Law Office Administrator

San Diego Elder Law Center•San Diego, CA

2d•Onsite

About The Position

San Diego Elder Law Center is an established and respected law firm practicing Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Administration, Elder Law, and Special Needs Law. With approximately 15 employees and an excellent firm culture, we are seeking an experienced Law Firm Administrator / Director of Operations to assume substantial responsibility for the business and administrative operations of the firm. This is a senior management position requiring an individual who understands law practice operations, can identify needs, establish priorities, delegate effectively, and bring recommendations to leadership. The successful candidate will become a meaningful operational resource to firm leadership quickly. Familiarity with our specific areas of law is not required, but substantial experience managing law firm operations is essential. The Law Firm Administrator will coordinate and oversee the firm's non-legal operations and supervise administrative staff, meeting regularly with the Managing Attorney to review operations, personnel, financial and performance information, and priorities. The Administrator will exercise independent judgment and take ownership of their areas of responsibility, aiming to reduce the Managing Attorney's day-to-day administrative management load.

Requirements

Significant, recent experience managing the administrative operations of a law firm.
Demonstrated responsibility across several of the following areas: personnel/HR, financial administration, performance management, law-firm technology, facilities, vendors, and general operations.
Experience supervising employees and successfully delegating work through an administrative team.
A solid understanding of law-firm economics, billing and collections, attorney and paralegal productivity, and the operational metrics used to manage a professional-services practice.
Experience developing, monitoring, and using KPIs and other management information to improve performance.
The judgment and confidence to address problems proactively, including personnel and performance problems.
The ability to move comfortably between higher-level management issues and hands-on problem solving.
Excellent organizational, communication, follow-through, and interpersonal skills.
High professional standards and discretion in handling confidential financial, personnel, client, and firm information.
The ability to work effectively with attorneys and other professionals who expect both competence and sound judgment.
Experience understanding and operating a law firm is essential.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Administration, Elder Law, and Special Needs Law.
Experience with Clio or a comparable legal practice-management platform.
Professional education or credentials relevant to law-firm management, human resources, finance, or business administration — including Association of Legal Administrators experience or Certified Legal Manager (CLM) credentials.

Responsibilities

Direct and oversee the day-to-day administrative operations of the firm.
Identify operational problems, inefficiencies, and emerging needs and develop practical solutions.
Establish, maintain, and improve administrative procedures, workflows, policies, and internal controls.
Determine what needs to be handled personally and what should be delegated to other administrative personnel, and ensure delegated matters are completed.
Coordinate administrative projects and firm initiatives from planning through implementation and follow-through.
Assist firm leadership in evaluating growth, staffing, technology, and operational priorities.
Oversee recruiting, hiring, onboarding, orientation, personnel administration, and offboarding.
Supervise administrative employees and help coordinate effective supervision and accountability throughout the firm.
Maintain and improve job descriptions, personnel policies, performance review systems, and management procedures.
Work with supervisors and firm leadership to identify performance issues early and see that they are addressed.
Coordinate employee benefits, leave administration, payroll-related personnel information, and relationships with outside HR and benefits professionals.
Promote a professional, accountable, collegial workplace in which expectations are clear and problems are addressed.
Work with firm leadership to establish, refine, monitor, and report meaningful key performance indicators (KPIs) for attorneys, paralegals, and administrative staff.
Regularly review productivity, utilization, billing, collections, workflow, caseload and other relevant performance information.
Develop useful dashboards and management reports that allow leadership to recognize trends and problems early.
Follow up with attorneys and staff regarding established performance expectations and identified issues.
Help distinguish between an individual performance problem, a workload or staffing problem, and a systems or workflow problem, and recommend appropriate responses.
Ensure that data collected by the firm is converted into useful management information.
Oversee and coordinate billing, accounts receivable, collections, accounts payable, payroll administration, banking, and financial reporting.
Participate in preparation and monitoring of firm budgets.
Monitor revenue, expenses, collections, profitability, staffing costs and other financial indicators.
Identify unusual trends or developing concerns and bring them to firm leadership with sufficient information to permit informed decisions.
Assist in evaluation of compensation, staffing levels, major expenditures, vendor contracts, and other business decisions.
Oversee the firm's administrative use of practice-management and other technology systems, including effective use of Clio and related applications.
Work with internal and outside technology resources to ensure that systems support efficient firm operations.
Identify opportunities to improve workflow, reporting, document management, automation, and information access.
Coordinate implementation and adoption of new technology and processes when appropriate.
Maintain appropriate attention to security, confidentiality, backup, access controls, and business continuity.
Oversee significant vendor relationships, contracts, purchasing, equipment and facilities matters.
Ensure that administrative needs of attorneys and staff are anticipated and addressed.
Manage outside providers and consultants and hold them accountable for agreed services and results.
Coordinate insurance, records, office systems, regulatory and administrative compliance, and other operational matters.