Manager/Senior Manager,Legal-Alt Disputes at Herbert Smith Freehills

THE OPPORTUNITY

Key responsibilities

• Managing the delivery of fee-earning work to the best possible standards of legal quality.
• Overall responsibility for the management of individual matters and people management.
• Escalating project-specific issues appropriately to the relevant member of senior management.
• Supervising Lawyers and Legal Analysts conducting fee earning projects.
• Maintaining up-to-date knowledge of relevant areas of law to the local office's practice generally, and as an "expert" in relation to specialist areas of practice.
• Responsibility for supporting, as required by senior management, the drafting, updating and revising of all of our internal processes relating to our legal practice, including making recommendations for improvements in the quality of service delivery.
• Supporting pricing at the outset of a matter, managing costs throughout, and managing billing if required, reporting to senior management where appropriate.
• Supporting the development of workflow for specific projects, including drafting relevant sections of review manuals and supporting our instructing teams generally with the preparation of project instructions.
• Responsibility for the drafting and preparation of case-related communications with clients and required reporting throughout a project, including in relation to key issues arising in the matter, progress and costs.
• Training the project team in learning and becoming proficient in relation to the requirements of the matter, at the outset and with refresher training throughout. An interest in training lawyers / legal analysts to develop their legal and other skills as a practitioner generally within the context of our expertise is therefore desirable.
• Assisting with written material or cost models for pitches and marketing initiatives if required.
• Assisting with bespoke projects as and when required, for example drafting internal and external communications to promote the local office's practice.
• Supporting client visits to the office as required.
• Supporting on client pitches as required, including in other offices.
• Managing document review software to effectively manage fee earning projects including using predictive coding / technology assisted review.
• Project managing the local office's team on individual matters.
• Promoting and selling the services of the Alternative Legal Services offering to internal clients, including by the delivery of consistently high-quality work and a positive approach to building internal relationships.
• Providing any other assistance to the business on client matters and related tasks as required.

In addition, this role will be responsible for the performance management, pastoral care and training of the Lawyers and Legal Analyst team, including:

• Conducting mid-year and annual performance reviews.
• Coaching and mentoring team members to ensure high performance.
• Performance management.
• Addressing performance issues promptly with team members, and if necessary, escalating issues with respect to absence, lateness, disruptive behaviour, other conduct related issues and performance (quality) on projects/reviews to senior management and/or HR team when necessary.
• Absence management including holiday approvals, sickness and other leave.
• Supporting team members with health and well-being matters, liaising with the HR team as required.
• Sponsoring the learning and development of the team by encouraging attendance and engagement with the programme and ensuring acquired knowledge and skills are applied effectively to work.
• Delivering technical training to the team as part of the programme, as required.

The responsibilities outlined above cannot totally encompass or define all tasks that may be required of the post-holder. The outline of responsibilities given above may, therefore, vary from time to time without materially changing either the character or level of responsibility or grade.

SKILLS, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

Essential

• Admitted as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa.
• 5+years' PQE in a disputes practice area (or equivalent), although exceptional candidates with less than 5 years' relevant experience will be considered (candidates should explain why they consider their experience is exceptional within their CV).
• Proven experience of supervising a disputes team.

Desirable

• Experience working in a commercial legal environment, ideally a private practice law firm.
• Experience in the use of document review software and case management software.
• Fluency in a second language with an ability to translate legal documents into English. Western European languages are an advantage, but other languages (e.g. Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Japanese or Russian) are especially desirable.
• Experience in managing large scale disclosure exercises in litigation or contentious regulatory.
• Experience in managing volume claims assessment including customer claims arising from a regulatory investigation; insurance claims, consumer claims and debt recovery.

Competencies
Person leadership

• Inspires confidence
• Develops expertise
• Demonstrates resilience

Leads teams

• Manages the team
• Motivates the team
• Builds capacity

Collaborates with others

• Builds authentic relationships
• Works effectively with senior management
• Contributes to the success of others

Demonstrates technical excellence

• Applies legal project management expertise
• Develops strong client relationships

Contributes to building the firm

• Demonstrates business acumen
• Knows and promotes the business
• Adopts a one firm mindset