Practice Manager, Advisor – 9 month FTC

• Support the Practice Director with business management across the firm’s largest practice groups
• Coordinate partner meetings, including agendas, papers, minutes, actions, decisions, attendees and guest speakers
• Coordinate department and team meetings
• Coordinate work allocation within larger practice groups to balance workloads and maximise efficiency
• Deliver practice group inductions and collaborate with HR to onboard new joiners
• Work with Practice Support Managers and other Business Teams on process improvement
• Support delivery of practice group business plans and oversee aspects of practice group budgets
• Coordinate and document supervision arrangement changes, liaising with HR
• Collaborate with HR on recruitment, development, appraisal feedback and objective setting
• Prepare team updates regarding joiners, leavers and secondments
• Manage client secondment and reverse-secondment requests end-to-end
• Coordinate fee earner resource-sharing requests across practice groups
• Monitor utilisation, identify trends and concerns, and resolve reporting errors
• Respond to lawyer and partner queries about utilisation
• Support understanding of and adherence to the time recording policy
• Maintain and improve Practice Management intranet pages
• Support projects including a new pro bono strategy, paralegal role design and resourcing, and streamlined Business Team communications
• Support the running of large practice groups and contribute to firmwide strategic projects and smooth day-to-day practice operations
• Collaborate regularly with partners, lawyers and colleagues across Business Teams

Requirements

• Experience working as a Practice Manager or Practice Advisor, or in an equivalent functionally broad role
• Ideally, experience gained within a law firm or professional services environment
• Proactive self-starter with a can-do attitude
• Well organised with excellent attention to detail
• Comfortable navigating new areas and working fluidly with colleagues across functions
• Able to build effective and trusting relationships quickly at all levels, from partners and directors to early career colleagues
• Strong influencing skills, including confidence to provide constructive challenge and openness to adjust approaches based on feedback
• Alignment with the organisation’s values and desire to make a difference
• Desire to feel part of the Bates Wells experience and belong

Core Competencies

Demonstrates strong organizational and coordination skills to manage practice group operations, including meeting facilitation, resource allocation, and process improvement. Exhibits the ability to build effective relationships and influence stakeholders while supporting strategic projects and adherence to policies.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Practice Management Experience
• Process Improvement
• Budget Oversight
• Stakeholder Collaboration
• Utilization Monitoring

Soft Skills

• Proactive Self-Starter
• Excellent Attention to Detail
• Strong Influencing Skills
• Effective Relationship Building
• Well Organized

Industry Keywords

• Law Firm Experience
• Professional Services Environment
• Business Management
• Practice Group Coordination
• Time Recording Policy