Senior Client Development Manager

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, 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 Senior Client Development Manager will work closely with the Director of Client Development to drive the executive client engagement program for the Firm’s Chair and Vice Chair.  In addition, this position will proactively provide and coordinate strategic and practical client development, client relationship management, and service delivery support for a group of priority Client Teams with the objective of developing a deep, long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with the client ensuring that it is best served.

 

Responsibilities

Executive Client Engagement

• Cultivate deep understanding of the firm’s top revenue drivers.
• In conjunction with the Director of Client Development, develop annual executive engagement plans for Chair and Vice Chair focused on deepening relationships with top-priority clients/targets.  Present to Chair/Vice Chair, gain buy-in, and sustain execution throughout the year.
• Continually recalibrate plans based on emerging industry developments.
• Act as bridge between Chair/Vice Chair and practice groups, client teams, industry teams, offices leaders, individual partners, and clients that request Chair visits. Prioritize requests using a decision matrix, and drive follow-up.
• Proactively source opportunities for executive outreach from internal and external sources.
• Maintain a consistent process for client visits – from intake, to briefing, to follow-up.
• Develop comprehensive briefings for Chair and Vice Chair in advance of client visits.
• Continually work to improve briefing content by testing new AI tools and ongoing collaboration with the Competitive Intelligence team.
• Prepare Chair/Vice Chair for high-profile events including prioritization of clients/targets to meet and recommendation of warm connection points.
• On occasion, coordinate Chair/Vice Chair involvement in client retention efforts following partner departures or succession.
• Handle highly confidential information and politically sensitive situations with the utmost discretion.

 

Client Teams

• Manage a portfolio of Client Teams in the Private Equity industry. Help to identify and implement strategies and tactics to improve client satisfaction, expand into new areas of service and grow client revenues.
• Together with Client Coordinating Lawyers (CCL’s):
• develop and nurture a core team around the relevant Client Teams
• take responsibility for the development and execution of Client Team plans, including identifying key objectives and supporting actions to development the relationship
• create and manage the annual Client Team budget.

• Ensure that each Client Team is managed in accordance with best practice key account processes.
• Organize and actively participate in regular Client Team meetings both as part of the smaller core team with the CCLs and as part of the fuller team, including creating agendas, meeting minutes and facilitating follow up.
• Commission client research in support of specific pitches or to enhance client team’s general overall knowledge of the client’s business.
• Regularly monitor and share with the Client Team intelligence about the client and its market with an eye for opportunities to enhance the client team’s knowledge-base, assist with cross-selling, develop value added training, etc.
• Monitor financial performance:
• work closely with the designated Finance and Client Operations colleagues for the Client Team, to establish the most appropriate management tools, systems and billing processes
• review monthly client financial reports and develop analysis of key trends for the client team partner lead(s) and the broader client team