New role – could be interesting ?
Microsoft’s Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) has an exciting opportunity for a Director of Law Firm Engagement. This newly created role will work closely with CELA leadership teams to design, build, and implement the department’s law firm engagement program. This is a greenfield of opportunity to creatively address issues that have department-wide impact. The specific initiatives this person will drive include developing a department-wide matter scoping discipline, creating relationship and value-focused incentive strategies, and defining program success measures. This position will be responsible for defining the requirements for associated analytical tools and spend management functionality in other systems. The role’s strategic imperative is to develop matter engagement approaches that better align CELA’s law firm partners’ incentives to efficiently do great, innovative work that builds on their strengths, and create more long-term value for CELA and its law firm partners from our relationships. A successful candidate will be analytical, empathetic, a good negotiator, and an agent of constructive change.
Responsibilities:
• Develop, coordinate, and execute the legal department’s law firm engagement program and pricing strategies.
• Support the legal department’s attorneys on development, management, and monitoring of budgets and alternative or value-based fee arrangements (“AFAs”) with our law firms.
• Manage law firm matter engagement negotiations, with a focus on proposals that integrate pricing and non-monetary inputs, using data and modeling.
• Partner with Legal Operations team to leverage existing shared services and process support.
• Provide resources and training to the department’s attorneys on effective legal project management relating to matter scoping, pricing, and management; and partner with our law firms on developing and implementing pricing proposals and project management strategies.
• Responsible for the business requirements for applicable systems and processes for evaluating and providing feedback to our law firms.
• Develop the change management strategy and training materials required to support the transition to a new law firm engagement program.
Skills/Experience:
• Strong collaborator with the ability to develop talent and support a positive and diverse team culture that values listening, humility, humor, candor, trust, and fun hard work.
• Proven experience being an agent of change in a large organizational setting, driving support for new ways of working.
• Experience working closely with the management team and/or senior leadership of a law firm or legal department.
• Team player with proven ability to build trusted relationships and to work in diverse teams.
• Ability to impact and influence stakeholders with a high degree of autonomy, energy, flexibility and the drive to create real and measurable business results.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills. The ability to “translate” pricing and process issues for all levels of the department, as needed.
• Demonstrated ability to work efficiently, prioritize workflow, and meet demanding deadlines.
• The ability to effectively partner internally and externally, and function in a highly-matrixed environment, to drive highly-scaled impact.
• A working knowledge of Microsoft products.
Required Experience:
• BA/BS required, MBA preferred.
• 7+ years of experience with significant experience with professional services organizations (e.g., law firms, consulting firms, accounting firms), preferably in pricing or business development roles.
https://www.theladders.com/job/01-sid-KBXJSAZZQLSAGUQPXJSQO74LEE
