In-house Legal Operations Specialist

New York, NY

A well-known global apparel company has an exciting opportunity for a motivated Legal Operations professional with 10-12⁺ years of experience to support our Legal Department full-time.  This position is a key part of the legal team that supports the apparel company’s global brand and a legal team heavily focused on IP issues.  This role will work along with the General Counsel and Head of Legal Operations on advising, developing, implementing and managing processes and procedures necessary to allow the legal team to efficiently support the growing scale and agile nature of our retail business.  The individual will focus on operational functions such as budgeting, negotiating fees, law firm selection, data analytics, vendor management, workflow management, records management; must have strong project management skills, ability to provide strategic planning and capacity to deliver year over year improvements and drive those improvements.  This position supports a twelve-person global legal team and communicates regularly with business professionals and outside vendors and law firms.  First rate interpersonal and organizational skills, energetic, positive and a proactive attitude, must possess a strong commitment to operational excellence, attention to detail and a sense of humor. 

Responsibilities

• Manage day-to-day functions to optimize workflows, create templates for legal and compliance for increased efficiency and support the objectives and goals of the legal department;
• Manage electronic billing and work with Finance to manage multi-million dollar budget and legal expenses;
• Identify technology needs of, and propose technology solutions to, the legal team and continually evaluate and implement new software products and features;
• Manage and support litigation, e-discovery, and gathering and preserving of evidence;
• Draft and document board resolutions and other corporate formalities for ten (10) global legal entities; work directly with Managing Directors and boards members to obtain feedback and signatures;
• Manage projects to completion within acceptable timeframe, budget and quality to meet GC’s expectations; and
• Notarize documents, manage POA’s, notary authentication and apostilling of documents. 

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree, paralegal or legal management or legal operational certificate from an accredited program; graduate degree a plus;
• 10-12⁺ years of experience with legal operations and project management at a law firm or in-house law department;
• Detailed-oriented, self-starter, problem-solver, strong analytical, organizational, and project management skills;
• Demonstrated abilities in operational excellence, to independently and collaboratively track and move projects forward while adapting to changing priorities;
• Ability to organize, think critically, strategically and tactically, meet deadlines yet remain flexible in a dynamic multi-task and fast-paced environment;
• Excellent verbal, written communication and interpersonal skills with clients, outside vendors, and other parties;
• Strong experience in researching, implementing and using legal department technology tools;
• Proficiency with MS Office products, particularly Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint and ability to create charts and graphics; legal software such as concordance, legal research databases such as: Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, Bloomberg, SEC Edgar, and Pacer.
• Experience with project management, records management and e-billing systems;
• Must be a Notary Public licensed in New York State; and
• Demonstrates maturity and discretion when handling sensitive matters.