Senior Professional Development Specialist

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP • New York, NY

2d • $110,000 - $130,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Senior Professional Development Specialist supports the professional staffing and development of associates and counsel within the Energy & Infrastructure practice. This role includes managing staffing, talent engagement initiatives, and mentoring. The specialist acts as a key resource for attorney staffing coordination, development initiatives, mentoring programs, talent engagement, performance management, and ensuring a positive attorney experience. The role reports primarily to the Manager, Legal Talent, with a secondary reporting line to the Firm’s Director, Legal Training and Development. The Senior Professional Development Specialist is a trusted point of contact for attorneys and escalates complex talent-related matters to Legal Talent management as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree preferred; will consider advanced experience in lieu of a degree.
• 4 to 5 years of relevant experience, including prior experience in a law firm and/or staffing experience.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Superior judgment and the ability to deal discreetly with confidential information.
• Ability to interact well and build professional relationships with a collaborative approach to working with all levels and departments.
• Ability to self-direct, manage multiple priorities, analyze needs and implement solutions.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail for both long and short-term projects and responsibilities.
• Experience with Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint and other legal personnel and recruiting applications (legal AI familiarity preferred).
• Must be flexible to adjust hours to meet departmental needs.
• Must display professionalism, quality service to internal members/departments of the firm as well as external clients and vendors.

Nice To Haves

• legal AI familiarity preferred

Responsibilities

• Partner closely with staffing partners and Professional Development Managers to monitor, assess and help maintain an equitable level of attorney utilization across the group.
• Evaluate staffing requests and make recommendations regarding resource allocation, matching staffing needs with the appropriate attorney resources based on availability, experience, skills, utilization, and desired exposure to various matters/teams.
• Build rapport with mid-senior associates by means of in-person meetings, telephone calls and Zoom meetings.
• Provide associates with the opportunity to work on a variety of matters while balancing growth opportunities with client needs.
• Strive to maintain consistency of experiences and equitable distribution of assignments across the practice area.
• Maintain and analyze staffing databases, utilization reports, charts, and related metrics.
• Monitor associate availability and utilization trends and prepare reports and recommendations to support staffing decisions and resource planning.
• Coordinate with staffing partners and Legal Talent colleagues regarding cross-office staffing, secondments, and other staffing initiatives, as appropriate.
• Coordinate and facilitate staffing introductions, welcome meetings, lunches, internal communications, integration and onboarding activities for new associates, counsel, and lateral hires.
• Update applicable group lists and onboarding resources.
• Monitor and track absence time and maintain vacation calendars.
• Coordinate necessary matter team coverage during attorney absences.
• Track vacation carryover.
• Develop trusted professional relationships with staff attorneys, associates, and counsel through regular check-in meetings; gain an understanding of professional experiences, development objectives, availability, engagement, and overall well-being.
• Identify engagement, retention, staffing, or professional development opportunities or concerns and recommend appropriate actions, escalating matters to Legal Talent management when necessary.
• Work closely with the Legal Talent team to pair associates/counsel with mentors and partner advisors.
• Ensure associates/counsel are connecting with their respective mentors and advisors and engaged in dialogue about ongoing professional development goals.
• Provide an active feedback loop between associates/counsel, Legal Talent, and the partners in the group.
• Collaborate with the Director of Practice Management to plan and facilitate a variety of team-building events to foster connectivity.
• Assist in monitoring and maintaining associate compliance with firm and professional policies (e.g., CLE, bar exam, etc.).
• Ensure that each associate/counsel has thorough evaluations and developmental objectives.
• Assist with verbal intake of feedback from partners.
• Update VI feedback tracking system.
• Participate in talent review discussions and assist in preparing materials, reports, and analyses related to attorney performance and development.
• Coordinate regularly with other professional service team members (e.g., Director of Practice Management, Knowledge Management Lawyer, Training and Development Manager, etc.) to further practice group initiatives.
• Analyze and maintain accurate data and reporting within staffing and talent management systems.
• Work on ad hoc projects as needed.

Benefits

• The Firm prohibits discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other legally protected status. This Policy pertains to every aspect of an individual’s relationship with the Firm, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training and development, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level