Legal Executive Assistant

About Ropes & Gray

Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm. The firm has been ranked in the top three on The American Lawyer's prestigious A-List for eight consecutive years and #1 on Law.com's UK A-List twice in the past three years—rankings that honor the "best of the best" law firms.

The firm has approximately 2,500 lawyers and professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology, and government in Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.

The firm has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including asset management, private equity, M&A, finance, real estate, tax, antitrust, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity, and business restructuring.

Ropes & Gray is an equal opportunity employer.

Overview

The Legal Executive Assistant works alongside industry-leading Directors and Senior Managers in our Marketing/Business Development Department; to serve as their right hand and play a vital role managing day-to-day activities; and to join the practiceas an integral member of the group, managing the flow of information as they screen, organizeand prioritize requests from both internal and external clients.

Responsibilities

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Supports and demonstrates fluency in the Firm's Trusted Advisor and Proactive Assistance programs.
• Demonstrates a professional demeanor in appearance and behavior. Maintains strict confidentiality in all interactions. Possesses strong interpersonal skills. Demonstrates a solid ability to communicate with all levels of the organization.
• Possesses exceptional verbal and written communication skills adhering to proper business writing standards. Demonstrates a keen eye for detail in informal and formal communications.
• Maintains a positive and professional attitude at all times. Works effectively with other departments, seeking solutions to business problems. Demonstrates an intellectual curiosity and continuous drive to improve service.
• Demonstrates an openness to constructive feedback and a flexibility to adjust behavior or performance as needed.
• Fosters open and frequent communication with teammates to ensure smooth and expeditious support to assignments. Cross-trains teammates ensuring same first-class service while away or out of the office.
• Provides superior client service with internal and external clients displaying a proactive "can do" attitude when meeting individuals, answering telephone calls, and acting on behalf of those you support.
• Acts as the gatekeeper prioritizing conflicting needs. Handles matters confidentially, expeditiously, proactively and independently and follows through on tasks until successful completion. Suggests new processes/procedures to expedite projects and day-to-day workflow. 
• Demonstrates intimate knowledge of assignments work habits and preferences.
• Anticipates needs and shepherds work forward with limited direction.
• Develops strong understanding of our practices and clients, as needed. Maintains a professional relationship with other professional organizations on behalf of those you support.
• Works closely with, and effectively manages, assigned Directors practice to keep him/her well informed of upcoming commitments and responsibilities, following up appropriately.

BILLING MANAGEMENT:

• Efficiently reconciles and processes expenses. Reviews calendars and other items to classify business and personal expenses.
• Reviews Chrome River and American Express Card to allocate expense items. Obtains original receipts from supports, if available. Collaborates with internal or external resources to address all outstanding Chrome River or AMEX items within payment window, running inquiries when necessary.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Composes, edits and proofreads correspondence, presentations and other documents.
• Demonstrates exceptional technological/document production skills.
• Proactively coordinates internal/external meetings with limited direction. Arranges proper logistics based on meeting requirements (visitor offices, conference room, video conference and dial-in number, as appropriate).
• Applies best practice when arranging travel, utilizing agent assist and on-line tools appropriately. Monitors lawyer's travel to ensure smooth arrival and departure. Maintains up-to-date travel preferences (frequent flyers, KTN, passport, etc.). Manages airline check-in and boarding passes for assigned lawyers (when appropriate).
• Demonstrates an exceptional understanding of Microsoft Outlook. Utilizes creative problem solving skills to solve challenging scheduling requirements. Manages multiple calendars and supports scheduling requirements across multiple lawyers, clients, offices and time zones.

TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Actively contributes in secretarial huddles and other team related activity. Participates in focus groups, lunch and learns, and other knowledge sharing activity including the mentor program, when necessary.• Maintains subject matter level expertise in the Firm's core applications. Understands and adheres to best practices.

Qualifications

EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, AND SKILLS REQUIRED:

• College degree or equivalent
• Expert proficiency with the MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) applications
• Strong organizational skills that reflect ability to seamlessly perform and prioritize multiple tasks with excellent attention to detail
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships with internal and external lawyers, staff and clients
• Expert communication skills
• Proactive approach to problem-solving and strong decision-making capability

Compensation and Total Rewards Package

Ropes & Gray is proud to offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package to our business support team members. The firm also offers comprehensive health and well-being benefits, personal and professional development, career growth opportunities and a collegial and supportive culture. The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below and represents our good faith and reasonable estimate of the starting salary range at the time of posting. In addition, this role is eligible for a discretionary bonus based on performance. The actual offered rate for this position will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors, including qualifications and experience, geographic location, education, external market data and consideration of internal equity.

• Boston: $77,000 - $117,450

Working Conditions

This position requires hybrid on-site presence as an essential function of the role. Consistent and predictable on-site presence is required for ongoing business continuity, professional development and effective collaboration with colleagues and management.