Senior Manager, Legal Project Management

Wilson Sonsini is the premier legal advisor to technology, life sciences, and other growth enterprises worldwide. We represent companies at every stage of development, from entrepreneurial start-ups to multibillion-dollar global corporations, as well as the venture firms, private equity firms, and investment banks that finance and advise them. The firm has approximately 1,200 attorneys in 19 offices: 14 in the U.S., three in China, and two in Europe. Our broad spectrum of practices and entrepreneurial spirit allow our staff exceptional opportunities for professional achievement and career growth.

The Pricing and Legal Project Management team supports lawyers with the full spectrum of pricing and legal project management needs, including rate management and negotiation, the creation and management of alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), development of product pricing strategies, and implementation of innovative approaches to important business issues that impact client acquisition, retention, and profitability.

The Senior Manager, Legal Project Management will lead and help jumpstart the Legal Project Management function by managing matter setup, budgeting, tracking, and reporting along with other LPM-related tasks. The Senior Manager will also drive projects that support the practice of law by enhancing lawyer efficiency and effectiveness, and improving client service.

Position may be tied to any of Wilson Sonsini’s offices or may be fully remote.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• 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.
• Work closely with lawyers and the Pricing team on developing matter budgets and staffing strategies.
• Collaborate with lawyers to understand their business-of-law challenges, then propose and operationalize solutions by working cross-functionally.
• Support and advise on data-related initiatives to extract greater value and insights from historical practice and financial data.
• Create and deploy firmwide training on LPM methodologies and best practices.
• Develop and lead training and implementation of project management systems in the firm.
• Track projects with robust budget vs. actual reporting that accounts for nuance and context beyond financial data.
• 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 client’s internal legal operations teams and prepare client reporting for bespoke projects.
• Develop and refine scoping and estimate templates and procedures.
• Oversee the management and adoption of the project management systems in the firm for all fixed fee and capped fee matters.
• Identify opportunities to improve the creation of budgets and use of budget tracking for all matters regardless of fee arrangement type.
• Ensure the firm’s lawyers are engaged on their matters while implementing best practices in LPM.
• Draft and edit highly professional, accurate, and actionable email correspondence.
• Assist with pricing requests as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in a business-related field.
• A minimum of 7 years of project coordinating, project analyst, or project management experience in professional services (legal industry experience highly preferred).
• 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.
• Experience leveraging data visualization tools (e.g., Power BI) is a plus.
• Proficiency with SQL is a plus.

Skills & Knowledge

• A proactive self-starter, with a drive to grow and enhance the function.
• A strong commitment to excellence, ownership, and accountability.
• Effective leadership capabilities with a proven history of managing and developing teams (whether direct reports or cross-functional).
• Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with staff, senior leadership, and lawyers.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills capable of maintaining strong relationships.
• Highly effective creating business process documentation.
• Ability to develop, refine, and improve utilization of project management tools.
• Strong organizational and multi-tasking 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.
• Demonstrates a strong sense of urgency and the ability to work under pressure amidst tight timelines.
• Exceptional attention to detail.

The primary location for this job posting is in Palo Alto, but other locations are also listed. The actual base pay offered will depend upon a variety of factors, including but not limited to the selected candidate’s qualifications, years of relevant experience, level of education, professional certifications and licenses, and work location. The anticipated pay range for this position is as follows:

San Francisco and Silicon Valley: $163,200 – $220,800 per year

Austin, Boston, Boulder, District of Columbia, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Seattle, and Wilmington: $147,050 – $198,950 per year

Salt Lake City and all other locations: $130,900 – $177,100 per year

The compensation for this position may include a discretionary year-end merit bonus based on performance. We offer a highly competitive salary and benefits package.

Benefits information can be found here. Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE).