Conflicts Attorney - Ropes & Gray LLP

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 seven years and is ranked #1 on Law.com International's "A-List" in the U.K. - rankings that honor the "Best of the Best" 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, 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:

Under the supervision of Conflicts Counsel, the Conflicts Attorney participates in all aspects of the firm's critical risk management including without limitation with respect to: (i) preparing new client intake materials submitted by the firm’s Client Intake/Conflicts Control (“CICC”) department to the firm’s Intake Committee, (ii) conducting comprehensive corporate research and generating conflicts reports (iii) drafting and negotiating engagement terms, including outside counsel guidelines, and conflict of interest waivers, (iv) coordinating review of outside counsel guidelines, (v) advising firm partners and members of CICC on the interpretation of conflicts reports and assisting them in all aspects of the conflicts resolution process, and (vi) researching and analyzing questions pertaining to conflicts of interest or other risk and compliance issues.  Upon request, the Conflicts Attorney also participates in negotiations of engagement and/or waiver terms directly with firm clients. 

Responsibilities:

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Coordinates the review of prospective clients with the firm’s intake and other committees by communicating all relevant, valuable information to the committees.
• Drafts engagement terms, including scopes of engagement, specific waivers, and alternative fee arrangements.
• Reviews, summarizes and recommends modifications to outside counsel guidelines and coordinates approval of such guidelines and engagement terms with all stakeholders.
• Collaborates with attorneys to settle on appropriate terms of engagement, and where requested, negotiates certain engagement, outside counsel guidelines, and waiver terms directly with firm clients.
• Generates conflict reports and reviews, interprets, and summarizes conflict report results; demonstrates sound analysis of conflicts issues; and lead presentations within CICC on conflicts report analysis.
• Resolves conflicts independently, as appropriate, by consulting with all relevant stakeholders.
• Develops expertise on conflicts rules and approaches in specific practice areas and helps to formulate templates, algorithms and frameworks of analysis for conflicts issues in such area.
• Advises lawyers regarding applicable professional conduct rules and applying them to specific situations.
• Performs searches of external and internal databases for pertinent information on prospective clients and related parties, and processes new client and matter intake forms in iManage’s Business Intake Manager and Conflicts Manager applications and Thomson Reuters’s 3E application.
• Participates as needed in the analysis and resolution of conflicts of interest that arise in connection with the firm’s lateral hiring function.
• Participates as needed in the implementation and maintenance of ethical walls.
• Participates in providing 24-hour coverage for conflict reporting via on-call system on scheduled weekends and holidays.         
• Participates in department-specific ad hoc projects, as needed.
• Conducts training of internal staff and lateral hires.
• Performs all other related duties as assigned, including administrative tasks, as necessary.

ESSENTIAL CAPABILITIES:

• Maintains strict confidentiality of the firm's internal and personnel affairs.
• Highly attentive to detail.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Takes responsibility for achieving goals.
• Interacts effectively with all levels of personnel, including partners and support.
• Demonstrates flexibility in order to respond quickly and positively to shifting demands; able to work under tight deadlines and handle multiple, detailed tasks..
• Able to be a proactive self-starter, who is team-oriented and able to share information, goals, opportunities, successes and failures with the appropriate parties.
• Strong ability to escalate issues as appropriate and present them along with logical solutions to departmental management or partners.

Qualifications:

 

• J.D. required.
• 2 to 5 years of practice as an attorney in a law firm, preferably in a mid-sized to large law firm, or experience in conflicts and client intake issues required.
• Database/software experience (such as iManage Conflicts Manager and Thomson Reuters 3E software) may be advantageous.
• Excellent service orientation and interpersonal skills
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• Excellent evaluative and problem-solving skills
• A writing sample may be requested.

 

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 in alpha order 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 $117,000 - $175,000 

New York $122,500 - $184,000 

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.