The Practice Support Services Department of Arnold & Porter has an opening for a Legal Assistant Supervisor in the Washington, DC office. The Legal Assistant Supervisor provides day-to-day supervision of the firmwide legal assistant (paralegal) population, including but not limited to work allocation, productivity and service delivery, hiring, training/professional development, and other personnel and administrative matters, in support of the Firm’s legal practice groups.
Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Supervising project legal assistants, legal assistants, senior legal assistants and case managers across all domestic offices on a daily basis.
- Working closely with the Legal Assistant Manager, Manager of Practice Support Services, Director of Practice Support Services and office administrators on management issues regarding firmwide legal assistants.
- Monitoring and supervising work allocation, including directing requests for legal assistant services, matters and assignments as needed, to ensure effectiveness.
- Monitoring and reviewing departmental productivity and identifying new opportunities to expand legal assistant services across the firm.
- Reviewing billable hours posted by legal assistants; correcting narratives, as necessary.
- Supervising the professional development of legal assistant staff, including identifying new training opportunities, creating training materials and tracking professional development of individual legal assistants.
- Monitoring and reviewing work product to ensure adherence to departmental best practices.
- Providing work performance feedback to staff throughout the year and assisting with the coordination of performance evaluations.
- Approving legal assistant overtime and assisting with the management of daily timecards.
- Monitoring the work load of legal assistants to ensure that the work is evenly distributed for maximum efficiency and productivity.
- Assisting with legal assistant recruitment and exit processes, including reviewing resumes, interviewing prospective candidates, onboarding as well as conducting exit interviews.
- Conducting departmental meetings and delivering legal assistant department updates in weekly Practice Support meetings.
- Handling employee relationship issues and escalating, as appropriate.
- Handling a variety of administrative duties, including coordinating and interacting with other department management staff, preparing reports, coordinating staff meetings, overseeing the orientation process of new employees and contributing to orientation of new attorneys. Assisting with the maintenance of department electronic and physical files, including personnel files and contract personnel (non-employee workers).
- Interacting frequently with: practice group heads, partners and special counsel/associates at all levels; Corporate Practice Management team members; Practice Directors and managers.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
- Minimum of five years of prior law firm experience and a minimum of two years of prior supervisory experience.
- Proficient in a range of computer software including Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) as well as proficient with document review and case management tools.
- Knowledge of professional development principles, legal billing processes and basic management and project management principles.
- Ability to clearly and effectively communicate, in oral and written form, with people at all levels within the Firm.
- Ability to make sound decisions and demonstrate a high degree of trustworthiness in handling confidential and sensitive information.
- Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Ability to work in an environment with shifting priorities and deadlines.
- Exhibit superior attention to detail and pride in high quality deliverables.
- Must have the ability to multi-task and prioritize in a fast-paced environment.
- Flexibility to work additional hours as needed.
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