Senior Legal Project Manager - Strategic LPM & Innovation

Goodwin; Santa Monica (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Life and disability insurance

Retirement & Savings Plan

Paid vacation, sick time off, and holi

Professional development

Job summary

Goodwin’s Global Operations Team seeks a Senior Manager, Legal Project Management to partner with partners and fee earners across practice groups, driving matter delivery, commercial discipline, and client transparency. You’ll work with the Head of LPM and Client Value & Pricing to embed LPM into delivery.

You will lead end-to-end LPM on high-value matters, build matter plans and budgets, and foster innovation through AI and data tools while mentoring junior teammates in a growing function.

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience in legal project management, legal operations, or a related role within a law firm, in-house legal team, or professional services environment.
• Demonstrated track record of embedding LPM in a nascent environment, e.g. where partners have not previously used LPM.
• Exposure to design thinking, Lean, Agile, or Six Sigma methodologies.
• Prior involvement in training, coaching, or change management initiatives.
• PMP, PRINCE2, or equivalent project management certification.
• Expertise in the fundamentals of project management and change leadership.
• Strong commercial mindset with deep expertise in AFAs, matter budgeting, profitability analysis and commercial risk management.
• Strong analytical and financial acumen. Comfortable interrogating data, building models, and making commercial recommendations.
• Hands‑on experience with legal tech platforms (e.g. workflow automation, collaboration, matter management, BI/reporting tools) and a genuine curiosity about AI and emerging tech.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and build credibility with senior partners and demanding clients.
• Ability to set a vision and bring others on the journey.

Responsibilities

• Build trusted advisory relationships with partners and senior associates, engaging at matter inception to shape scope, resourcing, risk mitigation, and fee structures.
• Collaborate with the Pricing team to deliver integrated pricing and project management solutions.
• Act as strategic partner to new business development, supporting client pitches, fee discussions, and acting as a voice of innovation and commercial rigor.
• Lead end-to-end LPM support on complex, high-value matters, ensuring work is delivered within scope, on budget, on time, while protecting matter profitability.
• Ensuring matters are reviewed on completion to capture lessons and best practice.
• Drive commercial conversations around scope change, budget risk, and profitability, addressing issues early.
• Develop and maintain matter plans, budgets, and resource trackers for real-time visibility.

Skills

Legal project mgmt

Stakeholder management

Design thinking

Lean

Agile

Six Sigma

PMP/PRINCE2

Budgeting & profitability

Data analysis

Legal tech tools

Vision casting

Education

Project management certification

Tools

Workflow automation

Matter management

BI/Reporting tools

Job description

Goodwin’s Global Operations Team seeks a Senior Manager, Legal Project Management to partner with partners and fee earners across practice groups, driving matter delivery, commercial discipline, and client transparency. You’ll work with the Head of LPM and Client Value & Pricing to embed LPM into delivery.

You will lead end-to-end LPM on high-value matters, build matter plans and budgets, and foster innovation through AI and data tools while mentoring junior teammates in a growing function.