Practice Area/Department Finance PQE Level N/A Description

Travers Smith

Travers Smith is an award-winning city law firm. We build lasting relationships with public and private sector clients. It is Travers Smith’s purpose to provide the very highest quality of service to our clients whilst enabling our people to achieve professional fulfilment in a supportive, inclusive and enjoyable working environment.

The Role

Reporting to the Senior Legal Operations Manager (Finance), the Senior BD & Operations Executive is responsible for developing the business development and marketing plan for our Finance Group, and then supporting and executing all related activity, always delivering an overall first-class service to the lawyers. This role includes an increased focus on practice management, with the Senior BD & Operations Executive supporting partners, and liaising and coordinating with numerous stakeholders to ensure the department gets the support it needs to continue providing a premium service to clients, increase profitability and ensure that the team is highly engaged.

Key Responsibilities

Business and Client Planning

  • Develop close-working relationships with the Finance partners and wider lawyer team and with support from the Senior Legal Operations Manager, support them to implement and refine its current business plan, demonstrating a deep and thorough understanding of the five sub-groups and practice, helping to identify market and client trends, and growth opportunities from existing and new potential clients.
  • With support from the Senior Legal Operations Manager, create targeted business development and marketing plans that flow from the business plans, to help achieve strategic client and financial objectives.
  • Work closely with the firm’s Client Relationship team to ensure that client action plans are created, monitored, supported and actioned for the Finance group’s most significant clients.
  • Business Development and Marketing Activities

  • Ensure the delivery of a first-class service to the group on all marketing and business development activities.
  • Create marketing materials, event invitations, brochures and updates as required.
  • Provide market and practice insights to support the Communications team in developing a media and PR plan. Together determine how best to utilise PR and media plans as a complementary business development tool and to position the practice groups to further the objectives of the business and marketing plans.
  • Work with the Finance partners and Communications to plan and deliver targeted thought leadership to clients to raise the profile of the practice’s priority areas through targeted materials on the website, on LinkedIn and other appropriate channels.
  • Work with the Events teams and the internal Front of House and Kitchen team to ensure that all client facing events for the group are planned, organised, and delivered to the highest standards.
  • Collaborate with the Pitch team in pitching and winning new business as required, including providing practice, partner, client and market- specific insights to target and tailor each opportunity.
  • Take responsibility for managing and drafting the practices’ directory and awards submissions in line
  • Work with the Events team as appropriate to assess the value and relevance of various sponsorships, events, and other corporate hospitality opportunities to ensure best value for the firm and our clients.
  • Manage and track the business development budgets for the Finance group.
  • Business Management and Legal Operations:

  • Working with the Senior Legal Operations Manager to provide direct operational support to the HoD, partner team to identify, track and (where necessary) deliver actions and priorities.
  • Coordinate regular communications from HoD to the department, ensuring important information is easily understood and delivered in a timely manner.
  • Meet regularly with key stakeholders including Knowledge, HR, Business Change, Tech, and others, to ensure the department is getting the support required continue providing a premium service to clients.
  • Embrace a spirit of continuous improvement, utilising collaboration to identify opportunities to improve efficiency in client service.
  • In collaboration with Legal Operations and Legal Technology, implement new products and services that improve the efficiency and margin of legal services.
  • Working with the Senior Legal Operations Manager to run ‘end of matter’ reviews, identifying lessons learned and turning into actionable outcomes.
  • Support the Client Relationship team in the planning and delivery of client listening exercises and implementing process improvement based on outcomes captured.
  • Key Stakeholders

  • Line manager: Senior Legal Operations Manager.
  • Key stakeholders: Head of Department, Practice partners and lawyers.
  • Other stakeholders: BD & Marketing team, Knowledge Counsel, Pricing and Commercial Finance team, wider business services community, PA and Admin teams.
  • Person Specification – Knowledge, Skills & Experience

    Experience & Knowledge

  • A minimum of 4 years’ experience working in a business development role in a professional services organisation or relevant advisory service.
  • Graduate with a relevant professional marketing and/or business qualification – preferable.
  • Prior experience of working with a transactional practice – preferable.
  • Skills

  • Excellent communication skills – both written and verbal.
  • Excellent systems and database skills – Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.
  • Working knowledge of InterAction and Vuture – desirable.
  • Personal Attributes

  • Flexible team player with a ‘can do’ attitude.
  • Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders
  • Committed to continuously building on knowledge.
  • Attention to detail.
  • Commercially astute. Able to lead and manage meetings with partners and senior players with confidence and an assured approach.
  • Comfortable providing recommendations with confidence to senior level stakeholders.