Senior Practice Manager (US M&A)
A&O Shearman

A&O Shearman is a new global industry-leading law firm, with nearly 50 offices in 29 countries worldwide. Our fluency in English law, US law, and the laws of the world's most dynamic markets, enables us to provide unmatched insight and seamless delivery to clients. We work on challenging and important deals and disputes that have the potential to shape the future.

We offer exceptional opportunities for our people; opportunities to work for the world's leading businesses; to transform the status quo, and to deliver your best work, helping you and your career to thrive, while delivering unparalleled outcomes for our clients.

Whether you're helping clients solve complex challenges, transforming the ways we manage our business, or ensuring the smooth-running of our operations, this is an environment where you can belong and excel. We provide first-rate training and development, we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and we provide support and ways of working that help you optimize your wellbeing.

What truly defines a career with us? We recruit the best and ask for the best of you. And together, we will redefine success.

Department purpose
Global M&A (including Private Equity (PE) and Digital, Data, IP and Technology (DDIT)) has over 190 partners worldwide. The US M&A group (including PE and DDIT) has c. 40 partners and is led by Global and US practice leaders and supported by a Global COO and Global Heads of HR, Finance and BD as well as dedicated HR, Finance and BD resources in the US.

Role purpose
The purpose of the role is to provide dedicated support to the Global and US M&A practice leaders and the Global M&A management team in respect of the US M&A group. The main overall purpose of this role is to contribute to the development of the US M&A strategy and business plan and to help the US M&A leadership and global M&A management teams to implement this strategy and its priorities.

Role and responsibilities
The responsibilities of this role include, but are not limited to:

• Participating in the development of the US M&A, PE and DDIT strategies and business plans for both the M&A/PE/DDIT practice groups and individual partners. Managing, prioritizing and ensuring timely follow up on these business plans, as well as monitoring and supporting a wide range of other issues for the US M&A leadership team;
• Providing hands on cross functional business advice, support and project leadership for the US M&A leadership team in coordination with Finance and HR for the US M&A team and other practice groups, to the extent applicable, and coordinating with Finance, BD and HR to ensure projects and tasks for US M&A team are completed effectively and efficiently;
• Coordinating with the US M&A team, individual partners and BD to execute client targeting and business generation activities;
• Working with the US M&A leadership team to support the effective onboarding and integration of lateral partners into the US M&A group and wider firm;
• Ensuring that the US M&A leadership and global M&A management teams are equipped with the necessary information regarding the US M&A business to fulfil their management duties and that these duties are implemented via weekly management meetings;
• Coordinating with Finance to obtain statistics on billings and collections for partners in the US M&A group and diaries for partners and associates to prepare analyses of billings, collections and activity level trends for budget purposes and otherwise as well as assisting in monitoring and reporting on the timeliness of billings, collections and diaries;
• Working together with the US M&A leadership and global M&A management teams on in the planning and execution of annual cycle programs, including partner compensation, core ladder promotions, budget and investment plans, annual partner reviews and documenting outcomes;
• Supporting the US M&A leadership team in managing internal communications with the US M&A practice group, including preparing agendas, slides, minutes and other materials for regular meetings (including US M&A partner and management meetings, associate team meetings, meetings with US leadership and other US practice leads and input to the M&A Board);
• Working with the US M&A leadership team to plan office visits. This includes maintaining a plan of future trips/travel, preparing content for associate town halls and/or partner meetings, arranging 1:1 meetings, and working with US M&A BD to record and monitor actions and follow up;
• Working together with the US M&A leadership team, US BD leads and the global M&A management team on the content and overall delivery of any practice group offsites;
• Supporting US M&A partners and working with the US HR team to support on US M&A associates' career development (including assisting with the Compass review process and gathering feedback as needed) and supporting with partner candidate preparation, e.g. organizing and attending mock interviews; and
• Leading or supporting on key strategic projects for the US M&A practice, coordinating US M&A participation in regional or firmwide projects; and providing ad hoc support to the US M&A group or other US practice groups which need support.

Key relationships

• US M&A (including PE and DDIT) practice group leaders and Global M&A practice group leaders
• Global M&A COO, Head of BD, Head of HR and Head of Finance
• US M&A (including PE and DDIT) partners
• US M&A business function leaders and team members in BD, HR and Finance

Key requirements
It is essential that the post holder is:

• Able to contribute to discussions in meetings of management and partners with confidence
• Able to work collaboratively and think creatively
• Able to challenge and shape an agenda and influence others to get things done
• Able to operate with tact and discretion pragmatically in an environment where issues are confidential, complex and lines of reporting are ambiguous
• Able to interpret law firm financial reports accurately and with confidence
• Ideally 5-10 years of relevant business management experience in professional services firms
• Aware of and able to implement relevant Finance, HR and other Firm policies in respect of partners and staff
• Capacity to understand and juggle a wide range of issues and projects at the same time, as well as to prioritize and manage own and others' time effectively
• Able to produce high quality work product on tight deadlines on projects requested on limited notice
• Proficiency with PowerPoint and excel as well as understanding financial statements and financial trends
• Working with a solutions-oriented mindset, seeking to understand first based on data and insight from a range of sources across functions or practice areas
• Able to draft appropriate high quality internal communications in a range of media (emails, presentations etc.) and communicate clearly and effectively

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