Client Guidelines Attorney

Decker Jones, P.C.; Houston (TX); Hybrid; USD 177,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus annually

Job summary

Arnold & Porter is seeking a Client Guidelines Attorney to implement policies governing client-retention relationships and to reconcile client requirements with the firm’s ethical obligations and business objectives. The role involves negotiating OCGs, RFPs, and engagement documents while ensuring timely, accurate, and compliant documentation across domestic and global offices.

Reporting to the Director of Professional Responsibility, you will support Relationship Partners, review complex client

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and J.D. required.
• Active bar admission in good standing in at least one U.S. jurisdiction.
• At least one year of relevant experience at a large law firm (conflicts of interest, contracts, new business intake, ethics).
• Experience practicing law preferred.
• Experience with conflicts databases and corporate-entity research tools.

Responsibilities

• Implement policies and procedures governing client-retention relationships.
• Draft, negotiate, interpret, and implement OCGs and client retention documents.
• Communicate with internal stakeholders and clients to ensure retention expectations are understood.
• Analyze client OCGs, retention documents, and RFPs; resolve outstanding matters.
• Monitor global compliance with negotiated OCG terms and conflicts checks.
• Coordinate input and approvals from firm subject-matter experts.
• Collaborate with practice groups on compliance requirements.
• Develop and refine client-guidelines policies and risk-management initiatives.

Skills

Client guidelines

OCGs (outside counsel guidelines)

Contract interpretation

Legal research

Project management

Education

J.D.

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

Mergent

EDGAR

Hoovers

Dun & Bradstreet

Job description

Arnold & Porter is an international law firm with offices throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The firm advises clients on complex regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters across a broad range of industries, including many of the world’s leading companies and organizations.

We are seeking a Client Guidelines Attorney to support the effective implementation of policies and procedures that document and manage the firm’s relationships with clients across its domestic and global offices. This role may be located in the Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, or Washington, DC office working a hybrid schedule.

Reporting to the Director of Professional Responsibility, this role works closely with the Office of General Counsel, Relationship Partners, the Director of Client Service & Compliance, and other stakeholders to evaluate, negotiate, interpret, and implement client retention documentation. This includes outside counsel guidelines (OCGs), requests for proposals, engagement documentation, and other client-generated or firm-generated terms.

The Client Guidelines Attorney will reconcile client requirements with the firm’s ethical obligations, business objectives, and risk tolerance; identify and help resolve outstanding issues; and ensure that agreed-upon client requirements are clearly documented and operationalized. The successful candidate will quickly develop subject-matter expertise in professional-responsibility rules governing the attorney-client relationship and contribute to the ongoing improvement of related firm policies and procedures.

Key Responsibilities

• Work collaboratively and proactively under the supervision of the Director of Professional Responsibility to implement policies and procedures governing the firm’s client-retention relationships.
• Advise and support Relationship Partners and client team members in drafting, negotiating, interpreting, and implementing time-sensitive OCGs, other client-generated retention documents, RFPs, firm-generated engagement documents, and related materials.
• Communicate effectively with internal stakeholders and clients to ensure that retention expectations are understood, aligned, documented, and implemented.
• Conduct contextual analysis and critical assessment of client OCGs, nonstandard retention documentation, and RFPs; follow up with Relationship Partners and other stakeholders to resolve outstanding matters.
• Monitor global compliance with negotiated OCG terms, including requirements involving conflicts checks for affiliated entities, waivers, client notices, ethics screens, and updates to the firm’s conflicts and client-intake databases and repositories.
• Solicit, coordinate, and incorporate input and approvals from firm subject-matter experts regarding client guidelines and other retention documentation.
• Partner with practice groups to address practice-specific compliance requirements and considerations.
• Develop expertise in the technologies used to support the role and remain informed about emerging tools and process improvements that may enhance the firm’s client-guidelines processes.
• Contribute to the development and refinement of policies, procedures, and initiatives related to client retention, professional responsibility, and risk management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree and J.D. required.
• Active bar admission in good standing in at least one jurisdiction where the firm maintains a U.S. office preferred. Candidates who are not admitted at the time of hire must obtain admission shortly after beginning employment as a condition of employment.
• At least one year of relevant experience at a large law firm, preferably in conflicts of interest, commercial contracts, new business intake, ethics, or a related area.
• Prior experience practicing law preferred.
• Experience with legal research and organizing, tracking, and reporting on complex projects.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze complex professional-conduct, contractual, and business issues; thoroughly investigate relevant facts; and exercise sound judgment.
• Experience with conflicts databases and corporate-entity research tools, such as Mergent, EDGAR, Hoovers, Dun & Bradstreet, or similar platforms, preferred.
• Proficiency with Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office applications, and databases.
• Business and/or project-management experience preferred.
• Prior supervisory or leadership experience preferred.
• High degree of integrity, discretion, and trustworthiness in handling confidential and sensitive information
• Exceptional written and verbal communication, analytical, problem-solving, interpersonal, organizational, and time-management skills.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities and tight deadlines.
• Ability to interact effectively with attorneys, firm leadership, staff, and external clients with confidence, responsiveness, tact, and professionalism.
• Demonstrated initiative, ownership, and follow-through, with the ability to drive process improvements and new firm initiatives.
• Strong strategic focus and attention to detail.
• Ability to maintain and strategically manage financial and budgetary information.
• Commitment to providing exceptional internal and external client service.

To be considered, applicants should submit both a cover letter and resume.

The anticipated base salary for this position is $177,280 to $225,000. The actual base salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.

For benefits information, please click here https://www.arnoldporter.com/en/careers/professional-staff/benefits.

The firm may provide a discretionary bonus annually.