Business Relationship Manager (Law Firm IT Management Consultant)

WilmerHale; Washington; On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

WilmerHale is seeking a Business Relationship Manager to advance the firm’s AI strategy by building strategic internal relationships across legal practice groups and business departments. This role will own the front-end engagement lifecycle, translate business requirements into functional specs, and collaborate with IS to evaluate solutions and drive adoption.

The position emphasizes understanding legal workflows, process optimization, and delivering high-quality service with a professional,

Qualifications

• JD strongly preferred; Bachelor’s degree required in CS/Management or related field.
• Strong stakeholder service orientation and ability to translate business needs into IT requirements.
• Knowledge of AI concepts and how they apply to legal workflows.

Responsibilities

• Identify opportunities to apply technology and AI-enabled solutions in legal practice and business services.
• Plan with stakeholders to prioritize opportunities, assess options, and estimate ROI.
• Hold regular engagement with legal and business departments to align IS capabilities with priorities.
• Communicate technology strategy, status, and tradeoffs to stakeholders and IS teams.
• Elicit requirements through interviews, workshops, and workflow analysis; prepare functional specs.
• Define system requirements and develop business cases and BRDs for IT solutions.
• Coordinate with IS, project teams, and change management for adoption and training.
• Educate stakeholders about emerging technologies and available IS capabilities.

Skills

Stakeholder service

AI strategy awareness

SDLC knowledge

Communication (oral & written)

Change management

Education

JD preferred

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Management or related field

Job description

WilmerHale is a leading, full-service international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located throughout 12 offices in the United States and Europe. Our lawyers work at the intersection of government, technology and business, and we remain committed to our guiding principles of providing quality, excellent legal and client services; developing diversity among our lawyers and staff and cultivating an environment that promotes an ambitious spirit, collaboration and collegiality by drawing on the extraordinary talents and dynamic experience of our lawyers. Our goal is to reflect the diversity of our clients and the communities in which we practice.

About the Role

The Business Relationship Manager establishes and manages strategic relationships with internal stakeholders across legal practice groups and business departments, with a primary focus on advancing the firm’s AI strategy. Owns the front-end engagement lifecycle for assigned practice groups and departments, including opportunity discovery, initial scoping, business case development, and preparation of opportunities for prioritization and delivery. Shapes AI and technology opportunities that align with stakeholder objectives, legal workflows, and firm priorities. Develops a strong understanding of legal and business processes, success measures, and the firm’s direction, and uses that understanding to identify high-impact use cases, including AI-enabled opportunities. Collaborates with IS to determine whether existing internal or external solutions can meet stakeholder needs or whether new solutions are feasible; assesses operational and financial impact; and considers how solutions will affect existing work processes, systems, and IS resources. Acts as a liaison between IS and end users by translating high-level business requirements into functional specifications and managing changes to those specifications. Demonstrates a strong commitment to professionalism by setting clear expectations and ensuring the delivery of high-quality service. Fosters and reinforces a positive, solution-oriented (‘can‑do’) approach across the team. Ensures effective support of internal departments, external clients, and vendors by modeling and requiring clear, courteous communication through electronic correspondence, telephone, and in-person interactions.

What You Will Be Doing

• Identifies practical opportunities to use technology, including AI-enabled solutions, to improve how legal practice groups and business departments work and deliver services.
• Facilitates continuous planning with stakeholders to prioritize opportunities, identify pain points, assess technology options, and estimate organizational value and ROI.
• Establishes regular engagement routines with assigned legal and business departments to understand priorities, surface emerging needs, communicate IS capabilities, and ensure opportunities are tracked and advanced appropriately.
• Communicates technology strategy, plans, status, and tradeoffs to legal practice groups and business departments; advocates for stakeholder technology needs; and keeps IS informed of stakeholder priorities and needs.
• Elicits requirements through stakeholder interviews, workshops, document review, workflow analysis, and other business analysis techniques.
• Understands legal and business processes, assesses stakeholder needs, and works with stakeholders to define and validate system requirements. Prepares functional and system design specifications that IS can use to build solutions.
• Evaluates information from multiple sources, resolves conflicting input, and distinguishes stated requests from the underlying business or practice need.
• Clarifies engagement expectations, service needs, escalation paths, and measures of stakeholder satisfaction in partnership with IS service owners. Works with IS to resolve issues and improve stakeholder experience and service delivery.
• Acts as the liaison between legal and business stakeholders, technology teams, and support teams.
• Partners with IS, project teams, change management, and stakeholders to support implementation, drive adoption, gather feedback, measure outcomes, identify follow-on improvements, and coordinate training.
• Builds IS’s understanding of legal and business needs and helps educate stakeholders about emerging technologies, including AI.
• Helps legal practice groups and business departments understand available IS capabilities and how those services can support business objectives and improve adoption.
• Assumes additional responsibilities as assigned.
• Demonstrates a strong commitment to professionalism, delivering high-quality service, and maintaining a positive, solution-oriented ("can‑do") approach. Effectively supports internal departments, external clients, and vendors through clear, courteous communication via electronic correspondence, telephone, and in-person interactions.

What You Will Bring to This Position

• Strong stakeholder service orientation, with the ability to build and maintain effective relationships within, across, and outside organizational boundaries.
• Significant knowledge of law firm technology, artificial intelligence, legal workflows, and lawyer work practices, with the ability to assess the practical impact of technology on legal and business processes.
• Ability to understand legal practice group and business department needs, translate those needs into IT‑specific requirements, and develop business cases and business requirements documents.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving abilities, including the ability to assess benefits and risks, propose practical technical strategies, and meet challenging deadlines.
• Communicates clearly and effectively with technical and non‑technical audiences, both orally and in writing.
• Identifies and acts upon opportunities for continuous improvement, encourages prudent risk‑taking and alternative approaches, and helps stakeholders navigate periods of change and uncertainty.
• Familiar with systems development life cycle (SDLC) concepts.
• Remains open to technological change as generative AI becomes more integrated into the firm’s practice, actively develop comfort with new tools, and adapt how work is performed to support efficiency and innovation.

Education:

• JD strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree required; concentration in Computer Science, Management, or a related field preferred.