Senior Legal Project Manager – Client Strategy in London

Office Location: London

Department: Finance

Our Legal Project Managers (LPMs) are strategically aligned with both practice groups and clients, actively shaping our LPM best practices, tools, and techniques. They lead training initiatives for our in-house legal teams, identify opportunities for greater efficiency and innovation, and design integrated processes to deliver exceptional, holistic client management.

Working Hours: 35 hours per week, 9:30am to 5:30pm but additional hours may be required. We are happy to consider agile and flexible working patterns. Our approach to hybrid working allows for up to 40% of time working from home and 60% working in the office.

Role Overview: Join a dynamic environment where you’ll operate at the heart of client strategy, collaborating with the Senior Manager LPM Lead, client relationship partners, matter supervising partners, and top-tier business leaders. This is an outstanding opportunity to build influential relationships and drive impactful results alongside key stakeholders.

In this pivotal role, you’ll take ownership of a client retainer account, playing a critical role in delivering clear, actionable financial reporting to both firm and client leadership. Your insights will directly shape strategic decision-making, as you provide robust management information that empowers business growth. You’ll also drive excellence in project management—designing and refining processes, overseeing budgets, and ensuring matters are managed seamlessly from end to end.

With a strong focus on continuous improvement, you’ll identify opportunities to enhance efficiency and champion innovative working practices across legal teams. Your expertise in process optimisation will fuel the evolution of internal procedures, and your leadership will extend to providing targeted training to both legal teams and mentoring to junior colleagues.

If you thrive on collaboration, innovation, and making a tangible impact for clients, this is an exciting chance to excel!

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversight and management of a client account exceeding $60 million, ensuring all activities are conducted efficiently.
• Oversight and management of the intake process for new client instructions, guaranteeing smooth onboarding and workflow initiation.
• Oversight and management of an annual secondment programme, working with partners, HR and firm management to identify appropriate secondees.
• Ongoing management of the client onboarding programme for all internal lawyers.
• Identify opportunities for efficiency and innovation – assisting with the development of such solutions, where appropriate, and, once developed, embed best practice.
• Identification of potential improvement areas, as well as the development of processes and systems that enhance efficiency across the organisation.
• Ongoing review and assurance that all internal processes remain suitable and effective for their intended purposes.
• Champion and support the build out of Legal Project Management capability across Hogan Lovells.

Reporting and Financial Management:

• Oversight and management of weekly and quarterly reporting tasks to CRPs, partners and firm management.
• Preparation and maintenance of dashboard reports utilising specific LPM tools, technologies, and software to provide up-to-date insights.
• Regular provision of fee and progress updates to matter teams, including the creation of tailored reporting when necessary.
• Assistance to the Senior Manager LPM Lead in managing the quarterly internal financial allocation process.
• Continuous quality control for time recording, including the management of corrective actions on matters as needed.
• Efficient management of matters where necessary, including initial scoping, budgeting, workstream planning, ongoing oversight, tracking, and data analysis.
• Monitoring the scope of work and promptly flagging any out-of-scope activities with matter partners.

Account Management:

• Acts as a key point of contact both within the firm and for the client.
• Proactively leads on aspects of the relationship beyond legal work.
• Works closely with the Senior Manager LPM Lead, Client Relationship Partners (CRPs) and partners to facilitate the smooth-running of the client account.
• Proactively identifies opportunities to develop and strengthen client relationships with a focus on profitable growth and works with the CRPs and partners to drive these forward.
• Strives for efficiencies and innovations at every corner, identifying new ideas and ways of working.
• Develops a deep and thorough understanding of the client’s business, and acts as the internal voice of the client within the firm.
• Supports the overall delivery of the client programme.
• Supports and manages the delivery of value add services to the client.

Personal Attributes and Team Contribution:

• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
• Demonstrates resilience and composure under pressure.
• Be a trusted member of the Client Strategy and Client Relationship teams, focused on service quality, delivery and efficiency.
• Development of strong relationships with partners, lawyers, and other business services teams to foster effective teamwork.
• Coordination with other business services teams (such as Pricing, Finance, IT, Knowledge, Marketing, M&BD) and external vendors to support partners and their clients or matters.
• Advocacy and support for the implementation, utilisation, and development of LPM best practices, tools, and software.
• Provides coaching and guidance to junior colleagues, facilitating their professional growth.

Skills & Experience:

• At least 5 years of experience as an LPM or Senior PMO experience, with advanced knowledge of project and account management processes.
• Experience of client facing project management.
• Demonstrable track record of championing and delivering change – and delivering solutions that work for all stakeholders.
• Results driven with a record of delivering creative and effective outcomes.
• Large firm consultative experience is preferable.
• Experience with scoping, budgeting, project planning, workflow management, post-matter reviews.
• Excellent analytical skills and ability to produce engaging, concise and timely management advice.
• Technical skills desired include advanced Excel and PowerBI (or comparable BI software).
• Deep knowledge of law firm management metrics, and how day-to-day legal practice interacts with those metrics; a project management qualification is desirable (Prince2, APM etc.).

General Attributes:

Essential:

• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Highly numerate and competent in Excel.
• Be a team player who instils confidence in others of themselves, the need for LPM, and of solutions and options offered.
• Be comfortable embracing uncertainty and to work with others to find working solutions.
• Willing to challenge and question assumptions; proposes alternative and bold solutions.
• Self-motivated, able to demonstrate determination and persistence.
• High degrees of influencing skills, credibility and professionalism.
• Training and coaching skills, to both senior and junior colleagues.
• Ability to work with all levels within an organisation, from senior partners to more junior team members.
• Pro-active, commercial outlook with a solution based approach.

Desired:

• Database management experience.
• Experience with dashboards and data visualisation tools.
• Familiarity with Omnitrack, SharePoint, HighQ, SmartSheet, PowerBI or other project management software.

Equal Opportunities Employment & Agile Working Statement:

It is the policy of Hogan Lovells to provide equal opportunities for all employees in relation to recruitment, training and promotion. Decisions in these areas will be made only by reference to the requirements of the job and shall not be influenced by any consideration of racial or ethnic origin, religion, sex, gender and gender identity, age, sexual orientation, marital and civil partnership status, pregnancy or disability. Our goal is to embed flexibility across our business by giving everyone the opportunity to work in an agile way, whether as a regular pattern or on an ad hoc basis, and we will be happy to discuss this further.