Over the last 20 years, Ares’ success has been driven by our people and our culture. Today, our team is guided by our core values – Collaborative, Responsible, Entrepreneurial, Self-Aware, Trustworthy – and our purpose to be a catalyst for shared prosperity and a better future. Through our recruitment, career development and employee-focused programming, we are committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive work environment where high-performance talent of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can build careers within this exciting and growing industry.

Job Description

The Ares Legal Operations Team is seeking a detail oriented, organized, proactive and responsive Legal Billing Coordinator to manage the day-to-day administration of our e-billing and matter management system. The ideal candidate must be comfortable implementing change management strategies, have strong analytical and problem-solving skills with a keen sense of time and task management and the ability to work autonomously in a fast paced and evolving environment. In addition, the Legal Billing Coordinator will appropriately and effectively: (i) create and manage matters and relevant matter attributes; (ii) drive initiatives and best practices to improve billing processes; (iii) research, trouble-shoot and respond to internal and external legal billing inquiries; (iv) partner with outside counsel billing teams and internal counsel and other stakeholders in support of the approve-to-pay process; and (v) assist with Legal Department KPI metrics, reporting and spend analysis.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS
Reports to: Legal Billing Manager

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS AND ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Audit, Review, and Process Outside Counsel Invoices

• Review and confirm matter details for new matter requests, ensuring accuracy of business line and financial allocation prior to opening in Ares matter management system

• Address invoice audit flags that are non- compliant with Legal's Outside Counsel Guidelines

• Monitor invoices for new timekeepers, rate increases, fee arrangements, and discounts

• Research and act on findings related to internal account coding to support allocation process with finance teams and legal cost centers

• Process and post manual third-party outside counsel invoices to centralize billing in support of Legal Operations reporting

Administer eBilling system, SimpleLegal

• Create and deactivate user accounts

• Manage law firm data with appropriate updates, name changes, and banking information, etc.

• Managing internal approval routing in response to firm growth or reorganization as necessary

• Matter management, including but not limited to, creating/modifying matters, resolving matter issues and communicating to internal and external stakeholders

• Review and audit all new matters to ensure accuracy for financial coding, approval routes, special reporting, and general compliance with the existing procedures

• Research new system features, technology and impacts to assist in the development of rollout plan to end-users

Billing Administration

• Promptly address day-to-day issues and queries in an efficient and effective manner as they arise

• Escalate issues and concerns as required to the Legal Billing Manager or appropriate in-house counsel contact

• Develop collaborative working relationships and networks across the firm, including attorneys, paralegals, deal teams, AP and fund accountants

• Collaborate on special projects which may include preparing ad-hoc reports, system data clean up, and process updates

• Review and respond to requests and questions from the general Legal Billing Inquiries mailbox in a timely manner

QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

• A qualified candidate will have a college degree in Accounting, Finance, or Business Administration or 2-5 years of equivalent work experience in a law firm or in-house legal department

General Requirements:

• 2+ years of legal industry experience preferred

• At least 1+ years in an in-house Legal, Accounting, eBilling or Legal Operations role

• Experience working in the financial services industry at a global asset management firm

• Demonstrated ability to manage a complex universe of matters and allocation arrangements

• Demonstrable experience managing eBilling systems and underlying data

• Intermediate understanding of finance and budgeting processes

• Strong work ethic, high level of productivity and keen ability to juggle multiple responsibilities