Location: New York

Schedule: 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM

FLSA: Exempt

Position Type: Full-Time/Regular

Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. We are currently seeking an energetic, service-oriented Practice Solutions Analyst with a high level of legal workflow understanding and keen eye towards coordination, evaluation, and management of practice technology solutions in our IT Solutions team and the Information Technology department, reporting directly to the Manager of Practice Solutions.

The role will reside in the New York office with hybrid work capabilities and will be responsible for promoting the core Practice Solutions portfolio and the identification of Legal Technology solutions among our practices in the application of law. The candidate will be specifically responsible for identifying and working to implement firm approved initiatives that improve processes, increase efficiency and quality, and add value to the firm’s investment by utilizing existing and new solutions. Specifically related to practices use of document management systems, practice-centric customizations, fine tuning and customizing document metadata, incorporating legal Knowledge Management concepts and strategies, and promoting and supporting advanced legal technology including the Firms Generative AI efforts. The Practice Solutions Analyst performs the implementation of innovative technologies that help Practice Groups better serve clients and create a competitive advantage.

Key responsibilities of this position include:

Engagement, Coordination, and Delivery

• Deliver, support, identify, and engage with Practice stakeholders in efforts to develop practical legal workflows and functionality within firmwide document management system (NetDocuments). Incorporating knowledge management and practice management methodologies that apply across practice areas.

• Work with IT Operations and Info Gov team to manage the lifecycle of document management practice specific workspaces, folder structures, and key meta data and tags. In addition, work with same to manage and maintain practice specific third-party solutions integrated to document management system.

• Promote, engage, support, and develop solutions that incorporate Generative AI towards Practice stakeholder needs. Assess and identify use cases and success criteria; have practical and supporting conversations with stakeholders attuned to recent developments and alignment with Firm policies.

• Work closely with legal professionals and key practice and business stakeholders to proactively assess practice requirements and offer suitable legal technology solutions to solve core practice of law needs, particularly as they relate to document management, drafting, and artificial intelligence workflows.

• Assist in coordinating meetings between vendors and stakeholders, conduct trials and POCs, being attuned to the demanding schedules of revenue generating lawyers and stakeholders.

• Effectively lead efforts across multiple practices to improve practice specific utilization of NetDocuments.

• Document concise business cases, prepare comparison matrixes, feedback loops, perform UAT, and record detailed requirements.

• Identify and coordinate with relevant IT teams to implement and deliver (IT Admin, PMO, BSA, AppsDev, Analytics, etc.).

• Act as a technology partner and work hand in hand with lawyers and vendors to implement solutions to increase the efficiency of client work. Engaging with lawyers and legal professionals to identify and understand unique practice requirements and processes.

• Work closely with IT Solutions and other IT functions to develop no-code/low-code solutions to solve business needs.

• Adhere to IT Service Management philosophy and be a crucial player to promote a healthy life cycle of practice tools and technologies.

• Ability to work with Client Value and Practice Management stakeholders to understand core business impact and correlate that into conceptual ROI and concise business cases.

• Ability to present to large audiences with respect to innovative solutions, Legal Tech and Knowledge Management strategy and solutions, as well as perform training when required.

• Develop an acute understanding of practice stakeholder and client needs and apply to the development and delivery of solutions.

• Participate in Practice stakeholder meetings, setting and discussing updates on agenda items and current projects, relaying timeline, and expectations.

• Promote efficiency in the execution of matter work. Provide guidance on organizational strategies, naming conventions, data hygiene, and taxonomy development.

• Become attuned to process and change management dependencies and work with stakeholders to identify and manage.

Legal Tech Solution Support

• Possess and maintain a hands-on understanding of legal technology tools such as document drafting tools, document assembly, contract review, transactional and closing management platforms.

• Keen understanding of emerging Artificial Intelligence solutions, notably Generative AI and its application in the legal industry and be able to speak towards and elaborate on its applicability to the legal industry.

• High level of understanding, utilization, and support of traditional Document Management Systems, specifically, NetDocuments. Ability to take that understanding and apply and deliver Knowledge Management and legal work-flow concepts to Practices.

• Understanding of traditional legal knowledge and information-based systems and relational database comprehension to speak with both IT and stakeholders (Lexis, West, Lexis Search Advantage, Lex Machina, Docketing software, etc.).

• Proactively assess Legal Tech Market dynamics and apply those to the needs of Akin practices, including, but not limited to, Generative AI, client collaboration portals, transactional management, Investment Fund formation, precedent collections, drafting tools.

Technology Skill Sets

• Experience with “low code” platforms or capacity to learn this quickly, including, but not limited to, QuickBase and SharePoint.

• Knowledge of document drafting and automation tools including but not limited to Litera Suite, Hot Docs, Contract Express, or other such solutions.

• Develop deep hands-on ability of existing KM solutions and systems within the firm and provide front-end support and management. Systems include, but are not limited to; NetDocuments, SharePoint, Foundation, and other developed or third-party systems.

• Become familiar with legal process and project improvement solutions such as SmartSheet, DocuSign, structure chart solutions, and Transactional Management Databases.

Systems Management and Training

• Assume ownership of Practice Solutions throughout their life cycle, document best practices, gather feedback, and increase the value of our technology investment. Work closely with Business Solutions group to account, manage and deploy solutions on time and under budget.

• Identify, promote, and demonstrate existing Practice Solutions and their applicability to expressed Practice stakeholder needs.

• Work with IT Business Solutions team to maintain and manage systems developed for Practice Groups, maintaining data integrity, systems functionality, user adoption and experience issues.

• In coordination with IT Training, Research, Attorney Development and Practice Stakeholders, prepare training materials and presentations. When asked, participate in on-boarding new attorneys and laterals.

• Help educate attorneys and other user populations on knowledge management resources.

• Ability to perform analysis and identify insights relative to product adoption and usability, providing hands-on SME knowledge and familiarity of solution functionality and legal process implications.

• When required, assist Business Solutions and other system owners with the management of user access to third-party solutions.

• Collaborate with internal and vendor project teams to coordinate and assist in the implementation of new systems and updated versions.

Information Security & Data Governance

• Adhere and enforce information security requirements with respect to authentication, authorization, encryption standards for data transport and persistence, pass-thru authentication, and single-sign on, multi-factor authentication, application access controls, user & role management, audit trail and other security controls. Apply and enforce data governance policies such as data privacy, retention, and other regulatory and compliance needs.

• Understand and adhere to best practices for the management of data in structured and unstructured repositories including network shares, SharePoint, experience database or other repositories and practice systems.

Service Management & Service Reviews

• Adept in following ITIL best practices to standardize evaluation, design, deployment and maintenance of practice-facing systems and tools.

• Exercise strict discipline in on boarding services through service intake into service catalog and manage the assigned services through its life cycle.

• Participate in functional aspects of service management that includes incidents, change, problem, and service reviews.

• Ensure and keep up to date with all necessary documentation for all services.

• Record and maintain detailed user requirements and business case summarizations for use in IT Intake Process, Info Gov/Info Sec, technical dependencies, business impact, license management, and user need management.

• Prepare and document system access KBs and QRCs to assist our Helpdesk and Service Management teams with appropriate resolutions.

Qualifications (Experience, Knowledge, Skills & Abilities):

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required

• Prior experience in a law firm or other professional services firm preferred

• Knowledge of essential processes within the practice of law for varying practices, including transactional, investment funds, regulatory, litigation, and general advocacy

• Ability to work well under pressure, facilitates solutions, and meets deadlines and milestones for assigned projects

• Formulate and define scope and objectives for the application/project delivery based on business needs

• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and adjust to changing priorities in a professional manner

• Working knowledge of standard business technology solutions, Microsoft Office 365, SharePoint, Visio, Document Management Systems, ServiceNow or other ticketing solutions, eSignature solutions (i.e., DocuSign)

• Strong service orientation and an ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with legal professionals, peers, management, system users and other departmental business partners

• Strong organizational and time management skills, including the ability to prioritize and re-prioritize tasks as necessary to meet competing demands

• Consistently demonstrates judgment and discretion in a result orientated environment

• Ability to develop techniques, standards, and assist in the establishment of written procedures for the firm’s IT Solutions group. Strong analytical, creative problem solving and process improvement skills

• Proven ability to maintain and update technical knowledge and skills

• Demonstrated ability to maintain high ethical standards and strict confidentiality of all firm information

• Ability to effectively understand and utilize large law firm Business Services resources

• Willingness and ability to assume new tasks and responsibilities

• Willingness and availability to work during non-standard office hours, including nights and weekends

• Commitment to teamwork, collegiality, professional growth, and development

• Ability to travel when required

The base salary range for this position in New York is $130,000 to $150,000. Additional information about benefits and rewards can be found here (https://www.akingump.com/en/careers/business-services) .

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP participates in E-Verify for purposes of verifying employment eligibility

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