Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services

Baker Botts•Austin, TX

18h•$160,000 - $190,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services is a key leader within the Technology, Innovation & Practice Solutions Department (TIPS), charged with building a modern, crossâpractice operating model that combines highâcaliber professional talent with an ecosystem of thirdâparty services and technologies to deliver exceptional matter support across practice departments. The Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services manages and develops paralegals and other nonâlawyer professional timekeepers in the Litigation, Corporate, Global Projects, and Tax departments while also building and managing a bestâinâclass portfolio of practice services that support lawyers, matter teams, and clients firmwide. The Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services partners with practice leadership and lawyers to ensure the right resources, workflows, and vendors are strategically aligned to client needs, and serves as an escalation point for practice services issues to drive consistent, efficient outcomes. The Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services reports directly to the leader of the Technology, Innovation & Practice Solutions Department. The Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services maintains professionalism and strict confidentiality in all client and firm matters. The Manager, Practice Support Professionals & Services position may be based in Austin, Dallas, Houston, or Washington, D.C. , and Baker Botts offers a hybrid work model that allows regular onâsite and remote work.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and ten or more years progressive work experience in a legal practice area preferably in a law firm or legal department environment; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Experience supervising the activities of a work team in a large legal or professional services firm is required.
Knowledge of and experience working with methods of legal research and ability to use law library are required.
Knowledge of the principles of judicial and administrative processes, the litigation lifecycle, filing requirements, legal terminology and documentation processes, docketing procedures and transactional closing procedures are a plus.
Must be proficient and have experience utilizing technology such as Westlaw and other legal research tools and legal technology databases, including litigation support software (including but not limited to Relativity, case management tools, Oncue), MS Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and MS Word.
Excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
Ability to communicate with courtesy and diplomacy, efficiently follow written and verbal instructions, provide information, and maintain effective relationships with a diverse group of lawyers, paralegals, paralegal clerks, other timekeeper professionals, business professionals, staff professionals, vendors, and other outside contacts.
Supervisory skills necessary to interact and communicate with peers/subordinates, provide instruction/direction/training, determine work priorities, and coordinate the activities of a work team.
Dependable team player who works collaboratively and cooperatively with others in a team-oriented environment.
Ability to act independently and make decisions within scope of the position’s responsibilities.
Excellent organizational skills including record keeping, data collection, and system information.
Ability to compile and analyze complex data and furnish concise, detailed information in report format, written correspondence, email, or verbally.
Proactive with excellent troubleshooting, problem resolution, and follow-through skills.
Ability to organize, prioritize, and oversee numerous tasks from inception to completion, and ensure work is completed within strict deadlines.
Exhibit high degree of intellectual curiosity, initiative and critical-thinking skills with the ability to act independently to manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced, deadline-driven, detail-oriented work environment, and make decisions based upon results of research.

Nice To Haves

Paralegal certificate from an ABA accredited paralegal program is a plus.
Paralegal experience in a large law firm is a plus.

Responsibilities

Collaborate with practice department leadership and lawyers to direct and deploy nonâlawyer professional resources across matters, ensuring exceptional client service and crossâpractice support.
Develop and curate a firmwide catalog of practice services (e.g., court reporting, trial support, briefing tools, translation, eâfiling, corporate filing and search services, and remote notary), with documented standards, processes, and key contacts.
Market managed professionals and drive awareness of managed services, tools and third-party offerings across practice departments.
Track court and administrative rules, notary procedures, and other regulations impacting managed professionals.
Lead the development, documentation, and continuous improvement of crossâpractice workflows and standard operating procedures that enhance matter delivery (e.g., audit response letters, vendor invoice payment, court e-filings, secretary of state filings, remote notarization), and expand to additional processes identified through stakeholder engagement.
Serve as the first point of contact and escalation channel for designated processes, coordinating resolution among internal teams and external vendors as necessary.
Maintain visibility into practice group service demand and forecasts to anticipate staffing needs and vendor coverage across practices and offices.
Manage workflow planning and work allocation for managed professionals and regularly monitor utilization and availability.
Address expertise gaps and improve utilization through strategic and crossâpractice staffing.
Prepare and present regular reporting on utilization, productivity, staffing, and service performance to practice leadership and provide insights and recommendations to inform resourcing, budgets, and process improvements.
Manage the endâtoâend lifecycle for practice services vendors used by matter teams across practice departments, including collaboration with practice groups to assess needs, sourcing, vetting, onboarding, contracting, implementation, serviceâlevel management, escalation handling, invoicing, and termination.
Manage the talent lifecycle for managed professionals, including recruiting, hiring, and onboarding, developing and maintaining professional training curriculum and materials, maintaining experience and expertise biographies, partnering with Human Resources and practice leadership on the annual review cycle, compensation administration, coaching, and performance improvement.
Regularly communicate with managed professionals through periodic team meetings, one-on-one check-ins, and other channels to share updates, align on priorities, address issues, and reinforce standards and expectations.
Oversee performance and compliance management, including ensuring adherence to firm policies, procedures, and best practices, managing time entry, attendance and overtime and elevating issues as needed.
Develop and manage annual budget for Practice Support Professionals & Services, including review of periodic reporting and quarterly reforecasting.
Review and approve vendor invoices for matterârelated expenses incurred by managed professionals and partner with Financial Services on accurate coding, cost recovery, and reporting.
Other Duties as requested or assigned.