Practice Manager, Advisor – 9 month FTC

Jobtailor; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Bates Wells seeks a proactive Practice Manager/Advisor to support the Practice Director in running the firm’s largest practice groups. You will coordinate partner meetings, manage workload balance, onboarding, and contribute to business plans and budgets.

You will collaborate with HR and other Business Teams to drive process improvements, oversee supervision changes, and support strategic projects across the firm.

Qualifications

• Experience as a Practice Manager or Practice Advisor or similarly broad role in professional services.
• Experience in a law firm or professional services environment is highly desirable.
• Proactive self-starter with a can-do attitude and excellent organizational skills.
• Ability to build trust and influence at all levels, from partners to junior staff.
• Strong alignment with values and commitment to the Bates Wells experience.

Responsibilities

• Support the Practice Director with business management across the firm’s largest practice groups.
• Coordinate partner meetings, including agendas, papers, minutes, actions, decisions, attendees and guest speakers.
• Coordinate department and team meetings; balance workloads and maximise efficiency.
• Deliver practice group inductions and onboard new joiners with HR.
• Help deliver practice group business plans and oversee budgets and reporting.
• Coordinate supervision arrangement changes with HR and manage recruitment support.
• Support projects such as pro bono strategy and resourcing for Business Team.
• Collaborate with partners, lawyers and Business Teams to run day-to-day practice operations.

Skills

Practice management

Process improvement

Budget oversight

Stakeholder collaboration

Utilization monitoring

Job description

• Support the Practice Director with business management across the firm’s largest practice groups
• Coordinate partner meetings, including agendas, papers, minutes, actions, decisions, attendees and guest speakers
• Coordinate department and team meetings
• Coordinate work allocation within larger practice groups to balance workloads and maximise efficiency
• Deliver practice group inductions and collaborate with HR to onboard new joiners
• Work with Practice Support Managers and other Business Teams on process improvement
• Support delivery of practice group business plans and oversee aspects of practice group budgets
• Coordinate and document supervision arrangement changes, liaising with HR
• Collaborate with HR on recruitment, development, appraisal feedback and objective setting
• Prepare team updates regarding joiners, leavers and secondments
• Manage client secondment and reverse-secondment requests end-to-end
• Coordinate fee earner resource-sharing requests across practice groups
• Monitor utilisation, identify trends and concerns, and resolve reporting errors
• Respond to lawyer and partner queries about utilisation
• Support understanding of and adherence to the time recording policy
• Maintain and improve Practice Management intranet pages
• Support projects including a new pro bono strategy, paralegal role design and resourcing, and streamlined Business Team communications
• Support the running of large practice groups and contribute to firmwide strategic projects and smooth day-to-day practice operations
• Collaborate regularly with partners, lawyers and colleagues across Business Teams

Requirements

• Experience working as a Practice Manager or Practice Advisor, or in an equivalent functionally broad role
• Ideally, experience gained within a law firm or professional services environment
• Proactive self-starter with a can-do attitude
• Well organised with excellent attention to detail
• Comfortable navigating new areas and working fluidly with colleagues across functions
• Able to build effective and trusting relationships quickly at all levels, from partners and directors to early career colleagues
• Strong influencing skills, including confidence to provide constructive challenge and openness to adjust approaches based on feedback
• Alignment with the organisation’s values and desire to make a difference
• Desire to feel part of the Bates Wells experience and belong

Core Competencies

Demonstrates strong organizational and coordination skills to manage practice group operations, including meeting facilitation, resource allocation, and process improvement. Exhibits the ability to build effective relationships and influence stakeholders while supporting strategic projects and adherence to policies.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Practice Management Experience
• Process Improvement
• Budget Oversight
• Stakeholder Collaboration
• Utilization Monitoring

Soft Skills

• Proactive Self-Starter
• Excellent Attention to Detail
• Strong Influencing Skills
• Effective Relationship Building
• Well Organized

Industry Keywords

• Law Firm Experience
• Professional Services Environment
• Business Management
• Practice Group Coordination
• Time Recording Policy