Mass Torts Settlement Operations Manager

Barnes & Thornburg LLP•Los Angeles, CA

4d•$125,000 - $165,000

About The Position

Barnes & Thornburg is seeking a Settlement Operations Manager to support its product liability and mass torts resolution practice. The manager oversees systems, protocols, data integrity, and reporting standards across resolution programs, coordinating how settlement work is carried out day to day under the direction of the attorneys managing the matters. The role designs and standardizes intake, tracking, quality assurance, and reporting procedures; serves as a subject matter expert on the team’s case management platform; and translates practice needs into requirements for firm technology personnel and outside platform vendors. The position is intended for someone with mass torts or settlement paralegal experience who has moved beyond individual case and docket support into coordinating systems, building procedures, and standardizing practices across teams. The manager is expected to understand where information is stored for each matter and how tort-specific structures and system configurations differ. The role reports to the partners and attorneys overseeing the firm’s mass tort settlement matters and coordinates with lead paralegals on each settlement team. This is an attorney support role: settlement decisions, oversight, and ownership remain with the attorneys managing the matters. The manager administers data quality and reporting processes, coordinates claimant intake and data submissions, manages data imports, exports and updates, and aligns claim and settlement data across firm systems and third-party administrator portals. The role also maintains payment tracking records, coordinates lien resolution and QSF data, serves as an administrative and data contact for external parties under attorney supervision, and trains staff on protocols and systems. The work takes place in a normal law office environment and may require periodic travel to firm offices to work with settlement teams. The employee must be able to perform the essential duties with minimal supervision, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree and at least 5 years of relevant experience in mass torts, complex litigation, settlement administration, insurance claims, or a comparable high-volume claims environment.
Demonstrated experience building, documenting, or standardizing processes across multiple teams or matters, rather than supporting only a single case or matter.
Significant experience with legal case management, claims, or CRM systems, such as Case Manager Pro, Litify, or Filevine, or other SQL- or database-backed claims and litigation platforms; working understanding of relational case and claim data structures.
Working knowledge of settlement administration mechanics, including claimant inventories, releases, lien resolution, QSF administration, and payment tracking.
Advanced Excel skills, including pivot tables, lookups, and data validation, and ability to build, interpret, and maintain recurring reports.
Proven ability to manage high-volume data and identify inconsistencies across large medical and claims datasets and legal documentation.
Proficiency in, or strong aptitude for, emerging legal AI tools for document review, data extraction, and reporting.
Excellent organization, attention to detail, problem-solving, and time management skills; ability to work independently and as part of a fast-paced, high-performing team.
Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion and professionalism.
Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple concurrent workstreams.
Ability to perform essential duties with minimal supervision, satisfactorily, with or without reasonable accommodation.

Nice To Haves

Paralegal certification.
Experience at a settlement administrator, lien resolution provider, qualified settlement fund administrator, or third-party claims administrator.
Experience designing quality assurance or audit procedures for claims or case data.
Experience training or coordinating staff across multiple teams without direct reporting authority.

Responsibilities

Provide technical and administrative support to attorneys managing mass tort settlements, including claim and case data management, tracking, reporting, and quality control across the settlement lifecycle.
Serve as the practice’s subject matter expert on case management and settlement tracking systems, documenting tort-specific configurations, differences, and system capabilities.
Design, document, and maintain settlement intake, data entry, tracking, and reporting protocols under attorney direction; work with lead paralegals to standardize practices or document necessary variations.
Administer settlement data quality assurance, define testing, build and run recurring QA and exception reports, communicate findings, and track remediation through closure.
Lead intake of case and claim information, coordinate claimant data submission format and completeness with plaintiff firms, and reconcile submitted inventories against firm records.
Administer import, export, batch update, and reporting workflows; identify needed system capabilities and define requirements.
Translate practice needs into business requirements for firm technology personnel and outside platform vendors, participate in design discussions, conduct acceptance testing, and confirm functionality is usable in practice.
Maintain alignment of claim and settlement data across firm systems and third-party administrator portals; conduct recurring validation and resolve discrepancies involving claimant status, documentation, and payment milestones.
Maintain settlement payment tracking as a system of record, including payment status and history, tax documentation, and administrative expenses, ensuring records are complete and audit ready.
Coordinate and report healthcare, lien resolution, and QSF data with settlement administrators, lien resolution vendors, and clients; track conditions precedent to distribution of settlement funds.
Serve as an administrative and data contact for settlement administrators, lien resolution vendors, and plaintiff’s counsel regarding claim status, submissions, and discrepancies, under attorney supervision.
Train lead paralegals, settlement team members, and new staff on protocols and system use; maintain reference documentation and job aids.
Perform other duties related to settlement operations as assigned.