Senior Manager, Legal Project Management

White & Case LLP•New York, NY

23h

About The Position

This is a unique opportunity to join a team that is implementing significant change, by focusing on client service excellence and process innovation. This Senior Manager role is a key part of the Firm’s strategy to support a stronger business, increase profitability and demonstrate operational efficiency. This role is part of the Firm’s global Legal Project Management (LPM) team. The team was set up to work with our lawyers to manage Client portfolios and to co-deliver projects; and also with our Clients and their in-house legal and operational teams. The main focus will be on legal project management. From advice to delivery of the full project/matter lifecycle, the ideal candidate will have demonstrable project management capabilities preferably gained in a professional services environment. The candidate will be required to understand and assess business and change management needs and will have experience of delivering complex projects across multiple business functions, teams, geographies/jurisdictions and industries, defining scope and identifying the most appropriate project delivery approach in collaboration with our lawyers, other key stakeholders and Clients. The role will require the Senior Manager to work directly with legal teams and clients on the Firm’s most significant matters and clients, by liaising with the partners and senior lawyers on the progress, profitability and efficiency of the matters and clients. The Senior Manager will have the opportunity to influence and help to grow the LPM capability and may also have line management responsibility for Managers and Senior Analysts/Analysts. They will be involved in development opportunities for more junior members of the global team. They will be someone who is able to work with limited supervision to effectively build relationships and manage project delivery. The success of this role will be measured by the candidate adding value to the organization by contributing to the roll out of LPM best practices, tools and techniques across our global Practice Groups.

Requirements

Experience of Legal Project Management required
Significant experience of managing project teams and supporting complex, multi-jurisdictional matters in a dedicated project management capacity including experience of working with global legal teams
Experience of change management
Knowledge and proficiency in extranets, online data rooms, collaboration tools, legal tech and SharePoint sites; proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office products including Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Project and Power BI
Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
Ability to manage multiple priorities with “can do” attitude, work cross-functionally, and meet tight deadlines
Strong interpersonal and communication skills, able to interact at all levels including with senior business stakeholders to negotiate and persuade in order to achieve successful outcomes
Understanding of law firm financial and performance metrics and ability to analyse financial reports of varying levels of complexity, providing financial analysis with a focus on delivering value to clients
Problem solver
Willing to challenge and question assumptions
Ability to work well under pressure and manage/prioritise workload
Advanced organizational and time management skills
A project leader
Flexible and resilient with ability to change and adapt in a fast moving, detail oriented environment
Sensitivity to cultural differences across project teams
A strong academic record, preferably of graduate level (Law Degree or other relevant Post Graduate Degree an advantage).
Formal project management qualification essential, for example APMQ or PMP
5+ years relevant work experience including client facing roles

Responsibilities

In collaboration with the LPM leadership, build out the LPM capability and pipeline of work, influencing Partners and lawyers to adopt LPM on their matters
Operational management and co-delivery of legal projects/matters by arranging Kick-Off Meetings, Project Team Meetings and Steering Meetings, ensuring attendees, standing agenda, record keeping and circulation are appropriate to the meetings’ purpose
defining and validating project scope, not simply management of scope
defining and tracking timelines, milestones, deliverables, assumptions and dependencies at the outset
financial/budget management on projects/matters
tracking progress and escalating changes in scope, time and/or budget to project stakeholders and ensuring effective corrective action is implemented, where required
implementing effective risk and issue identification and management strategies, providing options for mitigation or resolution
leading post project review and Lessons Learned workshops
Use of appropriate project management tools and techniques including drafting of all project-related documents and project artefacts such as project approach, project plans, schedules, action trackers, availability trackers, correspondence trackers, risk logs, status reports
Implement and ensure effective communication strategies are in place and acting as the interface, where appropriate, to project specific stakeholders including our Clients, lawyers in other practice areas and offices, external and opposing counsel and third party vendors
Provide LPM guidance on best practices, tools, techniques, roles and responsibilities
Collaborate with legal teams to identify the most cost effective and level of resources available
Collaborate with legal teams to draft and submit budget proposals; and with support from the Finance team, track and analyse actual project costs against budget and proactively address budget variances
Build relationships and foster a collaborative approach between project workstreams including between our lawyers and our Clients
Focused on lean principles and use of innovation and business process mapping, contribute to continuous improvement of the LPM Team’s processes including project management methodology, governance, training for legal teams and LPM best practice; and support of the change management of implementing these
Management of concurrent projects
Management of client portfolios with emphasis on legal operations, disputes and transactional projects and management of Firm’s strategic client innovation initiatives
Line management of junior team members, as required
Support LPM leadership with LPM collateral for bids, tenders and pitches to portray LPM as an innovative way in which to deliver legal services
Contribute to the development and delivery of LPM training content for Firm lawyers and Clients
Identify opportunities to cross-sell LPM services in our global business
Be seen as a key contact point for Partners and senior stakeholders for LPM globally and build relationships and foster a collaborative approach to working with clients and across all departments
Comfortable with presenting on relevant topics at Senior Leadership meetings and Client meetings.

Benefits

White & Case LLP offers a comprehensive suite of benefit programs to all eligible employees, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, life and disability coverage, 401(k) retirement savings, vacation time, and leave programs (including parental leave).
Exempt roles are also performance bonus eligible.

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