Legal Project Manager

Type

Direct Hire

Newark NJ law firm seeking a Legal Project Manager will work with a cross-functional team to deliver exceptional legal services to clients across a number of practice areas. The core responsibility of this role is to work with client teams to develop and implement a best practice approach to planning, performing, monitoring, and project managing legal matters within a consistent framework that ensures efficiency and quality deliverables.

Essential Duties

• Work closely with client teams to support the efficient management of engagements throughout the full matter lifecycle and identify opportunities to improve our service delivery through alternative uses of people, processes, and technology.
• Act as a subject matter expert for a range of topics, including project planning, fee estimating and budget preparation, fee and scope management, reporting, outside counsel guideline compliance, and project management technology.
• Be a trusted member of client teams and provide on-demand consultancy, focused on service quality, delivery, and efficiency.
• Liaise between the firm and clients to ensure adherence to outside counsel guidelines, with focus on staffing, reporting, and working with the Finance team to meet client billing requirements.
• Support the implementation, use, and further development of legal project management and knowledge management tools and resources (, Clocktimizer, viGlobal, Kira, Intapp, HighQ, etc.) and help to integrate legal project management techniques into the culture of the firm.
• Contribute to the development of legal project management methodologies and tools by collaborating with colleagues within the firm, clients, and vendors.
• Provide project management and process improvement mentorship and training within the department and across the firm.
• Facilitate a culture of continuous improvement through strong team interactions, being comfortable accepting and providing constructive feedback, and a personal commitment to quality, innovation, and follow through.

Minimum qualifications

• 3+ years of substantive practice or project management experience within a professional services, consulting, corporate legal department, or other legal services environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in related field or equivalent years of relevant experience.
• A record of implementing pragmatic, creative, and effective solutions to achieve measurable results with a particular emphasis on client satisfaction, financial performance, and administrative compliance.
• Experience using formal project management and process improvement tools and techniques.
• Knowledge of and interest in project management technology, such as document management systems, project extranets, databases, collaboration portals, SharePoint, Smartsheet, HighQ, or Microsoft Project.
• Strong communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills with the ability to collaborate with a cross-functional team of clients, senior partners, junior team members, business professional staff, other outside counsel, and vendors.
• Sophisticated analytical skills and the ability to define or identify which metrics drive change.
• Willing to challenge and question assumptions and propose alternative and bold solutions.
• Flexibility to work extended hours, including weekends and holidays.

Preferred qualifications

• Paralegal Certificate, MBA, and/or JD.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with high profile client teams and clients (, legal operations, consultants, in-house counsel, etc.) for large scale portfolios.
• Experience with project management technology, such as document management systems, project extranets, databases, collaboration portals, SharePoint, Smartsheet, HighQ, or Microsoft Project.
• Knowledge of and experience with change management methodologies, such as Prosci.
• Formal project management or process improvement qualification, such as PRINCE2 or PMP.
• Understanding of developments in industry-agnostic project management and the dialog around the future of legal services.