Legal Project Coordinator

Baker & McKenzie Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH; Belfast; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job description

To work with Legal Project Managers and lawyers, supporting on the integrated delivery of tasks across the lifecycle of client facing projects using established tools and processes with a focus on improving how legal services are managed.

Baker McKenzie is the world’s leading law firm with offices all over the world. Our Belfast Centre is home to over 400 colleagues in both legal and professional services.

We offer one of the best workplace benefits packages in the business with comprehensive private health cover, income protection, life assurance and a full employee assistance plan. These and a host of other benefits make us one of the most desirable companies to work for in Belfast.

We are committed to promoting inclusion, diversity, and equity for all and are confident we can provide a career as individual and as exceptional as you.

Responsibilities:

1. Support members of the LPM team on multiple projects with competing deadlines in coordination with other LPM team members.
2. Liaise with the client and the BM's client matter team, as well as BM's specialist departments and offices worldwide.
3. Perform assigned tasks with accuracy and timeliness; take responsibility for completing recurring tasks without prompting.
4. Prioritize workload (seeking clarification from project leads on project priorities), anticipating and escalating any foreseeable issues as well as availability, and remain aware of dependencies.
5. Build and use charts, timelines, and other visuals effectively; suggest improvements.
6. Work with team members to implement solutions to improve processes.
7. Accurately estimate and manage time required to support coordination work.
8. Effectively and appropriately hand off work to other Professional Business Services (PBS) teams, engaging with them to clarify requirements and ensure a successful transition.
9. Support the post-matter review process for key matters and identify areas of improvement in practice area processes through discussions with project team.
10. Triage help requests and raise ‘marginal’ requests with team members to determine LPM position on task involvement.
11. Identify opportunities for new service delivery and support analysis and design workshops.
12. Collate information for project updates and adapt report templates for new projects.
13. Support scope clarification and management efforts on projects.
14. Identify own training needs and actively participate in training related to LPM topics.
15. Tailor and reuse existing templates and make suggestions for template improvements.
16. Contribute to BM’s Innovation Strategy; become a subject matter expert on LPM-relevant technology and standardized processes: evangelize, advise, train, apply to projects and support refinement.
17. Support implementation of existing and new technology to meet project requirements and to encourage LPM and Legal team uptake.
18. Source information at LPM request for proposals and pitches.
19. Build network of professional colleagues across the range of PBS and legal functions, including Knowledge Management, Business Development, Finance, and IT and with external stakeholders.
20. Offer ad hoc support and PM expertise to non-LPM initiatives.

To be successful in this role you will need:

Skills and Experience:

1. Understanding of/experience working in large complex organizations.
2. Basic understanding of relevant IT packages: e.g., Document Management Systems, Project Extranets (e.g., SharePoint/Teams) or other collaborative project management tools.
3. Basic knowledge of Microsoft Office (including Excel), and of financial systems and reports.
4. Strong communication and relationship-building skills.
5. Desire to work collaboratively with senior-level professionals to help them succeed in meeting their objectives.
6. Ability to build matter budgets with guidance.
7. Ability to work independently with a willingness to work flexibly and hands-on to achieve project objectives.
8. Ability to analyse datasets to identify trends, issues, and gaps.
9. Demonstrated ability to organize and prioritize work in a dynamic and complex environment to meet deadlines and daily requirements.
10. Demonstrated attention to detail to ensure quality of outputs.
11. Emerging competency in continuous improvement, change management, flexible approach, and exceeding expectations.
12. LegalTech knowledge and interest.
13. Basic knowledge of data visualisation and associated tools (e.g., Excel charting, Tableau, PowerBI, Visio).