Business Relationship Manager (Law Firm IT Management Consultant)

WilmerHale is a leading, full-service international law firm with 1,000 lawyers located throughout 12 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Our lawyers work at the intersection of government, technology and business, and we remain committed to our guiding principles of providing quality, excellent legal and client services;

developing diversity among our lawyers and staff and cultivating an environment that promotes an ambitious spirit, collaboration and collegiality by drawing on the extraordinary talents and dynamic experience of our lawyers.

Our goal is to reflect the diversity of our clients and the communities in which we practice.

What You Will Be Doing

Responsible for establishing, managing, and maintaining strategic relationships with internal customers in one or more firm departments (including legal and business operations departments).

Perform as liaisons between IS and the end-users of these firm departments to define and establish service and support requirements.

Lead the gathering of business needs through direct interaction with firm personnel, and are proactive in understanding business processes, the key drivers and measures of success for the firm, and the short-term and long-term direction of the departments, the firm and technology.

Search for and identify sources of technology advantage and look for opportunities to anticipate and satisfy changing internal and external customer needs.

Function as internal consultants in developing and improving / automating business processes and productivity, applying developments in technology to business systems.

Translate high level business requirements into functional specifications for the IS organization and manage changes to such specifications.

Based on breadth and depth of understanding of business needs and processes, collaborate with IS professionals to determine if solutions currently exist (internally or externally) or whether new solutions are feasible.

Analyze and determine the operational and financial impact of new product and service offerings. Take a broad perspective to determine how such solutions will impact existing work processes and systems, and how to manage the integration.

Align IS resources and processes to meet the client organization’s needs. Regularly communicate with the business unit(s) and promote IS services.

Facilitate end-user testing, implementation, and training .

About This Role

Identify opportunities to use technology to impact business unit strategy and performance. Identify sources of advantage and look for customer opportunities that anticipate and satisfy changing customer needs.

Identify new product and service offerings, which may create unique, innovative and high-value customer solutions.

Facilitate a continuous planning process. Work with business units to manage and prioritize product and service portfolios.

Analyze potential solutions to estimate value to the organization and return on investment (ROI). Advocate for technology needs of the business units.

Communicate technology strategy, plans and status to the business community. Provide information to IS about customer plans, opportunities, and needs.

Manage customer plans and expectations.

• Elicit requirements using interviews, document analysis, requirements workshops, surveys, site visits, business process descriptions, use cases, scenarios, business analysis, task and workflow analysis.
• Understand the business processes and challenges as well as information / technology capabilities and assess client needs.

Work with the business units to define and validate system requirements. Prepare functional specifications and system design specifications that can be used by IS to build solutions.

• Critically evaluate information gathered from multiple sources, reconcile conflicts, decompose high-level information into details, abstract up from low-level information to a general understanding, and distinguish user requests from the underlying true needs.
• Develop governance agreements with business units. Define and monitor Service Level Agreements (SLA). Measure customer satisfaction and IS effectiveness with the business units.
• Develop and implement recommendations for improvement. Work with IS to resolve problems and improve service levels.

Be the liaison between the business units, technology teams and support teams.

Work with the IS to develop implementation plans for new products and services and communicate them to business units. Identify business unit technology training needs.

Coordinate with technical training group regarding the delivery of training programs.

Build IS’s understanding of the business and help to educate the business about emerging technologies.

Market IS services to the business units. Demonstrate the value of IS services and how they meet business objectives.

Assumes additional responsibilities as assigned.

Required Skills

Strong customer service orientation

Must have significant knowledge and close familiarity with law firm technology

Builds both formal and informal professional relationships. Maintains and extends relationships within, across and external to organizational boundaries.

Obtains and shares information, ideas and problems.

Applies knowledge of the customer's functions and processes to develop business case and business requirement documents.

Assesses the benefits of recommended solutions.

Proven interpersonal and communication skills. Expresses technical and business concepts, ideas, feelings, opinions, and conclusions orally and in writing.

Listens attentively and reinforces words through body language and tone.

Ability to understand a legal or operational business unit’s needs and translate needs into IT specific requirements. Demonstrated problem solving abilities, analytical skills, and proven ability to meet challenging deadlines required.

Uses an understanding of legal and business functions and available technology to analyze and propose technical strategies for the business.

Assesses benefits and risks.

Identifies and acts upon opportunities for continuous improvement. Encourages prudent risk-taking, exploration of alternative approaches, and organizational learning.

Demonstrates personal commitment to change through actions and words. Mobilizes others to support change through times of stress and uncertainty.

Familiar with System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) concepts.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or management.

JD preferred.

Required Experience

Typically requires 7-10 years of relevant technical and legal / business work experience.

Knowledge of law firm processes preferred.

For additional information about our benefits, please click here .

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by employees in the position.

It is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills for positions. The firm reserves the right at all times, in its sole discretion, to add or subtract duties and responsibilities, as it deems necessary.

WilmerHale is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, age, disability or veteran status, or other protected status.

LI-EC1

LI-Hybrid

Strong customer service orientation

Must have significant knowledge and close familiarity with law firm technology

Builds both formal and informal professional relationships. Maintains and extends relationships within, across and external to organizational boundaries.

Obtains and shares information, ideas and problems.

Applies knowledge of the customer's functions and processes to develop business case and business requirement documents.

Assesses the benefits of recommended solutions.

Proven interpersonal and communication skills. Expresses technical and business concepts, ideas, feelings, opinions, and conclusions orally and in writing.

Listens attentively and reinforces words through body language and tone.

Ability to understand a legal or operational business unit’s needs and translate needs into IT specific requirements. Demonstrated problem solving abilities, analytical skills, and proven ability to meet challenging deadlines required.

Uses an understanding of legal and business functions and available technology to analyze and propose technical strategies for the business.

Assesses benefits and risks.

Identifies and acts upon opportunities for continuous improvement. Encourages prudent risk-taking, exploration of alternative approaches, and organizational learning.

Demonstrates personal commitment to change through actions and words. Mobilizes others to support change through times of stress and uncertainty.

Familiar with System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) concepts.

Education

Bachelor’s degree in computer science or management.

JD preferred.