Legal Operations Lead

An excellent opportunity has arisen for a Legal Operations Lead to join the Legal Support Services function of a prestigious international law firm, taking responsibility for a busy Disputes division. This is a leadership role combining senior PA support to Partners with the day-to-day management and development of a Legal Operations administrative team, ensuring fee earners and clients receive a consistently high standard of service. The successful Legal Operations Lead will act as a central point of contact for office management across the division, an ambassador for the department, and an approachable, inspiring leader for the team.

Key Responsibilities

• PA Support
  • Acting as primary point of contact for the Partners you support, managing calls, emails, meeting requests and correspondence
  • Full proactive and advanced diary management across busy, frequently changing schedules
  • Ensuring Partners are fully prepared for meetings, including collating information, preparing notes, attending meetings, taking minutes and following up on action points
  • Supporting fee earners through the client/matter lifecycle in line with the firm’s compliance policies and guidelines
• Office and Division Management
  • Maintaining key department and division documents and data
  • Supporting department and division meetings as required
  • Planning and overseeing logistics for new starters, leavers and returners, working alongside Tech, Facilities and other Business Operations functions
  • Building strong relationships across departments and business services, acting as a connector between fee earners, the Legal Operations team and wider functions
  • Driving a strong compliance mindset within the department, overseeing the compliance checklist and supporting fee earning staff to remain compliant
  • Attending quarterly Risk and Compliance meetings and implementing agreed actions
  • Working with Compliance and Academy teams to identify and deliver relevant training
• Team Leadership and Development
  • Day-to-day leadership and development of the Legal Operations team supporting the department’s fee earners
  • Responsibility for recruitment, induction and support of team members, including setting objectives, regular one-to-ones and twice-yearly reviews
  • Overseeing work allocation and delegation, applying the firm’s frameworks for formal support where needed, in collaboration with the People team
  • Monitoring attendance, performance and wellbeing across the team
  • Promoting a collaborative, high-performing team environment
  • Ensuring access to learning and professional development opportunities
  • Organising cover for holiday, sickness and workload peaks
  • Identifying cross-departmental resourcing needs, liaising with the Legal Operations Manager and other assistants
• Strategy
  • Working with the Legal Operations Manager to deliver and support the wider Legal Operations strategy
  • Supporting and leading the team’s engagement with departmental objectives and the Global Capability Centre
  • Feeding into firmwide improvement projects and process enhancement initiatives
  • Building strong relationships across Legal Support Services and the Global Capability Centre

What We’re Looking For

• Previous experience in an administrative/management support role, ideally within a legal environment
• Previous experience managing a team, with direct line management or delegated supervisory responsibility
• Strong organisational and time management skills
• A highly collegiate approach, equally effective as a team leader and team player
• Strong influencing skills and the ability to build networks and relationships to get things done
• Excellent IT proficiency and adaptability to internal systems

This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced legal administrative professional to step into a Legal Operations Lead role at a prestigious international law firm, combining people leadership with high-level Partner support in a fast-paced Disputes environment.