Legal Project Manager

Legal Project Manager

We are looking for a Legal Project Manager to play a critical role in supporting our end-to-end legal operations in our US offices.

This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated professional to develop comprehensive project management skills and embed themselves in high-profile legal projects within a dynamic and innovative legal environment.

Working closely with the senior LPM, the role will report into our global lead LPM and be part of a global LPM team within Freshfields' Client Delivery Group (CDG), leading our legal teams across the firm to run our matters effectively.

Key responsibilities and deliverables:

• Provide LPM support on US matters (and where necessary, matters in other parts of the firm), working with the matter partner (or managing counsel/senior associate) through the lifecycle of the matter from pitching and scoping up to closing stage (dependent on the matter requirements).
• Act as a dedicated point of contact in a project to streamline the flow of information across teams and between teams and clients.
• Manage multiple interconnected deadlines and map/update dependencies across workstreams, and individual tasks including building and maintaining project timelines, milestone trackers, and Gantt charts.
• Manage and track capacity across team members to ensure the right resource is allocated to drive efficiency.
• Prepare and update project status reports for legal teams and (client) stakeholders.
• Coordinate between senior and junior members of the team or if needed with third party providers, experts, witnesses, external counsel and the client to ensure seamless and transparent flow of communication.
• Ensure or arrange for project documentation to be organized and maintained in a centralized project environment in coordination with our Hub and tech teams.
• Work closely with the Billing/Pricing and EA teams to ensure budgets are tracked, bills are issued and paid on time and profitability is prioritised.
• Work closely with the Billing/Pricing team to analyse matter financial data in order to identify and report trends, patterns, pain points and opportunities for efficiency improvement to the matter partner (or managing counsel/senior associate), and to set up an early warning system for potential causes of budget overruns.
• Arrange lesson learned sessions, conduct regular project health checks / post-matter reviews, and document feedback for future mandates.
• Support implementation of LPM and legal tech solutions in the US, and where appropriate to support, on international matters.
• Identify continuous improvement opportunities, and provide feedback to all teams within the CDG, where necessary
• Provide most up-to-date tech-enabled LPM delivery and embed project management tools and tracking systems in the matter delivery.

Qualifications:

• Juris Doctor or bachelor's degree in legal studies, project management or related field.
• Experience with US litigation procedures.
• 3+ years experience in legal project management, legal administration or related field, preferably in a law firm or legal department
• Excellent oral and written English skills.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and presentation skills in a highly professional, fast paced and high-pressure environment.
• Proficiency in both Microsoft Office and Google Workspace required.
• Strong attention to detail and problem-solving skills.
• Strong financial, data and organizational skills.

Preferred requirements:

• Proficiency in using project management tools
• Certification in project management (IILPM, LPMI, PRINCE2 or Lean Six Sigma qualification or equivalent) would be desirable

Freshfields is required by law to include a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This compensation range is specific to the States of New York and California and takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs. The disclosed range estimate has not been adjusted for the applicable geographic differential associated with the location at which the position may be filled, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is $125,000 to $150,000.