Practice Group / Department:
Practice Support - London
Job Description
We're Norton Rose Fulbright - a global law firm with over 50 offices and 7,000 employees worldwide. We provide the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. At Norton Rose Fulbright, our strategy and our culture are closely entwined. We know that our expansion will mean little unless it is underpinned by truly global collaboration and we understand that pioneering work only takes place when our people have room to move and think beyond boundaries. As well as the relevant skills and experience, we're looking for people who are innovative, commercial and value the work that they do.
The Role
The delivery of high end legal services is becoming more complex and sophisticated. This is being driven by new ways of structuring teams, the deployment of new disciplines like legal project management and the use of new technology. This role will be in our London office and will be responsible for managing support within their respective teams, being aligned to practice groups and business services support teams (Practice Support Executives (“PSE”), Administration, Document Production) ensuring support is being provided at the highest level. There will also be an element of PSE involvement and support within their teams, when needed, which will also assist with having oversight and understanding of the role and support being delivered by the PSE’s. This role sits within the Practice Support Office (“PSO”) and reports to the Head of Practice Support.
This role is a 12 month FTC.
Key responsibilities
Management and strategic responsibilities
- Responsible for the PSE support delivery within their practice group, aligned to the PSO model
- Ensures fee earner support needs are being met and support delivery meets the high performing standards expected
- Works with the Head of Practice Support to develop and implement new initiatives across their respective teams
- Meets with the Head of Practice Support regularly to receive/provide updates, discuss any employee relation matters and work together to ensure optimal outcome across teams
- Uses data to understand the support / resource / recruitment needs of their teams and areas of focus needs to constantly evolve their team to support strategic direction
- Proactive in discussions on piloting new technology initiatives and ways of working and providing constructive feedback; engaging support for pilots from within the PSO teams before it is rolled out to the rest of the firm
- Forward thinking mindset and subject matter expert (SME) in their areas of responsibility to: encourage ways of continually developing structure and processes and to listen and respond to the needs of the business
- Works with the Practice Group and legal Team Leaders to gain relevant partner and associate participation in business development initiatives
Team management and development
- Submits requests for recruitment with guidance from the Head of Practice Support, aligned to the PSO model and business approach. Leads on the recruitment process for new support joiners
- Encourages the use of BigHand and utilises BigHand reporting for insights and opportunities for improvements including ensuring work is being delegated and undertaken correctly.
- Shares and promotes best practice to ensure consistently high quality standards are being met
- Ensures their team are attending all relevant training and applying new information to continually develop their capabilities
- Ensures continued communication on expectation of support with PSEs and fee earners
- Works with other Practice Support Managers to ensure a high level consistent service is being delivered across all teams, sharing knowledge when appropriate
- Takes the lead on performance reviews and mid-year roadmaps, gathering feedback on performance, setting SMART objectives with direct reports and holding regular catch ups to monitor. Challenging views and managing expectations as needed to align to the competency framework
- Recognises skill gaps and training needs across their team, identifies effective training and resources to upskill as needed with a focus on evolving the support delivered to fee earners
- Deals with any capability issues / employee relation matters / return to work discussions. Conducting meetings in conjunction with, when relevant, either the PSEC or with HR depending on the situation.
- Works with other Business Services teams to support the implementation of new initiatives/processes across their respective teams
- Provides PSE support within their respective teams when the need arises
- Skilled and knowledgeable on the role of the PSE support
General approach
- Takes responsibility for ensuring technical skills and knowledge meet the requirements of the team
- ‘Go to’ contact in terms of where to source knowledge and information throughout the practice
- Leads and maintains a professional and motivated support team which will deliver a high quality and efficient service to fee earners/clients
- Develops strong communication links with all fee earners across their group to ensure optimum delivery of support
- Establishes rapport with and trust of the support team, fee earners, partners, and the teams across the wider firm
- Exercises confidentiality, discretion, and personal sensitivity in all aspects of role
- Supports and builds collaborative working relationships with their support teams and wider business and actively works for the interests of the business
- Commitment to upskilling teams through planning and facilitating regular training and knowledge sharing sessions
- Investment in developing staff through listening and responding to employee needs and delivering necessary developmental feedback in real time
Person specification
The Candidate – Skills and Experience
Proven experience of line management across different teams with strong adaptive management and leadership skills; with ability to motivate and develop teams to deliver a high quality serviceExperienced in the performance and salary review processChange leadersEmbraces and promotes the use of technology and proactively identifies opportunities to improve ways of workingExcellent communication and people skills with the ability to adapt their communication style and use influencing and negotiation techniques to ensure maximum effectivenessStrong organisational, time management and prioritisation
