Deputy Group Financial Controller

Welcome to A&O Shearman, where we offer a flexible, inclusive culture underpinned by openness and consistent support for one another. We provide challenge, support and a place for you to belong. Together we can excel, working on meaningful projects of global significance.

We are recruiting a Business Development Manager to join the A&O Shearman London office supporting the Litigation and Investigations group.

Department Purpose: Our Marketing, Business Development and Communications (MBD&C) team contributes to the setting and achievement of the firm's business objectives, which include supporting our lawyers in their pursuit of becoming our clients' trusted advisers, building and maintaining long-lasting, deep institutional client relationships, winning new clients, increasing the visibility of the firm globally, and positioning the firm as a thought leader among the global elite law firms. The function works as one team across the globe with very close collaboration between the central groups and professionals supporting offices, practice groups, sectors, and key clients.

Role Purpose: We are looking for a Business Development Manager to support the London Litigation and Investigations (L&I) group. An integral member of the team, this role will report to and work with the Senior BD Manager for L&I and provide BD support to the London L&I practice group and the firm’s eDiscovery business. The role will involve the full spectrum of marketing and BD activities for the groups, including support on pitches, events, directories, campaigns and thought leadership, and other profile-raising activities both internally and externally.

This role provides an opportunity to join a truly global practice with clear goals and a focus on integration, collaboration and cross-selling at an exciting time for the firm. L&I is the largest of A&O Shearman's five Disputes practice groups (and the second largest practice in the firm). L&I is a diverse practice encompassing a variety of specialisms, making it a fascinating practice to work with. We are better positioned than ever post-merger to solve any contentious issue our clients may face.

Role and Responsibilities:

• Pitches and Proposals – take the lead in preparing proposals and credentials statements that require minimum lawyer input for the London practice, assisting with global pitches when required.
• Client events – working with the BD specialist, management of all logistics and marketing/promotion, in addition to acting as a coach/advisor to partners.
• Legal Directories – working with the BD specialist, oversight of the submissions the group makes to Chambers and Legal 500, in addition to leading on the annual submission to Global Investigations Review and overseeing multi-jurisdictional submissions for Chambers Europe and Chambers Global.
• Utilise understanding of the L&I practice and how it correlates to the wider firm and wider market to identify new business development opportunities.
• Formulate strategic approaches to capitalise on these opportunities.
• Progress the strategy for the London L&I practice.
• Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the key clients and sectors relevant to the practice and our work for those clients.
• Client relationship building – assist partners, associates and BD colleagues in the management of strategic client relationships and coordinate client targeting efforts.
• Work with the central client relationship management (CRM) team on specific client tactics, including secondee debriefs, client presentations and training, etc.
• Analyse the ROI of external profile-raising opportunities i.e. conference sponsorships and make recommendations to lawyers.
• Participate in the training and development of the L&I BD specialist.
• Actively seek opportunities to raise the profile of the practice groups’ capabilities within the firm by engaging with firm-wide initiatives and proactively suggesting joint marketing activities with other practice groups.
• Develop strong relationships with L&I partners across the firm.
• Develop strong relationships with eDiscovery leadership.
• Manage business development planning and strategy for the eDiscovery team.
• Liaise and work with other members of the BD team and other support teams to improve the co-ordination of and communication surrounding the BD activities of the groups, both within London and internationally.
• Conduct market and client research to support strategic practice objectives.
• Associate development – conduct BD training for the L&I associates and work with them on their individual BD plans.
• Internal communications – ensure litigation and eDiscovery events, content and activity are promoted and communicated internally to both fee-earners and other members of the BD team.
• Work with PAs and BD Assistant to ensure email distribution and target lists are kept up-to-date; maintain updated collateral, credentials, and CVs; and ensure pitch information and experience is regularly and accurately captured.
• Additional projects – expect to assist in firm-wide, local, departmental or practice area projects.

Key Requirements:

• Strong communication skills, both written and oral.
• Can persuade and influence senior stakeholders.
• Strong client focus and commercial knowledge.
• Proactive, solutions-focused.
• A dedication to excellence.
• High attention to detail.
• Strong project management and organisational skills.
• Can intuit and challenge, questioning the rationale behind existing concepts, plans and ideas and providing solutions/alternative approaches.
• Can build relationships across teams and at all levels of seniority.
• Relevant business development, marketing and/or CRM experience (ideally within a professional services organisation, but we are open to other sectors).
• We welcome applications from Managers, or those looking to take a step up.
• Politically astute – can anticipate future areas of risk for the practice and takes appropriate action to address these.
• Understands the complexities of the partnership structure and can navigate them to achieve objectives.
• Ability to work to deadlines, juggle multiple projects and deliver under pressure.
• Ability to plan ahead, anticipate workload of the team and manage others’ time efficiently – always manages expectations.

Should you require additional support at any stage of the recruitment process due to a disability or a health condition, please do not hesitate to contact a member of our recruitment team who will work with you to provide any adjustments as required. We are an equal opportunities recruiter and do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, or any other protected characteristic.

We recognise that our people are our most valuable asset, which is reflected in the wide range of benefits that are available to our employees. Some of these benefits include: our occupational pension scheme, group income protection cover, private medical insurance, mental health resources and free apps, health and wellbeing services encompassing an onsite gym, wellbeing centre and GP service, emergency back-up care support, parental and special leave, holiday entitlement increasing with length of service, holiday trading, season ticket loans and online discounts and lifestyle management services.

Our approach to hybrid working seeks to combine and maximise the benefits of effective remote working with the benefits of being in the office. Our current hybrid working arrangements require office based working for a minimum of 60% of your time (i.e. three days per week for a full time role) in accordance with our hybrid working policy.