Legal Research Manager

Harbor; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Harbor seeks a Legal Research Manager for its Library and Research department to lead a full-service relationship with a major law client, oversee research quality, communications, and library operations in a fully remote role supporting teams nationwide.

You will supervise staff, mentor researchers, advance AI-powered tools, and ensure timely, accurate insights aligned with client priorities, while managing budgets and vendor relationships in a fast-paced legal services environment.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) or equivalent, required.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience providing legal research, competitive intelligence, or knowledge services in a law firm, professional services, or corporate environment.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing or leading a research team or function.
• Deep familiarity with legal research platforms such as Westlaw, LexisNexis, Bloomberg Law, and related analytics tools.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex research into practical, attorney focused insights.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, research budgets, and data driven decision-making.
• Familiarity with emerging legal technologies and trends, including generative or agentic AI applications in legal research (experience using or training on these tools preferred).
• Strong project management, organizational, and prioritization skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage credibly with attorneys, clients, and senior stakeholders.
• Analytical mindset with strong problem solving skills and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Supervise and provide guidance to department staff, including training, and conducting performance evaluations.
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment, promoting teamwork and professional development.
• Delegate tasks effectively, ensuring efficient workflow and timely completion of projects
• Manage a full client relationship for one or more research and/or library clients as aligned with skillset and expertise.
• Lead, mentor, and supervise a team of research professionals, providing direction, coaching, and performance feedback.
• Foster a collaborative, client-centered research culture that emphasizes analytical rigor, responsiveness, and continuous professional growth.
• Promote the adoption of best practices in legal research methodology, knowledge synthesis, and information delivery.
• Oversee and guide complex legal, regulatory, and business research and intelligence activities in support of Client attorneys and practice groups.
• Ensure research deliverables are timely, accurate, practice relevant, and aligned with Client priorities and risk tolerance.
• Guide the organization, access, and governance of digital research resources to support efficient information retrieval and reuse.
• Collaborate with knowledge management, practice innovation, and IT teams to align research tools with attorney workflows.
• Ensure compliance with copyright, licensing, and ethical research standards across all research and intelligence activities.
• Champion the evaluation, rollout, and adoption of AI - powered legal research, analytics, and intelligence tools.
• Partner with IT and business services to assess emerging legal technologies that enhance research quality, speed, and insight generation.
• Stay informed on trends in legal technology, generative and agentic AI, data analytics, and information services, advising Clients on implications and opportunities.
• Lead research outreach initiatives tailored to specific Client practice groups or departments.
• Build strong relationships with attorneys and Client stakeholders to anticipate research needs and proactively deliver value.
• Occasionally deliver direct research findings, competitive intelligence, or market insights to Clients and Client leadership.
• Lead and contribute to research centric initiatives, such as research workflow optimization, tool implementations, analytics projects, and service enhancements.
• Develop project plans, timelines, and success metrics to ensure alignment with Client goals.
• Communicate project progress, risks, and outcomes clearly to stakeholders.

Skills

Team leadership

Legal research

Communication

Project management

Analytical thinking

Education

MLIS

Tools

Westlaw

LexisNexis

Bloomberg Law

Analytics tools

Job description

Harbor is seeking a Legal Research Manager for its Library and Research department. This role will manage a full-service client relationship for a large law client as the primary responsibility , including management of research quality, stakeholder communications, short-term and long-term goal planning and support, and library operations/ financial management,

This full-time, fully remote role offers the opportunity to lead library services while guiding a high-performing team to deliver the exceptional service using innovative legal technology solutions. The primary schedule is Monday - Friday, 2:00pm - 11:00pm EST (11:00am - 8:00pm PST). This is a remote position that can be worked from anywhere in the United States.

Responsibilities:

• Supervise and provide guidance to department staff, including training, and conducting performance evaluations.
• Foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment, promoting teamwork and professional development.
• Delegate tasks effectively, ensuring efficient workflow and timely completion of projects
• Manage a full client relationship for one or more research and/or library clients as aligned with skillset and expertise.

Research Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and supervise a team of research professionals, providing direction, coaching, and performance feedback.
• Foster a collaborative, client-centered research culture that emphasizes analytical rigor, responsiveness, and continuous professional growth.
• Promote the adoption of best practices in legal research methodology, knowledge synthesis, and information delivery.
• Oversee and guide complex legal, regulatory, and business research and intelligence activities in support of Client attorneys and practice groups.
• Ensure research deliverables are timely, accurate, practice relevant, and aligned with Client priorities and risk tolerance.

Digital Research & Knowledge Enablement

• Guide the organization, access, and governance of digital research resources to support efficient information retrieval and reuse.
• Collaborate with knowledge management, practice innovation, and IT teams to align research tools with attorney workflows.
• Ensure compliance with copyright, licensing, and ethical research standards across all research and intelligence activities.

Emerging Technology & Innovation

• Champion the evaluation, rollout, and adoption of AI - powered legal research, analytics, and intelligence tools.
• Partner with IT and business services to assess emerging legal technologies that enhance research quality, speed, and insight generation.
• Stay informed on trends in legal technology, generative and agentic AI, data analytics, and information services, advising Clients on implications and opportunities.
• Lead research outreach initiatives tailored to specific Client practice groups or departments.
• Build strong relationships with attorneys and Client stakeholders to anticipate research needs and proactively deliver value.
• Occasionally deliver direct research findings, competitive intelligence, or market insights to Clients and Client leadership.

Project & Initiative Management

• Lead and contribute to research centric initiatives, such as research workflow optimization, tool implementations, analytics projects, and service enhancements.
• Develop project plans, timelines, and success metrics to ensure alignment with Client goals.
• Communicate project progress, risks, and outcomes clearly to stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS) or equivalent, required.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience providing legal research, competitive intelligence, or knowledge services in a law firm, professional services, or corporate environment.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing or leading a research team or function.
• Deep familiarity with legal research platforms such as Westlaw, LexisNexis, Bloomberg Law, and related analytics tools.
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex research into practical, attorney focused insights.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, research budgets, and data driven decision-making.
• Familiarity with emerging legal technologies and trends, including generative or agentic AI applications in legal research (experience using or training on these tools preferred).
• Strong project management, organizational, and prioritization skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage credibly with attorneys, clients, and senior stakeholders.
• Analytical mindset with strong problem solving skills and attention to detail.

About Us:

Harbor is the preeminent provider of expert services across strategy, legal technology, operations, and intelligence. Our globally integrated team of 900+ strategists, technologists, and specialists navigate alongside our clients - leading law firms, corporations, and their law departments - to provide essential resources and invaluable insights. Anchored in a rich heritage of deep knowledge, steadfast relationships, and mutual respect, our unwavering dedication lies in shaping the future of the legal industry and fostering enduring partnerships within our community and ecosystem.

Harbor is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, civil union status, national origin, ancestry, age, parental status, disabled status, veteran status, or any other legally protected classification, in accordance with applicable law.

As set forth in Harbor’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.