Business Development Manager-Transactional

New York, NY or Boston, MA or Washington, DC

Summary

A leading national law firm seeks a Business Development Manager-Transactional to help drive the business development initiatives of the Transactional Department and its individual practice groups. The Manager serves as a business development “customer-service” contact for attorneys, either providing strategic guidance and support directly or coordinating with other Clients & Markets Department team members to ensure services are provided efficiently and effectively.

The Business Development Manager acts as a go-to lead for transactional practice group business development and marketing projects and initiatives, including implementing strategic business development activities, contributing significantly to pitches and RFPs, conducting strategic market and company research, developing and maintaining tailored marketing materials, overseeing market visibility and recognition efforts, and managing events and sponsorships to maximize the firm’s return on investment. The role also involves developing a technical understanding of the legal needs of clients and prospects at all stages (from early-stage startups to multinational public companies), the role of referral networks in generating revenue, and key target industries, in order to spot emerging issues and trends and identify business development and profile-raising opportunities.

This role also serves as the central point of contact for assigned offices, with the opportunity to build relationships with entrepreneurial and active partners across practices and to act as a conduit to the business development and marketing teams in offices throughout the country.

The Manager demonstrates a strong commitment to professionalism by setting clear expectations and delivering high-quality service, fosters a positive, solution-oriented approach across the team, and ensures effective support of internal departments, external clients and vendors through clear, courteous communication.

Responsibilities

Business Development

• Works with practice groups to implement business development projects and initiatives to support new business goals.
• Leverages the firm’s experience and industry knowledge, in accordance with department-wide best practices, to develop pitches and presentations responsive to companies’ specific needs.
• Offers strategic advice and options to lawyers preparing to approach potential clients or expand relationships.
• Develops and maintains “trusted advisor” partner relationships within the Transactional Department and assigned offices.
• Develops tailored marketing collateral and deal lists, and ensures materials, including practice descriptions, fact sheets and lawyer biographies, meet best practices, remain current and highlight the unique strengths of each practice area and attorney.
• Helps maintain the firm’s experience and content management database (Foundation) for corporate deals and representative matters, including league table reporting, as well as client data and mailing lists in the CRM tool (InterAction); performs queries and generates reports as needed.
• Uses business intelligence, business development tools and research to identify new work opportunities for existing clients and to connect internal capabilities and resources in support of revenue generation.
• Works with practice groups to analyze research on existing and prospective clients to develop customized pitches, presentations and proposals.
• Works with practice groups to monitor industry, sector and market trends, as well as competitor activity, to identify business development opportunities.
• Leads various aspects of lateral partner onboarding and practice group strategic planning, including initiatives related to the planned growth and expansion of the corporate practice group.

Thought Leadership/External Visibility

• Supports business development and marketing strategies by monitoring competitors, news intelligence and market data sources to spot trends and grow visibility for the practices, including sponsored events, in-house presentations, speaking opportunities, articles and other publications.
• Helps oversee and manage relationships with external organizations that provide thought leadership and market visibility opportunities, advocating for the firm’s inclusion and recognition.
• Oversees project teams for firm events including seminars, webinars, client entertainment and receptions, and leads the evaluation and recommendation of sponsorships and memberships in assigned offices.
• Manages the development of critical legal directory and award submissions (Chambers USA, Legal 500, etc.), evaluating and improving strategy and ensuring high-quality responses.
• In collaboration with Clients & Markets colleagues, helps identify and promote deals, matters, client news and other highlights to build profiles for practice groups and individual attorneys.

People Management/Leadership

• Provides mentorship, training and guidance for junior members within the Clients & Markets Department.
• Serves as day-to-day point of contact for Business Development Specialists and Coordinators supporting the Transactional Department, reviews and provides feedback on work, and assigns projects based on workloads, professional goals and areas of expertise.
• Monitors practice group business development budgets and evaluates return on investment for expenditures.
• Views and deploys collaboration with colleagues and other departments as a critical factor in service excellence.
• Assumes additional responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

• BA/BS degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of eight to ten years of experience in a legal environment or professional services marketing and business development role preferred.
• At least three years of demonstrated people management experience required.
• Knowledge of corporate practice areas and deal types (M&A, Private Equity, Capital Markets/Debt Finance and Venture Capital) and industries including financial services, life sciences and technology a plus.
• Strong independent thinking and execution, and mature professional judgment.
• Strong project management skills and ability to manage multiple deadlines and changing project criteria.
• Demonstrable analytic skills, organizational skills, initiative and vision.
• Superior oral and written communication skills, including presentation abilities, and excellence in grammar and proofreading.
• Proven experience in a dynamic environment with high expectations for superior client service, attention to detail and quality.
• Demonstrated ability to build effective working relationships across all levels of the organization and establish trust and credibility with lawyers and clients.
• Thrives in a collegial team environment with a flexible mindset, an eye toward continuous improvement, and willingness to collaborate.
• Extensive working knowledge of Microsoft Suite, Foundation, PitchBook, ON24 and InterAction preferred.
• Remains open to technological change as generative AI becomes more integrated into the firm’s practice, and adapts how work is performed to support efficiency and innovation.

Compensation: $168,400.00-$226,200.00, plus bonus