Legal Project Manager in London

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm with a deep commitment to our clients, their businesses and industries and our people. We are a trusted advisor to global and local organizations the world over, offering a broad range of legal services across key industries, including financial institutions; energy, infrastructure and resources; technology; transport; life sciences and healthcare; and consumer markets.

With 7,000 people across 50 offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East, we work as one team to solve issues wherever they arise, no matter how complex they are.

We are looking to recruit an experienced Legal Project Manager to join our growing Banking LPM capability. The successful candidate will have demonstrable experience at a leading law firm and be interested in building strong relationships across our Banking team. This role offers the opportunity to work on complex, high-value banking and finance matters, supporting our lawyers in delivering efficient and effective legal services to our clients.

The LPM team works closely with partners, fee earners and other Business Professionals to provide better support for client engagements; assist with scoping and managing matters and client portfolios; drive efficiencies; and further develop the LPM toolkit.

You will be both business and client facing and will play a pivotal role in embedding LPM across our offices in EMEA. As well as being engaged on specific matters and providing internal style consultancy advice across the EMEA business, you will also support the development of the wider LPM team.

This role provides a great opportunity to drive change in the delivery of our legal services, work alongside our process and technology experts, and develop new and better ways of working.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage banking and finance legal projects, including due diligence, loan portfolio reviews, transfers/novations, and repapering.
• Develop project plans, process maps/workflows, timelines, and resource allocation strategies to meet delivery requirements.
• Monitor progress against key milestones and ensure on-time, on-budget delivery, providing ongoing updates to ensure that legal mandates meet Firm standards and client expectations.
• Collaborate closely with lawyers, clients, and counterparties to drive project execution.
• Act as the primary point of contact for project-related queries and updates.
• Facilitate effective communication between legal teams, clients, and third-parties.
• Implement and manage client and matter based internal and external reporting.
• Implement best practices for legal project execution, including risk management, reporting, and quality control.
• Identify areas for process improvement and proactively propose solutions.
• Proactively manage scope and design/deploy scope management plans.
• Track and monitor project budgets, ensuring financial performance aligns with forecasts and client expectations.
• Develop specific client matter project and portfolio documentation and reports, including reviewing and consolidating financial reporting and project metrics.
• Support pricing and fee structuring to maintain profitability while delivering value to clients.
• Generate regular financial reports, including cost analysis, budget variances, and revenue tracking.
• Identify opportunities for process efficiencies and cost savings across projects.
• Utilize legal technology tools, including contract management and workflow automation platforms, to streamline processes.
• Support data analytics, tracking, and reporting to enhance project transparency and efficiency.
• Liaise with clients, lawyers, pricing and business development professionals.
• Assist on other special projects as needed.

Skills and Experience Required

• Educated to a degree level.
• Expertise working in a similar capacity in a leading law firm.
• Project management, lean, change management or other certification or comparable experience is preferable.
• Demonstrable experience managing banking and finance legal projects, including due diligence, loan portfolio reviews, transfers/novations, and repapering projects.
• Strong financial acumen with experience in budget tracking, cost management, and financial reporting.
• Excellent organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills with the ability to prioritize and manage multiple tasks effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to liaise effectively with clients, lawyers, and business professionals.
• Experience working with technology solutions to support legal project execution. Experience with tools such as Litera Transact, eBrevia, Harvey, and O&D is a plus.
• Experience with MS Office tools including Excel.
• Some knowledge of PowerBI, Visio, and SharePoint.
• Experience of enterprise reporting systems.
• Able to learn new applications quickly.
• Management of juniors and pastoral skills.
• Ability to work independently and as a key contributor.
• Comfortable working with and leading teams of partners, associates and other legal personnel.

Personal Presentation

• Excellent interpersonal skills and able to build relationships with and influence senior stakeholders.
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to explain complex financial information to non-finance personnel.
• Positive, committed and prepared to use initiative and learn.
• Ability to take responsibility and to work under pressure.
• Ability to demonstrate interest and concern to meet the needs of internal and external clients.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, have a sense of belonging, and realize their full career potential.