Legal Operations Manager

McKinlay Law; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 72,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A major international law firm in London seeks a Legal Operations Manager to enhance operational strategies while overseeing financial reporting. Candidates should possess a strong background in legal finance, emphasizing financial literacy and communication skills for liaising with high-profile stakeholders. This role offers a hybrid working environment and excellent benefits, including a competitive salary and bonus opportunities.

Benefits

Excellent benefits

Bonus opportunities

Qualifications

• Background in legal finance with strong financial planning and analytical expertise.
• Excellent communication skills for stakeholder engagement.

Responsibilities

• Produce financial and performance reporting for designated practice group.
• Assist with the annual budgeting process.
• Liaise with BD, HR, IT, and accounting teams.
• Support intake and approval process for new matters.
• Conduct rate modelling, margin analysis, and profitability assessments.
• Shape pricing strategies and performance metrics for engagements.
• Educate attorneys on financial concepts and profitability objectives.
• Evaluate proposed write-downs and write-offs.
• Participate in proposal and panel renewal efforts.

Skills

Financial literacy

Legal analytics

Strong judgment

Process management

Strong communication skills

Job description

Job Title: Legal Operations Manager

Location: London

Salary: £85,000 + Bonus

Hybrid: Yes

Major international law firm are looking for a legal operations manager to join their London ops team. The role will require the successful candidate to work collaboratively with the legal operations leadership and cross-functional teams, including BD and finance, to support the operations of one of the firm’s key practice groups. The role focuses on delivering operational strategies that improve performance, efficiency, and overall firm value. The position demands a diverse skill set, including financial literacy, legal analytics, strong judgment, and comprehensive process management expertise.

Responsibilities

• Produce financial and performance reporting for designated practice group and their leadership, covering key indicators such as productivity trends, utilization, realization, relative profitability, and overall financial performance.
• Assist with the annual budgeting process
• Liaise with BD, HR, IT and accounting teams
• Support the intake and approval process for new matters within the practice group and contribute to the annual planning cycle by forecasting expenses and margins, allocating budgets, and reviewing cost centre activity to ensure alignment with approved plans.
• Partner with the accounting team to conduct rate modelling, margin analysis, and profitability assessments for active matters, as well as to monitor receivables, unbilled time, billing activity, collections, write-offs, and expenses.
• Assist with shape pricing strategies and performance metrics for engagements, leveraging firm data systems, reporting tools, and analytics platforms to extract insights and build subject‑matter expertise. Identify opportunities to enhance billing outcomes and profitability, and help implement initiatives to improve realization and financial performance across assigned groups.
• Assist in educating attorneys on financial concepts, performance indicators, budgeting practices, and profitability objectives at the individual, client, and group levels.
• Evaluate proposed write‑downs and write‑offs for potential impact on matter‑level and group‑level profitability, and work closely with practice leadership, partners, revenue teams, and matter management professionals to drive improved client and matter economics.
• Participate in proposal and panel renewal efforts by reviewing proposed rates and alternative fee structures, with a focus on optimizing financial results for both new and ongoing client relationships.

Qualifications

The client are looking for a candidate with a background in legal finance and strong financial planning and analytical expertise. It is also essential that you have very strong communication skills as there will be extensive liaison with high profile stakeholders.

Benefits

Fantastic opportunity for a commercially minded legal finance professional who is looking for a change / new challenge in a top firm. Excellent benefits on offer as well as a bonus.

McKinlay Law endeavour to contact all successful candidates within 24 hours. However, due to the volume of applications that we receive, we are not able to respond to every candidate individually. If you have not heard from us within 24 hours your application has been unsuccessful and we have not retained your details.