Senior BIC Manager (Strategic Conflicts)

Senior BIC Manager (Strategic Conflicts)Cooley is seeking a Senior BIC Manager (Strategic Conflicts) to join the Business Intake and Conflicts team.About Cooley: Cooley is a global law firm with an expansive practice and more than 3,000 employees and partners worldwide. We value and celebrate diverse perspectives and strive to create a workplace where every individual can thrive. At the core of Cooley’s success is the exceptional talent and unwavering spirit of our people. We embrace individuality while fostering a ‘one-firm’ culture where collaboration and creativity thrive. Our people are the foundation of our success and the driving force behind everything we do.Hybrid Schedule Philosophy: As part of the Cooley culture, we recognize and appreciate the value of being together, in person, to build comradery with others in the office and to be a contributing member of the Cooley office. However, we also appreciate the benefits and flexibility that come from remote working. As such, the default assumption for employees and partners is a hybrid schedule: some in-office presence and some work from home days absent certain essential in-office roles that require five (5) days/week in-office.Position summary: The Senior BIC Manager (Strategic Conflicts) will lead the firm’s operational approach to complex, sensitive and high-profile potential engagements presenting strategic-conflicts, business, reputational, regulatory or other heightened-risk considerations. Working closely with BIC Leadership, the Strategic Conflicts Committee, the General Counsel’s Office, department and firm leadership, partners and cross-functional stakeholders, the Manager directs and coordinates each potential engagement from initial identification and diligence through executive review, decision, conflicts resolution, onboarding and implementation. The Manager brings strong project-management vision, elite organizational discipline, sound judgment and the ability to translate detailed conflicts and risk information into concise, decision-ready executive communications.For opportunities that do not proceed, the Senior BIC Manager ensures a complete record of the analysis, rationale, approvals, unresolved issues and recommended conditions for onboarding is preserved to support consistent treatment of future attempts. The role also oversees BIC’s coordination of high-priority risk items including but not limited to the following: sanctions, export controls, Russia connections, politically exposed persons, cryptocurrency, cannabis and other red flags identified through the engagement process. The Senior BIC Manager (Strategic Conflicts) will be a dedicated resource for items of an elevated risk profile, while possessing the holistic knowledge and conflicts fluency to serve as a point of contact to firm management, lawyers, and business professionals on strategic conflicts issues and a range of other conflicts topics.Position responsibilities:Lead the end-to-end strategic-conflicts process for prospective clients and matters, from identification of an alert or concern through diligence, executive review, decision, conflicts resolution, engagement documentation, onboarding and implementationProvide oversight and orchestration of departmental handling of strategic conflicts, ensuring that escalated matters are handled consistently, efficiently, and in alignment with firm policies and professional responsibility obligationsEstablish a disciplined project-management framework for each potential engagement, including clear scope, owners, decision rights, milestones, dependencies, communications, escalation points and target datesComplete and coordinate substantive diligence before escalation, including conflicts analysis, attorney outreach, matter-status validation, client and affiliate research, adverse-party review, negative-news and litigation research, prior decision history, business sensitivities, strategic-conflict implications, waiver availability and downstream impactPrepare concise, decision-ready executive summaries that clearly identify the business opportunity, relevant facts, financials, existing-client and strategic risks, available options, waiver or guardrail considerations, outstanding dependencies, recommended path and decision requiredCommunicate confidently and effectively with executive leadership, partners, department leaders, the Strategic Conflicts Committee and the General Counsel’s Office, including facilitating sensitive discussions, surfacing differing perspectives and driving matters toward timely decisionsServe as the primary escalation point and liaison among BIC Leadership, the General Counsel’s Office, and other stakeholders for strategic-conflict and heightened-risk engagement questionsDrive each viable engagement to full resolution, including obtaining required approvals, resolving conflicts, securing or coordinating waivers, defining guardrails, confirming engagement terms, implementing alerts or ethical screens and ensuring all conditions are communicated and completed before openingWhen an engagement does not come to fruition, create and maintain a complete, searchable record of the analysis, stakeholders consulted, decisions, rationale, unresolved issues and conditions that should govern any future attempt to engage the client or open-related workMaintain a reliable repository of Strategic Conflicts Committee decisions, precedent, alerts, guardrails and supporting documentation to promote consistent future decision-making and institutional knowledgeEngage in direct and close discussion of escalated conflicts topics with the General Counsel’s office and other senior stakeholders, supporting practical and well-documented resolution of sensitive issuesServe as a primary point of contact for elevated conflicts items within the Business Intake and Conflicts team, helping triage, analyze, and route issues requiring senior reviewIdentify opportunities to improve conflicts workflows, escalation protocols, templates, and communication practices to support scalable and consistent deliveryDraft, review, and coordinate conflicts waivers and related communications, ensuring that proposed resolutions are clear, accurate, and appropriately tailored to the underlying risk profileManage BIC’s involvement in engagements presenting sanctions, export-control, Russia-connection, politically exposed person, cryptocurrency, cannabis or other regulatory, reputational, financial-crime or unusual-risk red flags identified through the intake and conflicts processCoordinate with the appropriate legal, compliance, security, information-governance and technology stakeholders to establish approvals, access restrictions, ethical screens, technology controls, monitoring, audit trails and sustainable operational support for heightened-risk engagementsMonitor active workstreams, identify bottlenecks and preventable urgency, distinguish operational dependencies from strategic decisions and provide clear status updates to leadership and requesting attorneysDevelop and maintain decision frameworks, escalation protocols, standard communications, templates, playbooks, training and quality controls for recurring strategic-conflict and risk-management scenariosAnalyze trends, outcomes, cycle times, recurring barriers and risk categories; provide reporting and recommendations to improve governance, service delivery, data quality, consistency and executive visibilityLead and develop assigned team members and cross-functional project teams, establish clear performance expectations, allocate work, provide coaching and ensure timely, accurate and responsive serviceMaintain awareness of legal ethics, professional responsibility, sanctions, export controls and other developments affecting client and matter acceptanceAll other duties as assigned or requiredSkills and experience:Required:After orientation at Cooley LLP, proficiency in the BIC System suite, Microsoft Office suite, iManage and other firm applicationsAbility to work extended and/or weekend hours, as required7+ years of direct applicable experience (e.g., progressively responsible legal, conflicts, intake, compliance, risk-management or practicing-attorney experience, including substantial experience with complex conflicts resolution and client or matter acceptance)2+ years of exempt/management experience in relevant roles. Work more independently, demonstrate escalating ownership and mastery of assigned area, exhibit strength in the areas below, become a resource and mentor to others and more as they progress in different roles within the department)Experience leading complex, cross-functional projects or workstreams involving senior stakeholders, competing priorities, sensitive information and time-critical decisions.Ability to prepare and present concise risk assessments, options and recommendations to executive leadership, partners or senior legal stakeholdersKnowledge of the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct and applicable state rules of professional conductStrong understanding of corporate law practice, client and matter onboarding, conflicts resolution, waivers, engagement terms, ethical screens and law-firm risk-management processesExperience conducting legal, corporate and investigative research and documenting defensible, auditable decisionsPrior experience supervising, coaching or leading professionals and managing service delivery across multiple concurrent mattersExperience communicating with firm management, lawyers, and business professionals on high-level conflict and business issuesPreferred:Bachelor’s, Master’s degree, paralegal certification, or JDExperience supporting a strategic-conflicts committee, general counsel function or comparable executive risk-review bodyWorking knowledge of sanctions, export controls, anti-money laundering considerations and other heightened-risk client-acceptance frameworksProject-management certification or demonstrated experience applying formal project, program or change-management practicesExperience designing governance, reporting, knowledge-management or workflow solutions in a law-firm or professional-services environmentCompetencies:Advanced conflicts judgment: Demonstrates high-level conflicts experience, analytical rigor, and the ability to assess complex legal, ethical, commercial, and operational considerationsExceptional project-management vision and the ability to convert complex, ambiguous matters into clear workplans, ownership, decisions and outcomesElite organizational skills, meticulous attention to detail and disciplined follow-through across numerous concurrent, high-priority engagementsExecutive presence and outstanding verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to lead nuanced conversations with senior firm leadershipStrong analytical, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, with sound judgment in legally, ethically, commercially and reputationally sensitive situationsAbility to synthesize large volumes of facts, competing viewpoints and incomplete information into concise, practical and decision-ready recommendationsAbility to influence without relying solely on authority, build trust across functions, facilitate alignment and respectfully challenge assumptions when necessaryAbility to distinguish operational issues from matters requiring strategic or legal escalation and to engage the right decision-makers at the right timeProactive ownership, responsiveness and composure in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities, compressed timelines and confidential informationCommitment to high-quality client service, consistent documentation, institutional knowledge and continuous process improvementStrong people-leadership, coaching, delegation and accountability skillsCollaboration and diplomacy: Builds trust across teams and helps navigate competing priorities, sensitive conversations, and time-sensitive business needsEntrepreneurial by natureExcellent attention to detailExceptional interpersonal and communication skills with ability to facilitate and solve problemsAbility to organize, prioritize and coordinate multiple activities often under tight timelinesAbility to drive projects to completion and achieve goalsStrong judgmentTeam-player with collaborative spiritUnwavering ability to handle and maintain confidentiality regarding firm information, projects, client dataHigh level of professionalism at all timesAbility to lead through influence and develop talentProactive, analytical mindsetEffective presentation skillsCooley offers a competitive compensation and excellent benefits package and is committed to fair and equitable employment practices. EOE.The expected annual pay range for this position with a full-time schedule is $120,000 - $175,000. Please note that final offer amount will be dependent on geographic location, applicable experience and skillset of the candidate. We offer a full range of elective benefits including medical, health savings account (with applicable medical plan), dental, vision, health and/or dependent care flexible spending accounts, pre-tax commuter benefits, life insurance, AD&D, long-term care coverage, backup care for children and/or adults and other parental support benefits. In addition to elective benefit options, benefited employees receive firm-paid life insurance, AD&D, LTD, short term medical benefits as well as 21 days of Paid Time Off (“PTO”) and 10 paid holidays each year. We provide generous parental leave and fertility benefits. New employees will attend a detailed benefit orientation to learn more about our many benefits and resources.SummaryLocation: San Francisco; Seattle; Los Angeles; Palo Alto; San DiegoType: Full time