Legal Executive Assistant

Ropes & Gray•Washington, DC

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a seasoned Legal Executive Assistant ("LEA") to serve as a trusted right hand to our partners. This is a high-impact role for a polished professional who thrives on building deep, lasting relationships with attorneys and their clients, and who brings the judgment and initiative needed to anticipate needs, drive matters forward, and deliver seamless day-to-day support. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of supporting senior-level professionals in a demanding, fast-paced environment and has embraced modern tools—including artificial intelligence—to maximize efficiency across core administrative functions such as email management, scheduling, and document handling.

Requirements

College degree or equivalent.
Minimum of five years of experience providing direct administrative support to partners, senior executives, or other senior-level professionals, preferably in a law firm or professional services environment.
Demonstrated use of artificial intelligence tools (e.g., AI-assisted email management, scheduling assistants, or document automation) to drive efficiency in day-to-day administrative work.
Expert proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook).
Proven ability to build and sustain strong relationships with professionals and clients at all levels, with a genuine curiosity about the business and a commitment to understanding client needs.
Strong organizational skills reflecting the ability to seamlessly perform and prioritize multiple tasks with excellent attention to detail.
Expert written and verbal communication skills.
Proactive approach to problem-solving, with strong decision-making capability and the ability to work independently with sound judgment.
Ability to conduct research and synthesize information clearly and concisely.
A track record of anticipating needs, exercising discretion, and moving work forward on behalf of the professionals supported.

Responsibilities

Develop and maintain strong, trusted relationships with attorneys and clients.
Act as a gatekeeper and liaison, prioritizing conflicting demands and handling sensitive matters confidentially, expeditiously, and independently.
Anticipate attorneys' needs based on an intimate knowledge of their work habits, preferences, and upcoming commitments.
Keep attorneys well-informed and moves work forward with minimal direction, suggesting process improvements to expedite projects and day-to-day workflow.
Maintain professional relationships with a range of internal and external clients, and professional organizations on behalf of assigned attorneys.
Keep client contacts current in InterAction and maintains detailed client and matter lists.
Foster open and frequent communication with teammates to ensure smooth and continuous first-class service to assigned lawyers, including cross-training to maintain service standards during absences.
Manage and coordinate very busy calendars and travel.
Work with conference services for meeting scheduling support.
Work with Meetings & Events for targeted client meetings, both on and offsite.
Apply best practices when arranging travel, utilizing agent-assist and online tools.
Monitor travel to ensure smooth arrivals and departures, maintains up-to-date travel preferences, and manages airline check-in and boarding passes as needed.
Coordinate travel both ad hoc and recurring conference participation.
Maintain organized files for active regulatory advisory matters.
Track deliverables tied to matters.
Support deal-closing logistics for matters of the scale handled, typically requiring coordinated document execution across multiple parties.
Assist with the preparation of briefing materials and track meeting schedules for Committee membership.
Coordinate correspondence and agenda items for varied "chair" roles.
Manage administrative touchpoints for civic board service.
Support outside memberships and Senior Advisor role(s).
Coordinate response logistics with appropriate departments for press inquiries.
Assist with speech and panel preparation materials for recurring engagements, given the volume and regularity of his public speaking record.
Conduct research as requested, gathering and synthesizing information from internal and external sources to support client matters, business development, and practice management.
Maintain a relationship log and client management relationship contacts.
Support new-business intake and complete conflict checks for matters.
Leverage artificial intelligence tools to manage high-volume email inboxes efficiently, including triaging, organizing, drafting routine responses, and flagging priority communications per attorney preferences.
Apply AI and other technology solutions to gain efficiencies across core administrative functions such as scheduling, document handling, expense processing, and information management.
Monitor and manages attorneys' Outlook inboxes, organizing folder structures and ensuring client- and matter-related documents and emails are properly stored in iManage Workspaces.
Demonstrate exceptional proficiency with Microsoft Outlook and the full Microsoft Office suite, utilizing creative problem-solving skills to manage complex scheduling across multiple lawyers, clients, offices, and time zones.
Efficiently reconciles and processes expenses.
Reviews inbox, diary entries, calendars, and other items to classify business and personal expenses.
Reviews Chrome River and American Express accounts to allocate expense items, collaborating with internal and external resources to address outstanding items within the payment window.
Actively manages timekeepers' diaries, creating draft entries based on knowledge of attorney activity and reviewing entries for conformity to best practices.
Proactively manages attorneys to ensure entries meet submission deadlines.
Communicates and collaborates with assigned billing coordinators, coordinating the review of proformas, tracking edits and updates, and facilitating final approval of bills to ensure timely delivery to clients.
Compose, edit, redlining, and proofread correspondence, presentations, and other documents with exceptional attention to detail and strong document production skills.
Proactively coordinates internal and external meetings with limited direction, arranging all logistics including visitor offices, conference rooms, videoconference links, and dial-in numbers as appropriate.
Actively contributes in team huddles, focus groups, lunch-and-learns, and other knowledge-sharing activities, including the mentor program as appropriate.
Maintains subject-matter-level expertise in the firm's core applications and adheres to established best practices.
Stays current on emerging technologies, including AI-driven productivity tools, and shares insights with colleagues.
Performs other work-related duties as assigned.