Business Development Specialist - Commercial Practice Group

Baker McKenzie•Washington, DC

5d•$102,000 - $120,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Business Development Specialist will coordinate In-Market operations and plans for the Commercial Practice Group. This role involves supporting pitches and proposals, overseeing the maintenance of business development and marketing collateral, assisting in business planning, monitoring progress against priorities, evaluating ROI, and assisting with submissions for directories and awards. The specialist will work with senior BDMC team members to improve the Practice Group's profile, support events and webinars, and contribute to developing a strategic, market-leading BDMC business-partnering capability. The role is results-oriented and aims to support the strategic objectives of the North America Office, BDMC, and the Practice Group, with a primary focus on expanding work from the Firm's existing client base and developing new opportunities from new clients.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree is required, preferably in marketing, communications, marketing, business, or related field
Five or more years' experience in a marketing and/or business development role, preferably in a professional services environment
Well-developed and sophisticated organization, communication and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to relate to and gain the confidence of people at all levels within an organization, as well as an ability to build strong relationships and work in a collaborative environment
Excellent oral and written communication skills
Ability to effectively coordinate competing priorities
Strong judgment and ability to suggest well-reasoned independent recommendations and ideas
A good, developed practical understanding of marketing and communications
Self-motivated and independent, able to work with a minimum of supervision
Comfortable working across multiple cultures and time zones in a matrix organization
High degree of attention to detail
High level of energy and persistence, and understanding of the importance of delivering exceptional customer service to internal and external clients
Strong technical skills and familiarity with internet and web-based platforms
Experience using Microsoft Copilot and AI-enabled technologies to support client and market research, pitch and proposal development, event planning, reporting, and the creation of business development and marketing content

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with QorusDocs, Marketo, Intapp DealCloud and other business development and marketing technology platforms is a plus, including experience supporting proposal development, email marketing campaigns, and content management initiatives.

Responsibilities

Works with the Practice Group to identify business opportunities with new and existing clients.
Works with other practice groups and industry groups to develop new work and cross selling opportunities and assists those groups to develop and implement strategies to capture those opportunities.
Provides assistance with the development of proposals, RFP responses and capability statements, including collecting and drafting relevant content such as practice area descriptions, representative matters, and client/matter information.
Helps to quality assure and produce the final product.
Conducts client research, including research on Firm specific information such as billings, matters, and relevant timekeepers.
Liaises and exchanges information with other practice groups targeting the same clients.
Contributes to and pulls information from Firm's CRM system.
Develops and maintains marketing collateral.
Collects client/matter information for all practice sub-groups, updates practice group information, relevant capability statements, rankings and awards, CVs and any other relevant materials, including those appearing on the Firm’s external website.
Assists with the preparation of materials and conducts research to facilitate business planning.
Tracks progress against the practice group business plan and in consultation with the BDMC senior management, proactively notifies and follows up with accountable partners as needed.
Assists in in preparation of directory submissions, including working with the Directories team to collect content and prepare a draft response of the Practice Group’s submission to directories, helping to build relationships with key publications and directories, such as Chambers and Legal 500.
Tracks all rankings and awards, including the above directories.
Works in conjunction with the communications team to assist in identifying relevant content for social media channels.
Works with attorneys to develop their own social media channels to promote the Firm and their practice, and tracking media mentions on behalf of the Practice Group.
Posts practice group content to DSM8 platform to aid in attorney profile building.
Assesses other profile raising activities against the strategic objectives of the Practice Group and conducts a cost/benefit analysis.
This includes engaging in sponsorship and conference opportunities, memberships and associations.
Produces, distributes, and tracks client alerts and internal and external newsletters.
Ensures the Firm's brand and that of the Practice Group is maintained.
Coordinates with the Firm’s web support team to ensure website content is up to date and relevant.
Maintains the Practice Group’s mailing lists.
Works with the local office resource(s) to execute the Practice Group's client seminars, conferences, webinars, internal meetings, sponsorships/partnerships with outside organizations, and all other events in which Firm and Practice Group representation and participation are necessary.
Works with the Practice Group's BDMC senior management to develop business cases for budget requests based on business planning and is aware of the budget available from both Regional and Global sources.
Monitors Practice Group business development expenditures, develops and obtains necessary approval on all business development expenses from practice group managers.
Maintains Practice Group’s email distribution lists and calendar.
Updates Practice Group intranet site with relevant material.
Supports matter database collection and uploads.
Supports Practice Group's external blogs.
Other duties as assigned to develop and drive regional strategy.