Senior Manager, Legal Project Management

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is a leading law firm that supports its attorneys with strategic financial and commercial insights. The Senior Manager, Legal Project Management will oversee the Legal Project Management function, focusing on enhancing lawyer efficiency, budgeting, and client service through effective project management.

Responsibilities:

• Track projects with robust budget vs. actual reporting that accounts for nuance and context beyond financial data
• Develop a suite of standardized budget templates and project plans aligned to practice area and work type, including standardized assumptions, phases, and leverage models
• Identify opportunities to improve the creation of budgets and use of budget tracking for all matters regardless of fee arrangement type, but particularly fixed fees and capped fees
• Work closely with lawyers to develop matter budgets and staffing strategies
• Develop and refine scoping and estimate templates and procedures
• Create and deploy firmwide training on LPM methodologies and best practices
• Develop and lead training and implementation of LPM systems throughout the firm
• Partner closely with the Pricing team to ensure seamless integration and execution of all matter management activities
• Drive the development of templated responses and reporting to be included within all Requests of Proposals (RFPs) and pitches to highlight the firm’s LPM capabilities and benefits
• Utilize proven project management techniques and technology to support the efficient management of the firms largest and highest-profile clients and matters throughout all stages of the matter lifecycle including intake, scoping, budgeting, monitoring, and closing
• Assess LPM technologies and training modules and recommend those which will support best in class LPM services
• Explore and integrate technology solutions into attorney workflows to enhance operational efficiency in support of firm competitiveness
• Support and advise on data-related initiatives to extract greater value and insights from historical practice and financial data
• Collaborate with the Pricing and Pricing Operations teams to develop workflows that highlight opportunities for improved financial performance during the annual client rate review
• Understand the annual billing rate setting process and assist with identifying areas for improved data insights that will drive enhanced reporting and data visualization to firm leadership
• Collaborate with lawyers to understand their business-of-law challenges, then propose and operationalize solutions by working cross-functionally
• Identify opportunities for process improvement initiatives and knowledge management projects and, where appropriate, develop and establish best practices
• Provide key information and reports on the status of projects to firm and department leadership
• Liaise with clients’ internal legal operations teams and prepare client reporting for bespoke projects
• Ensure the firm’s lawyers are engaged on their matters while implementing best practices in LPM
• Leverage data visualization tools to deliver insights and recommendations to firm leadership, lawyers, and clients
• Draft and edit highly professional, accurate, and actionable email correspondence
• Assist with pricing requests and other team deliverables as needed

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree is required, preferably in a business-related field
• 8+ years of project management experience in a professional services setting (2+ years of legal industry experience required)
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of financial terms and metrics with the ability to adjust necessary levers to improve client and matter performance
• Extensive financial modelling experience and ability to maintain complex spreadsheets (creative use of formulas, sophisticated data presentation, pivot tables, etc.)
• Ability to evaluate data effectively and present findings to management and lawyers
• Flexibility to adjust work schedule according to workload demands
• A proactive self-starter, with a drive to grow and enhance the function
• A strong commitment to professionalism, teamwork, excellence, ownership, and accountability
• Effective leadership capabilities with a proven history of managing and developing teams (whether direct reports or cross-functional)
• Demonstrates a strong sense of urgency and the ability to work under pressure amidst tight timelines
• Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with staff, senior leadership, and lawyers
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills capable of building and maintaining strong relationships
• Highly effective creating business process documentation
• Ability to develop, refine, and improve utilization of project management tools
• Strong organizational skills
• Comfortable with analyzing and managing data
• Excellent analytical and creative problem-solving abilities
• High degree of efficiency and expertise in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Experience with data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI) is a plus
• Proficiency with SQL is a plus