Administrative Services Manager

Roseland, NJ

Summary

Administrative Services Manager will manage and coordinate the day-to-day operations of the secretaries and shared support services. The Manager will be responsible for all aspects of these support services, including staffing, onboarding, employee relations, assignments, performance evaluations, individual development, absence management, disciplinary action, and cost control. Additionally, the Manager will coordinate and manage assignments to maximize the utilization of resources to achieve service excellence. The Manager will use all necessary resources to facilitate a smooth and accurate workflow and work environment. 

Essential Job Requirements

• Coordinate and manage the secretarial and shared support services resources to maximize utilization.
• Anticipate resource and business issues to align staffing and allocate attorney/secretary assignments, as necessary.
• Create greater efficiencies and productivity for secretarial and shared support services using current staffing ratios as a baseline performance metric.
• Develop and lead initiatives to promote best practices in secretarial and shared support services, promoting positive and effective working relationships.
• Evaluate all secretarial sharing arrangements on a regular basis to ensure efficient use of resources and satisfactory level of support is maintained.
• Foster an environment of teamwork and cooperation, proactively resolve issues between secretarial, shared support services and/or principals.
• Identify performance standards, provide timely and effective performance evaluations, determine training and development needs and coordinate salary and bonus reviews.
• Promote continuous development, and ensure all requisite training is complete and if necessary, assign a mentor. Maintain a qualified staff.
• Ensure that there are sufficient secretarial and shared support services resources at all times – approve all vacation requests, allocate work, and seek support from elsewhere in the office if necessary.
• Maintain attendance, vacation, and PTO records for all secretarial and shared support services staff to ensure coverage for scheduled and non-scheduled absences.
• Act as liaison between attorneys, the secretarial and shared support services staff.
• Assist staff to resolve issues in nonstandard situations.
• Establish working relationships with the other support departments in the firm to create a cohesive support environment.
• Establish and maintain open lines of communication with the Partners and associates; solicit feedback in areas of performance, staffing, workflow, procedures. Collaborate on identifying and resolving areas of concern.
• Recommend and effect changes in procedures or process to create a more streamlined support team.
• Effectively handle multiple and conflicting priorities.
• Keep abreast of practice area developments, new processes, and changes as appropriate to the position.
• Develop and maintain thorough familiarity with internal procedures including opening of files, file maintenance, docket reminders, accounting, billing, and office services.
• Collaborate with firm administration to identify a candidate testing system for the secretarial and shared support services candidates; differentiate testing for specific practice groups.
• Identify a process to track information that will provide the analytics to support staffing needs and recommendations.
• Oversee hiring, onboarding, and training of secretarial and shared support services staff.

Work closely with Human Resources on recruitment initiatives:

• Interview secretarial and  shared support services candidates.
• Make candidate hire recommendations, gain consensus.
• Assist with scheduling training and orientations of new department hires.
• Participate in employee orientation; articulate overview of services provided and general procedures.

• Perform other duties and responsibilities as required or requested.
• Uphold a professional demeanor at all times and maintain a favorable working relationship with all firm employees. Display an attitude of cooperation with legal staff, peers, and administrators.
• Take part in various firm-wide HR initiatives.

Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities

• Must be able to thrive in a fast-paced and professional environment.
• Strong team management and leadership skills, with the ability to develop and lead in a client service-focused environment.
• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience required.
• Preferably 5 years of supervisory or coordinator-level experience in a mid- to large-sized firm, including the responsibility for coordinating workflow.
• Strong client service skills, responding decisively and effectively to requests and issues.
• Excellent analytical and judgment skills and ability to manage confidential matters with discretion.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Able to understand the big picture and to strategically resolve challenges.
• Ability to maintain confidential information.
• Ability to think critically and make objective, independent judgments.
• Ability to communicate with varying levels of people clearly and effectively within the organization.
• Ability to learn new skills as they become necessary.
• Systems Required: Advanced knowledge of MS Office, all functions; experience with budgeting software for professional services; proficiency with document management software.