
Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken, with the ability to communicate clearly and succinctly, establish credibility, build trust, maintain confidences, and develop positive working relationships with team members, firm leadership, lawyers, and other professionals.
Exceptional judgment, flexibility, and professionalism.
Ability to work after hours on occasion, as needed.
Ability to travel to other offices and events, as needed.
Knowledge of how a law firm operates, including awareness of the key elements in the relationships between a firm and its clients.
Ability to organize and prioritize numerous tasks and complete under time constraints.
Ability to perform effectively with moderate supervision and within established time limits and on-going deadlines.
Ability to interact effectively and professionally and provide exceptional service.
Ability to respond to requests requiring analysis and decision making for new clients/matter processing.

Nice To Haves

Seven years’ conflicts experience, including at least two (2) or more years of supervisory experience preferred.
Demonstrated knowledge of conflicts software, corporate research databases, Microsoft Office products, NetDocs, 3E, and Intapp Walls experience preferred.
Experience with Intapp Open and/or Intapp Terms preferred.

Responsibilities

Directs and oversees the firm’s procedures for acceptance, review, negotiation, and documentation of Outside Counsel Guidelines.
Coordinating with Conflicts Management, Business Intake, and other practice groups to coordinate engagement letters regarding new matter opening, maintenance of information within firm databases, review of Outside Counsel Guidelines, and coordination of client agreements documentation for the firm.
Directly oversees the Client Agreements Manager and Senior Conflicts Manager of Special Projects, including supervision of attorney-level work product, review of legal analyses and recommendations, performance management, professional development, and alignment of legal judgment with firm risk tolerance and policy Facilitate escalation and resolution of complex or sensitive issues to firm leadership.
Directs and oversees the conflicts and client agreements aspects of Requests for Production and Requests for Information, coordinating responses and providing support to client relationship managers in support of same.
Partners closely with the Director of Conflicts to set strategy, priorities, and standards for the Conflicts department, including policy development, workflow optimization, quality control, and consistency of legal decision-making.
Work closely with the Conflicts, Business Intake, and Client Data groups, to strategize and implement team structure, training, and policies to assist in meeting firm’s new business, conflicts, and client agreement goals.
Serve as a cross-functional and departmental leader on client agreement and new business conflicts questions, interacting with attorneys, staff and firm leadership on issues related to the firm’s conflicts process and related client agreement needs.
Leads and supports training initiatives, including attorney education on client agreement issues, internal team training, and development of guidance materials, protocols, and best practices.
Work with the Business Intake team to design a process for tracking receipt of engagement letters
Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

discretionary bonus
medical coverage
dental coverage
life insurance
short-term disability insurance
long-term disability insurance
pre-tax flexible spending account for certain medical and dependent care expenses
an employee assistance program
Paid Time Off
paid holidays
participation in a retirement plan program after meeting eligibility requirements