Business Development Manager - Disputes

Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 145,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Paid leave

401(k) plan

Health, life, disability insurance

Job summary

Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff is seeking an experienced Business Development Manager for Disputes to support US practices, including Antitrust, Cybersecurity, Commercial Litigation, and International Arbitration. You will work with partners to craft BD plans, respond to client requests for proposals, and coordinate firmwide initiatives.

The role involves strategy, pitches, market research, events, PR, and collaboration with US and global teams.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of legal or professional services experience in a high-profile, fast-paced environment.
• Experience in disputes sectors preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; strong client focus.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement business development strategies for the Disputes group and US offices.
• Lead pitches, proposals, and credentials with attorneys.
• Coordinate cross-office initiatives and market research.
• Manage sponsorships, client events, and PR opportunities.
• Maintain and disseminate the expertise database for disputes.
• Mentor and collaborate with junior BD team members.
• Plan and oversee media opportunities with communications team.

Skills

Legal/Professional services experience

Client relationship management

Project management

Strong written/verbal communication

Sales/BD pitches & proposals

Public speaking & thought leadership

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

MS Word

PowerPoint

Excel

Job description

Department purpose and structure

The U.S. marketing & business development team (U.S. MKT Team) is a sophisticated group of experienced professionals charged with guiding the Firm’s fee earners to grow U.S. and global revenues, expand existing client relationships and strategically tackle new client pursuits.

This is a team that is all-in. As business professionals at one of the largest law firms in the world, the U.S. MKT Team thrives on market challenges and outside-the-box thinking. It is a team where fresh ideas are not only entertained, they are encouraged.

Role purpose

The business development manager— Disputes role is a fantastic opportunity to gain global experience working for one of the largest law firms in the world and to learn the unique approach that a truly global firm utilizes towards business development and marketing.

The business development manager will support the Antitrust, Cybersecurity, Commercial Litigation, and International Arbitration practices and work closely with partners to develop and implement business development and marketing strategies for the firm’s U.S. offices. The BDM will also work with business development teams across the firm to help support the Disputes and Litigation practices. This includes, but is not limited to, responding to client requests for proposals, coordination of involvement in firmwide initiatives, sponsorship and event management, collateral creation and management, client targeting exercises, coordinating of media opportunities with the communications team, thought leadership, and legal directory submissions.

Key relationships

• Senior manager of business development – White Collar & Investigations (based in Boston).
• Chief marketing & business development officer – Americas (based in New York).
• Partners and fee earners in the disputes group.
• U.S. business development team.
• Peers across the wider and global business development, marketing and communications teams.

Context

This role is partner facing and involves serving as the go-to for partners and other fee earners for all BD and marketing within the U.S. Disputes groups. The BDM is crucial to the group’s execution of its strategy and to day-to-day success of the business. This role will involve strategy, pitches, market research, events and PR. There is also involvement in the day-to-day marketing processes management, planning, and execution.

Role and responsibilities

• Practice strategy, planning and execution: working closely with the attorneys to develop and implement the business development strategy and plans for each partner and their practices, including global initiatives, development of target client lists and ongoing practice and client development.
• Pitches, proposals and credentials: working directly with the attorneys to create competitive proposals, credentials, pitches, and presentations.
• Cross-practice and cross-office integration: using an understanding of the firm’s international partner and business development network (and the varied range of working practices/styles across the firm), coordination of existing projects and development of new opportunities. Sharing ideas with colleagues in order to enhance quality and efficiency of work and developing best practices in coordination with the U.S. business development team as a whole.
• Market research: conducting market research on existing and prospective clients and market issues which may impact clients’ businesses and providing advice on effective marketing strategies to address these issues.
• Marketing discussion and review: arranging and chairing meetings with the practice groups to review progress on marketing projects and key client targeting; ensuring relevant information from these meetings is circulated to other relevant internal groups.
• Profile/PR: working with our PR team to spot opportunities and maintain effective press coverage on major market developments; drafting entries for legal and industry directories. Determining high profile-matters and issues of the disputes group to ensure press and internal coverage where appropriate.
• Sponsorships and client events: identifying and coordinating firm sponsorships of conferences (e.g., targeting speaker opportunities, coordinating materials and speakers, conducting event follow-up, etc.) and, together with the U.S. events team, planning client events and seminars.
• Expertise database: maintaining records, disputes proposals and matters and ensuring that information about these matters is appropriately documented and disseminated to other internal groups.
• Team management: mentoring and collaborating with junior team members, ensuring appropriate work opportunities and allocation, and support of team members’ long-term goals and training.

Team

This position reports directly to the senior manager of business development – White Collar & Investigations and works closely with other members of the U.S. business development team and global disputes business development team.

Key requirements

• Minimum of 5 years of legal or professional services experience working in a high-profile, fast-paced environment.
• Willingness and enthusiasm to develop an in-depth understanding of the Disputes sectors, with experience working in these sectors preferred.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; high attention to detail and strong client focus.
• Excellent interpersonal and influencing skills - with partners, key associates, and business development colleagues, and clients, including selling concepts and presenting to senior management.
• Strong project management skills with the ability to prioritize effectively while working on multiple conflicting deadlines.
• Proven track record of achieving strategic business objectives and using this experience to determine people and financial resources required for specific projects.
• Experience with budgeting, including writing business cases, is a plus.
• Strong knowledge of MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Bachelor’s degree required.

This is an outstanding opportunity for an experienced marketing and business development professional working closely with an energetic group of people, in a fast-paced law firm environment. We are looking for an individual who is proactive, persistent and committed to “getting the job done,” and a supportive colleague.

This role is open to our New York and Washington DC offices. For individuals assigned to or hired for this opportunity in New York, the estimated annualized base salary range for this position is $145,000-$190,000. For individuals assigned to or hired for this opportunity in Washington DC, the estimated annualized base salary range for this position is $146,000-$188,000. The actual base salary offered will depend on the overall qualifications of the individual applicant for the position and other job-related factors permitted by law. We offer competitive compensation and benefits package which includes a discretionary bonus, paid leave, life, health, accident, and disability insurance; and a 401(k) plan.