BD Specialist - Bankruptcy/Restructuring - New York
About The Position
The New York office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is looking for a Business Development Specialist to support the Restructuring Department. Willkie is an elite international law firm of approximately 1,300 lawyers located in 16 offices in six countries. This role will be based in New York and will report to a senior member of the Restructuring team. They will work daily with Business Development and Marketing Department to execute the BD strategy. The Specialist will provide dedicated, day-to-day support for the firm’s Restructuring practice and will work directly with partners and attorneys to drive execution across pitches, proposals, legal directories, client development initiatives, and profile- raising activities. This is a hands-on, execution-oriented role for a resourceful professional who is detailed-focused, proactive, and committed to high quality work. The ideal candidate brings strong judgment, excellent writing and project management skills, and experience supporting legal marketing/business development in bankruptcy, restructuring, and related litigation or finance contexts. You will collaborate with partners to help expand client relationships, strengthen market visibility, and ensure alignment with firmwide strategy. At Willkie, we believe great people are the key to our success. As such, we are offering a highly competitive compensation package with exceptional benefits. If you are looking to work in a friendly, collaborative environment that affords unique opportunities to expand your professional development, this role is for you.
Requirements
- Minimum of 4 years of relevant experience in a law firm or professional services organization, with knowledge of law firm and practice area organization and structure.
- Very strong attention to detail, accuracy and organization – must be able to work in a thorough, diligent and proactive manner
- Strong time and project management skills; ability to prioritize and work within tight deadlines
- Must demonstrate reliability and build trust through consistence performance and responsiveness with attorneys, fellow Client Development & Marketing team members and other firm support departments, including demonstrating responsiveness outside of business hours as needed
- Ability to develop collaborative professional relationships with attorneys, the members of the Client Development & Marketing team and other colleagues
- Strong writing skills, including experience drafting pitches and directory submissions
- Knowledge of and experience with third-party databases such as Pitchly, CapitalIQ, Preqin and PitchBook
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and Adobe Acrobat are essential; knowledge of InDesign is preferred
- Undergraduate degree is required.
Nice To Haves
- JD degree and/or prior experience as an associate or paralegal is preferred.
- Prior legal practice or BD experience in assigned areas is strongly preferred (private equity, mergers and acquisitions).
Responsibilities
- Directories and Submissions
- Media/PR
- Pitches /RFPs/ Experience Management
- Client events
- Fulfill attorney requests for experience lists, biographies, practice and industry descriptions and similar materials
- Coordinate and support the legal directories and awards process, including producing draft submissions and reference lists for manager review; tracking timelines, deadlines and researcher assignments; coordinating communications and interviews; and related efforts
- Work closely with the Firm’s Senior Manager, Communications and Director of Communications to create and implement effective PR, media and profile raising plans, its partners and related practices
- Manage day-to-day media relations and PR
- Serve as point of contact for inbound PR and media inquiries
- Produce to deadline tailored pitch materials and proposals, including relevant and compelling firm messaging, experience and accolades, in line with firm brand guidelines
- Support RFP processes
- Record BD goals, opportunities and efforts, and track BD outcomes
- Work with partners to ensure that key relationships and contacts are recorded
- Maintain and update pitch templates and other BD pieces, such that materials are available for use upon request; this includes ensuring that practice experience, client lists, matter descriptions, tombstones and client logos are updated and recorded within required deadlines
- Develop familiarity with marketing and business development tools and databases, maintain the integrity and completeness of marketing database content, and run queries and produce reports from internal and external databases
- Provide support on research projects and requests
- Track accolades
- Support lateral attorney integration in conjunction with BD and recruiting teams, including serving as local liaison and assisting with basic onboarding tasks such as scheduling Firm headshots
- Manage the local office promo items, including client gifts for meetings
- Liaise with Communications, Events and broader Client Development & Marketing teams on marketing efforts, including event/webinar invitations, guest lists and logistics
- Support additional profile-raising activities from time to time as determined by the needs of the firm
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
