Legal Project Manager

At Browne Jacobson, we’ve always worked across business and society, and this expertise sets us apart. Social and environmental impact are at the top of our business agenda. We champion fairness, make the complex simple and forge connections between clients to find creative solutions. This is how we improve outcomes for every person, community and business we serve.

With offices in Birmingham, Cardiff, Dublin, Exeter, London, Manchester and Nottingham, we’re a UK & I based law firm with an international reach. Our sectors include: health; real estate and construction; education; energy and infrastructure; financial services; government; insurance; manufacturing and industrials; and retail, consumer and logistics.

We nurture talent at all levels and from every background and celebrate what makes people individuals. Law needs all voices to reflect the society it serves which is why all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, social economic background or age.

We’re a Disability Confident Employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who best meet the minimum/essential criteria for the role.

We strive to create meaningful personal and professional development opportunities and offer flexible working in support of a good work-life balance. We focus on wellbeing and individuality, so that all our people can thrive.

Why is this role important and how does it fit into the team, department and wider firm?

Browne Jacobson has an exciting new opportunity for a well-organised, enthusiastic and proactive Legal Project Manager who is looking to progress their career in the Legal Project Management (LPM) profession and play a part in supporting the ambitious legal project management function within Browne Jacobson.

The legal services market has been experiencing a period of significant change, driven by growing client expectations, new technology and an evolving competitor marketplace. Our clients are increasingly looking for new approaches to satisfy the needs of their legal challenges.

The Browne Jacobson Legal Project Management team is critical to meeting these changing needs of the legal industry and as a growing team we have an opportunity for an experienced Legal Project Manager to join our team.

Our goal is to focus on all of the operational aspects of legal service to our clients including planning, delivery, process improvement and innovation, providing clients with an exceptional level of service throughout the full matter lifecycle.

You will work closely with the Head of Legal Project Management and Legal Project Coordinator in:

• managing and co-ordinating the delivery of legal work to solve clients’ complex legal challenges, to advise on best practice in relation to matter management, to increase efficiencies (through use of technology as appropriate) and provide excellent client service on complex matters, working alongside clients, lawyers, support teams and central teams as part of the core delivery team on those matters, and;
• support in developing the LPM function and supporting on various project management activities and initiatives.

The LPM team is client facing and acts as the business partner between the legal teams and our clients. LPM is a relatively new function within the firm and is therefore constantly evolving. Given the growth and ambitions of the firm and its drive to develop more efficient and effective ways of working, this is a really exciting time for LPM at Browne Jacobson. The successful candidate will need to have the passion and drive to support the LPM team and the firm in helping to achieve this.

What does the role actually involve?

• Project managing legal matters to key public sector and private sector clients on major/complex projects across multiple practice areas
• Working alongside lawyers to provide project management services on large and/or complex matters throughout the lifecycle of those matters
• Developing and managing LPM tools and documentation including matter plans, scopes and budgets, workflows, timelines, RAID logs etc.
• Proactively managing changes in scope, identifying risks and developing contingencies
• Supporting lawyers in the use of our LPM tools and technologies
• Acting as an ambassador for the LPM team internally and externally
• Engage with legal technology tools available, to provide support to effectively manage projects
• Gather, compile, analyse financial and other data in a logical and efficient manner and pull together reports to tight deadlines
• Provide input into producing tracking and progress reports and budget updates
• Draft project documents such as scoping documents, project plans, RAID logs, schedules, milestone and action tracking
• Contribute to problem solving by suggesting appropriate ideas for options and recommendations
• Support development of internal facing and client facing solutions including for example portals
• Record time against legal matters
• Use written and verbal communication to clearly and effectively present complex information, ideas and approaches.
• Develop strong working relationships with other central teams including finance, technology and change and delivery teams
• Support internal and external LPM business development initiatives. This may include supporting on content and presenting as necessary to within the firm internally and through client facing tenders, pitches and client proposals and communications
• Support the delivery of internal LPM development/ training, including implementing improvements and solutions to delivery processes
• Reporting and analysis, including financial data, using the LPM tools and other software
• Acting as an internal LPM stakeholder working with Business Change & delivery teams on LPM/Tech orientated projects/products
• Building a network of contacts within the firm and externally to promote the LPM function
• Support development of marketing material for LPM team
• Support delivery of business development activities including supporting writing of LPM related articles and bogs
• Alongside Head of LPM, provide support and supervision to the Legal Project Coordinator within the LPM team
• Keeping up to date with market trends, improvements and developments and horizon spotting, and identifying opportunities for legal project management support and associated technology developments (including AI).

What technical skills are required for someone to be successful and enjoy the role?

• Ideally, you’ll be an experienced legal project manager with demonstrable experience as an LPM or wider project management experience, ideally gained within a law firm or professional services environment OR you’ll be a qualified lawyer with demonstrable project management experience
• A solid understanding of and ability to apply all common project management /program delivery methodologies, approaches and concepts
• Understanding of law firm processes and lawyer-client relationships
• Be “Tech-curious” with a drive to use technology and other innovative solutions to improve/change/adapt how we deliver services and solve issues
• Strong stakeholder management skills and experience at a senior level
• Proficient in the use of the following Microsoft Office tools – Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, particularly Excel, ideally with a solid understanding of formulas and tools around data analysis (e.g. pivot tables etc.)
• Strong budgeting and numeracy skills, with experience in analysing data
• Ability to grasp requirements and tasks quickly and work either autonomously or leading a team
• Ability to quickly prioritise between competing demands and multitask across a range of concurrent projects
• Capacity to think innovatively and consider new ways of delivering solutions to complex problems as well as driving continuous improvement.

Preferred but not essential:

• A qualification or industry recognised certification in project management (Prince 2, APMP, IILPM etc.)
• Proficiency in using legal tech platforms (for example MS Project, Smartsheets, HighQ)
• Experience with coordinating/overseeing billing and financial systems/processes

Who would be a good fit for this role?

As part of the Legal Project Management team, you’d be expected to have the following skills and experience:

• Confident communicator with the ability to interact at all levels (including other team members, senior operations management, partners and clients) and be able to positively influence individuals you work with (at varying levels of seniority) to change/adapt ways of working
• Assertiveness and a confidence to be able to push back to manage expectations properly
• Collaborator – the job requires an ability to liaise with and work alongside a wide range of professionals both internally and externally
• Excellent attention to detail;
• Highly organised with excellent prioritisation and planning skills;
• Self-driven and proactive with the ability to work flexibly in a dynamic, fast-paced environment and a willingness to take on responsibility
• Excellent customer services skills, eager to go the extra mile for excellent client service
• A can-do attitude, with a strong sense of initiative; quick to learn new skills
• Must be a team player – given the LPM team is currently a small team it is imperative the candidate is a team orientated individual
• Excellent time management skills, completely reliable and able to deliver to agreed timetables