Litigation Management Associate

Coverys; East Lansing (MI); On-site; USD 91,000 - 123,000; Full time

Job summary

Coverys is seeking a Litigation Management Associate to audit legal and litigation support invoices and educate panel defense counsel on our litigation management programs. The role includes data reporting, training staff, and developing initiatives for in-house operations.

The position requires a law degree with 1–3 years of legal practice, familiarity with law firm billing, and strong analytical skills to manage audit data and vendor relationships across the unit.

Qualifications

• Law school graduate with 1–3 years of legal practice experience, preferably in civil litigation.
• Experience auditing legal invoices and familiarity with law firm billing practices.
• Ability to read and interpret documents and write routine reports.

Responsibilities

• Audit invoices from panel firms and litigation support vendors for standards of production, timeliness, and quality.
• Educate panel defense counsel on the company’s litigation management programs.
• Develop and implement procedures for the in-house operation.
• Maintain legal audit data and generate quarterly and ad hoc reports.
• Coordinate with claims staff on budgeting and case management.

Skills

Legal data analysis

Vendor management

Training & coaching

Communication

Relationship building

Analytical reasoning

Education

Law degree

Licensed to practice law

Tools

NetCore

Microsoft Excel

Datalytics

Job description

The Litigation Management Associate is primarily responsible for auditing legal and litigation support vendor invoices, and educating panel defense counsel as to the Company's litigation management programs, but is also responsible for training other staff, generating legal audit data and reports, and for developing and implementing litigation management programs and initiatives.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Audit invoices from panel firms, coverage counsel, and litigation support vendors, which includes: meeting of standards for production, timeliness, quality.
• Communicate and builds relationships with panel firms, to include written/verbal/electronic and off-site feedback.
• Negotiate alternate fee arrangements with vendors providing litigation support, which includes the creation and review of contracts for such vendors, where appropriate.
• Participate in the selection/review of panel counsel and coverage counsel, including the setting of rates and negotiating alternate billing arrangements with firms.
• Participate in the development/implementation of procedures for the in-house operation.
• Educate panel firms on the in-house litigation management program, including the Legal Billing.
• Review guidelines and the Case Management Guidelines.
• Analyze firm performance, compliance, and service. Assume primary responsibility for maintaining legal audit data and generating quarterly and ad hoc legal audit reports. With assistance from other members of the Litigation Management Unit, creates and maintains billing compliance databases.
• Analyze allocated and unallocated loss adjustment expenses, for the purpose of expense control. This includes input into control mechanisms, including, but not limited to, alternate fees, discounts and other expense management tools.
• Test software for use/ potential use in unit/program. This includes ensuring the software's readiness to handle the audit/budget/case function.
• Train litigation management associates and other members of the Litigation Management Unit on in-house legal audit procedures. Also responsible for training claim staff on in-house procedures and responsible for training new staff in the legal audit function.
• Coordinate with Claim staff on questions of approval, budgeting, and case management.
• Assist the Litigation Management Unit and senior Claims management in developing and implementing Claim Department and Litigation Management Unit programs and initiatives.
• Implement the Defense Counsel Development Program, including evaluating prospective participating law firms and attorneys, maintaining data as to utilization of the program by participating law firms, and coordinating attorney education seminars (i.e., developing topics, selecting presenters, disseminating seminar information to participating law firms/attorneys, and overall organization of seminars).
• Maintain legal audit data and generating quarterly and ad hoc legal audit reports. This includes directing the efforts of other members of the Litigation Management Unit in these efforts.
• Special projects requiring legal expertise or judgment as requested by management.

Education, Experience, Competencies & Values

• Law school graduate with a minimum of 1-3 years of legal practice experience, preferably with an emphasis on civil litigation. Must be familiar with law firm billing practices. Must have a minimum of 3 years’ experience auditing legal invoices.
• Law school diploma, preferably a license to practice law in one or more of the states in which the Company does business.
• Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.
• Must be able to perform mathematical calculations (including simple accounting calculations and statistical analyses) with the assistance of a calculator.
• Strong analytical skills and reasoning ability required. Must be able to interact effectively with outside counsel, to understand and respond to their questions and concerns, to assist in developing the Company's litigation management programs, and to explain those programs to outside counsel. Must also have the ability to grasp and analyze legal issues which arise in the claims context.
• Knowledge and use of core system (currently NetCore), Microsoft Office (including Excel), legal audit software (currently Datalytics) and any other software deemed appropriate and approved for use in the unit/ program.

The base salary range for this role is $90,780 - $122,800. Individual compensation packages are based on a variety of factors that are unique to each candidate including geographic location, skill set, experience, qualifications and education.

If you're a caring and customer focused individual who enjoys working with passionate team members, Coverys is the right company for you!