Legal Operations Manager

Blitt and Gaines, P.C.•Vernon Hills, IL

3d•$50,000 - $70,000

About The Position

Blitt and Gaines, P.C. is a leading debt collection law firm with over 30 years of experience representing most of the nation’s largest financial institutions. With nine offices across Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, our attorneys and support teams deliver high-quality, compliant, and ethical legal services. At the heart of our firm are people—our clients, our employees, and the partnerships we build. Guided by our philosophy—Collect Compliantly. Litigate Ethically. Lead Effectively. Exceed Expectations. Expect Excellence—we uphold integrity, respect, and fairness in every interaction. Position Summary: The Legal Operations Manager is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of court-related inboxes, legal document processing, workflow management, reporting, and staff performance. This position ensures that communications received from designated state courts are reviewed, properly triaged, assigned, and handled within established timelines. The Manager will oversee staff responsible for processing and loading pleadings and other court documents into the appropriate internal systems, with an expectation that documents are accurately processed within 24–48 hours of receipt. This role will also ensure that required departmental reports are reviewed and worked daily, outstanding items are appropriately escalated, and operational risks or workflow concerns are communicated to the appropriate department managers. The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple time-sensitive workflows, and capable of identifying and resolving operational issues. This position requires strong collaboration with other managers and departments, as well as the ability to understand, develop, and maintain applications, workflows, and data associated with court inbox operations.

Requirements

Strong attention to detail with the ability to identify discrepancies, missing information, and potential processing issues
Excellent organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple workflows and priorities simultaneously
Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to investigate issues, determine appropriate next steps, and escalate when necessary
Effective leadership and staff-management skills, including coaching, workload management, accountability, and employee development
Strong communication skills and the ability to work effectively with employees, peers, managers, attorneys, and other departments
Ability to prioritize time-sensitive work and manage deadlines in a high-volume environment
Analytical skills with the ability to interpret operational data, identify trends, and recognize workflow risks
Technical aptitude and willingness to learn and understand applications, workflow tools, reporting systems, and data structures
Ability to develop, document, and improve operational processes and procedures
Ability to remain adaptable as court requirements, business processes, technology, and departmental priorities change
High school diploma or equivalent required

Nice To Haves

A minimum of 1 – 2 years’ of previous supervisory or management experience in a legal, court, document-processing, or operations environment
College degree or coursework preferred
Experience managing high-volume shared inboxes or work queues
Familiarity with court pleadings, court notices, orders, and other legal documents
Experience working with legal case-management or document-management systems
Experience monitoring service-level expectations, turnaround times, inventory, or production-based workflows
Experience developing or improving operational workflows and procedures
Experience working with reporting, data analysis, workflow applications, or automation tools
Intermediate to advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and other Microsoft Office applications

Responsibilities

Oversee designated state court email inboxes and ensure all incoming communications are reviewed and triaged appropriately
Ensure court emails are assigned, processed, escalated, or routed to the appropriate team or department
Monitor inbox volumes, aging, outstanding items, and completion to prevent missed or delayed court communications
Establish and maintain processes for tracking inbox activity and ensuring appropriate follow-up
Identify urgent, time-sensitive, or high-risk court communications and ensure immediate escalation when necessary
Maintain accountability for daily inbox coverage and completion
Oversee the processing and loading of pleadings, notices, orders, and other legal documents into internal systems
Ensure documents are accurately processed within the established 24–48-hour service-level expectation
Monitor document inventory and aging to identify potential backlogs or processing delays
Ensure proper documentation, coding, notation, and routing of pleadings and other court documents
Develop processes to improve document-processing accuracy, timeliness, and efficiency
Manage, coach, and support employees responsible for inbox triage, pleading processing, document loading, and related departmental functions
Assign and balance workloads based on volume, priorities, deadlines, and staffing availability
Monitor employee productivity, quality, accuracy, and adherence to departmental procedures
Identify training and cross-training opportunities to maintain appropriate department coverage
Provide ongoing feedback, coaching, and performance management as needed
Promote accountability and ensure employees understand departmental expectations and service-level requirements
Ensure all reports assigned to the department are reviewed and worked daily
Monitor outstanding inventory, aging, processing trends, and potential areas of risk
Identify workflow gaps, recurring issues, or bottlenecks and develop solutions to improve operations
Escalate issues to appropriate managers or leadership when matters require additional support or cross-departmental resolution
Maintain processes and procedures that allow management to measure workload, completion, quality, and departmental performance
Work closely with managers and teams across the organization to resolve court, pleading, system, and workflow-related issues
Communicate operational concerns that may impact another department's workflow or responsibilities
Coordinate with other managers when responsibilities overlap between departments
Build strong working relationships across teams to ensure matters are routed and resolved efficiently
Develop a strong understanding of the applications, systems, and data used to manage court inboxes and document-processing workflows
Assist with building, configuring, testing, and improving applications or workflows supporting inbox management
Understand how data is captured, tracked, reported, and utilized to manage departmental operations
Work with appropriate technical or business partners to troubleshoot system and workflow issues
Identify opportunities for automation and process improvement
Assist with developing reporting or tracking mechanisms that provide visibility into inbox volumes, turnaround times, document inventory, aging, and staff productivity
Participate in testing and implementation of new system enhancements, applications, or workflow changes
Take ownership of the department's daily operations and maintain visibility into what has been received, what remains outstanding, who is responsible for completing it, when it must be completed, and where potential risks or delays exist.
Successfully balance people management, legal operations, technology, data, and process improvement while maintaining the accuracy and urgency required when handling court communications and legal documents.