Legal Office Administrator

Ignite Human Capital; Palo Alto (CA); Hybrid; USD 175,000 - 235,000; Full time

Job summary

Ignite Human Capital is seeking a Legal Office Administrator in the Palo Alto/San Francisco area with a hybrid schedule. The role leads daily administrative functions, collaborates with senior leadership, and drives strategic initiatives aligning with the firm's goals.

The position involves budgeting, billing support, and staff mentoring while delivering exceptional service to clients and attorneys, fostering a high-performance culture.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership and people management abilities.
• Strong communication and collaboration across teams.
• Strategic thinking with ability to influence across departments.

Responsibilities

• Directs and oversees daily administrative functions of the office.
• Represents firm decisions and drives change with leadership.
• Plans and facilitates management team meetings to ensure operational excellence.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Communication

Strategic thinking

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration/Finance

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Legal Office Administrator

Salary:$175,000 - $235,000

Summary

The Office Administrator, working in collaboration with and in support of the firm's strategic initiatives, serves as an essential leader within the organization, driving administrative excellence and fostering a positive work environment. The Office Administrator embodies the firm's core values of boldness, exceptional service, collaboration, and support, serving as a cornerstone of the firm's operational and strategic goals.

Engaging directly with senior leadership, clients, and external stakeholders, this role serves as a key connector between strategic vision and day-to-day execution. The Office Administrator is instrumental in translating organizational goals into actionable outcomes, championing continuous improvement, and cultivating a high-performance culture that reflects the firm's values and priorities.

Location

This position is based in both the firm's Palo Alto and San Francisco offices and requires weekly travel between the two locations. It offers a hybrid work schedule.

Responsibilities

Leadership

• Directs, manages, and oversees the daily administrative business functions of the office.
• Represents and supports firm decisions and initiatives, managing through change.
• Plans and facilitates office core management team meetings to ensure collaboration on operational excellence.
• Manages, advises, and mentors direct reports, including compensation planning, performance evaluations, and onboarding.
• Holds individual meetings with each direct report for at least 30 minutes every month.
• Reports and communicates with the Director of Administration, relaying information and escalating office needs, employee relations, or other issues and challenges in a timely manner.
• Influences across departments and senior staff.

Lawyer Engagement & Support

• Regularly interacts and engages with office lawyers to ensure strong practice support and proactively identify and address needs, sharing feedback across departments for continuous improvement.
• Manages, facilitates, and supports lateral integration, ensuring effective collaboration of firm resources for successful practice integration.
• Plans, attends, and prepares agendas and materials for partner meetings, presenting on business and financial matters as needed.
• Partners with talent acquisition, practice groups, and local office partners on lateral recruiting efforts and initiatives, as well as onboarding of new associates.

Strategic Partnership

• Collaborates with the Office Managing Partner and marketing and business development teams on the office marketing budget and client-facing and business development opportunities, which may include managing contracts for strategic utilization of sports tickets to maximize ROI.
• Partners with various departments on office events and initiatives to maximize engagement and build and maintain a positive office culture.
• Helps improve the firm's brand recognition in the community through civic involvement, local networking, and collaboration with the firm's Alumni team.
• Partners with the firm's Real Estate leadership team and Operations on space planning, including refurbishing projects, moves, subleasing, space layout, plan review, construction RFPs, construction management, and external use of office space.
• Participates in firmwide initiatives with department leadership and senior management.
• Serves as a key partner to the Director of Administration, contributing to one or more strategic functional areas within the department, which may include: Attorney & Business Professional Relationship Management; Process Improvement & Technology (AI); Communications & Leadership Liaison; and Talent Management (Recruiting, Training & Development).
• Manages complex workflows with broader organizational impact.

Financial Responsibility

• In alignment with firm initiatives, supports and drives efforts around billing and collections to optimize cash conversion and meet office goals.
• Works collaboratively with Practice Group Directors to partner with lawyers and ensure the implementation of best practices in fiscal management.
• Prepares, analyzes, and maintains accurate office administration and related office budgets for all areas of responsibility.

Desired Skills

Demonstrated ability to assume a leadership role and make decisions while fostering a teamwork environment. Ability to adapt to changing priorities and maintain a productive, committed work effort while meeting deadlines and managing workload. Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly and professionally, both orally and in writing. Demonstrated ability to provide quality client service to both internal and external contacts on administrative matters of a complex nature. Requires patience, creativity, discretion, and the ability to negotiate and influence change. Demonstrated ability to effectively supervise others, including hiring, training, assigning work, managing performance, and counseling. Ability to lead others in the development of a cohesive, effective work unit.

Basic understanding of local and national labor laws, HR practices, and legal requirements. Knowledge of basic accounting and budgeting principles, with the ability to track, organize, analyze, and report financial data clearly. Advanced knowledge of the MS Office Suite to prepare a variety of business communications.

Minimum Education

High School Diploma or GED.

Preferred Education

Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, Finance, or a related field.

Minimum Years of Experience

6 years of management experience in a professional services or law firm environment preferred. Experience with facilities management, including design, construction, contract negotiations, and project management, is a plus. Knowledge of basic accounting principles, including budget management, is required.

Essential Job Expectations

While specific requirements may vary depending on the scope of the role and area of specialty, certain universal expectations apply to all employees, including but not limited to:

• Effectively communicate, verbally and in writing, with clients, lawyers, business professionals, and third parties.
• Produce deliverables, answer phone calls, and reply to correspondence in an efficient and responsive manner.
• Provide timely, accurate, and quality work product.
• Successfully meet deadlines and expectations, and perform work duties as required.
• Foster positive work relationships.
• Comply with all firm policies and practices.
• Engage in both physical and sedentary activity, such as working at a computer for extended periods (including on-screen reading and typing), participating in digital/virtual conference calls, and participating in meetings as needed.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage competing demands in a fast-paced environment.
• Perform all other duties, tasks, or projects as assigned.

Physical Demands

Sedentary work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time, with walking and standing required only occasionally.

Work Environment

The individual selected for this position may have the opportunity for a hybrid work arrangement comprised of remote and in-office work, the requirements for which will be determined in coordination with the hiring manager or supervisor and may be modified at the firm's discretion in the future.