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Senior Manager, Legal Operations __

Firm Summary White & Case is a leading global law firm serving companies, financial institutions, and governments worldwide. With lawyers in over 40 locations and a strong presence in major financial markets, we excel at handling complex cross-border matters. Our strength lies not just in our global network, but in the collaborative, interconnected approach of our people. Representing 110 nationalities and speaking 87 languages, our team is globally minded, enterprising, and committed to excellence.

The Role This Senior Manager role offers a unique opportunity to drive operational excellence and innovation within the Firm’s Tech Disputes practice. The position supports key client portfolios by overseeing legal operations, portfolio management, and financial analysis, collaborating closely with clients’ in-house legal teams and the Firm’s lawyers.

As part of the global Legal Project Management (LPM) team, the Senior Manager will manage end-to-end delivery of disputes and compliance matters, streamline processes, improve reporting accuracy, and implement client-facing innovations such as Power BI dashboards. The role also involves guiding local counsel teams, leading strategic financial analysis, and collaborating across functions including Finance, Billing, and Business Development.

Success in this role requires expertise in legal operations and project management for high-value, multi-jurisdictional portfolios. The Senior Manager will mentor junior team members, contribute to LPM growth initiatives, and drive strategic improvements that enhance client service, operational efficiency, and the Firm’s overall Tech Disputes capabilities.

Main Duties and Responsibilities1

• In collaboration with Legal Operations and LPM leadership, develop and strengthen the Firm’s legal operation/LPM capability and pipeline of work, influencing Partners and lawyers to adopt LPM principles on their matters
• Operational management and co-delivery of legal projects/matters by

o arranging Kick-Off Meetings, Project Team Meetings and Steering Meetings, ensuring attendees, standing agenda, record keeping and circulation are appropriate to the meetings’ purpose o defining and validating project scope, not simply management of scope o defining and tracking timelines, milestones, deliverables, assumptions and dependencies at the outset o financial/budget management on projects/matters o tracking progress and escalating changes in scope, time and/or budget to project stakeholders and ensuring effective corrective action is implemented, where required o implementing effective risk and issue identification and management strategies, providing options for mitigation or resolution that reflect client priorities o leading post project review and Lessons Learned workshops to contribute to ongoing process improvements

• Use of appropriate project management tools and techniques including drafting of all project-related documents and project artefacts such as project approach, project plans, schedules, action trackers, availability trackers, correspondence trackers, risk logs, status reports
• Implement and ensure effective communication strategies are in place and acting as the interface, where appropriate, to project specific stakeholders including our Clients, lawyers in other practice areas and offices, external and opposing counsel and third party vendors
• Provide LPM guidance on best practices, tools, techniques, roles and responsibilities
• Collaborate with legal teams to identify the most cost effective and level of resources available
• Collaborate with legal teams to draft and submit budget proposals; and with support from the Finance team, track and analyse actual project costs against budget and proactively address budget variances
• Build relationships and foster a collaborative approach between the Firm’s legal teams, local counsel, and Clients on matter workstreams
• Focused on lean principles and use of innovation and business process mapping, contribute to continuous improvement of the LPM Team’s processes including project management methodology, governance, training for legal teams and LPM best practice; and support of the change management of implementing these
• Management of concurrent matters across a portfolio to provide operational oversight with a focus on legal operations strategies for the Tech Disputes practice
• Manage local counsel across jurisdictions to ensure alignment on invoicing, reporting, and compliance with client-specific requirements, monitoring trends across client portfolios to identify strategic opportunities and areas for standardization
• Line management of junior team members, as required
• Support LPM leadership with LPM collateral for bids, tenders and pitches to portray LPM as an innovative way in which to deliver legal services
• Contribute to the development and delivery of LPM training content for Firm lawyers, local counsel, and Clients
• Identify opportunities to cross-sell LPM services in our global business
• Be seen as a key contact point for Partners and senior stakeholders for LPM globally and build relationships and foster a collaborative approach to working with clients and across all departments
• Comfortable with presenting on relevant topics at Senior Leadership meetings and Client meetings.

Experience and Knowledge

• Experience of Legal Project Management required
• Significant experience of managing project teams and supporting complex, multi-jurisdictional matters in a dedicated project management capacity including experience of working with global legal teams
• Experience of change management
• Knowledge and proficiency in extranets, ebilling software, online data rooms, collaboration tools, legal tech and SharePoint sites; proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office products including Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, Project and Power BI
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities with “can do” attitude, work cross-functionally, and meet tight deadlines
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, able to interact at all levels including with senior business stakeholders to negotiate and persuade in order to achieve successful outcomes
• Understanding of law firm financial and performance metrics and ability to analyze financial reports of varying levels of complexity, providing financial analysis with a focus on delivering value to clients
• Problem solver
• Willing to challenge and question assumptions
• Ability to work well under pressure and manage/prioritize workload
• Advanced organizational and time management skills
• A project leader
• Flexible and resilient with ability to change and adapt in a fast moving, detail-oriented environment
• Sensitivity to cultural differences across project teams

Education and Qualifications

• A strong academic record, preferably of graduate level (Law Degree or other relevant Post Graduate Degree an advantage).
• Formal project management qualification essential, for example APMQ or PMP
• 5+ years relevant work experience including client facing roles

Location and Reporting

• This is a permanent position based in Los Angeles
• This role reports to Director/Associate Director Legal Project Management - Legal Operations

Note to Recruitment Agencies Our Internal Recruitment team are responsible for all end-to-end lateral recruitment process. All agencies must sign White & Case terms of business which are often specific. Candidates submitted by an agency without terms of business agreed with the appropriate office, and/or outside of our online application tracking system, will not be considered a formal introduction. Any applications and CVs sent directly to White & Case Partners and employees will not be accepted as formal introductions. If you have any questions, please contact the Americas Lateral Recruitment team.

Equal Opportunities White & Case is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and is committed to creating a fair workplace. It is our Firm's policy to recruit, employ, train, compensate and promote without regard to race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other category protected by applicable law.

Applicants who are interested in applying for a position and require an accommodation during the process should contact talent.acquisition@whitecase.com.

Benefits White & Case LLP offers a comprehensive suite of benefit programs to all eligible employees, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, life and disability coverage, 401(k) retirement savings, vacation time, and leave programs (including parental leave). Exempt roles are also performance bonus eligible.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

1The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.