Professional Legal Administrator - Coo at Trust Counsel PL

This is an IN-PERSON position - Office is in Coral Gables, Florida.

We are looking for a Professional Legal Administrator / Director of Operations who is a savant of workflow and project management, who deeply understands employee accountability and engagement, who is metrics-driven and KPI-obsessed, and who will be invested in making important contributions to the success of the Firm.

We are an Estate Planning Law firm in Miami that started almost 10 years ago and has grown rapidly since 2019. Our goal is to double gross revenue in the next 18 months and are going to need a dedicated PLA/Operations Director/COO to get us there.

We’ve done a few things right and we are proud of the firm we’ve built... but there is a lot of room for improvement.  The right person for this position is someone who also shares that same philosophy.

All submissions will be kept totally confidential. 

If you’re interested in applying to this position, please FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS AT THE END OF THIS POSTING. 

Reports To:

The Owner - but with a great deal of delegated management and decision-making authority to truly run/manage the “business end” of the law firm.

About the Position:

We are seeking a Professional Legal Administrator i.e., the COO/ Director of Operations of our law firm. We are NOT looking for an Office Manager.

With limited exceptions, do not apply if your only prior experience is as a paralegal, executive assistant, bookkeeper, or office manager. 

We need a professional who has either run a division or department, built a business, or can demonstrate they have the experience and GRAVITAS needed for this position.

You need to have the experience and maturity to keep the Firm’s needs at the forefront and work closely with the Owner on strategy, policy, problem-solving, and decision-making.

The right person for this position will be able to help me, help you, and get the job done.

$150,000 yearly

I’ve been told that what I am looking for is a “Second in Command” – but when it comes to the day-to-day management of the firm, you would actually be FIRST in command.

This position will be responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the day-to-day operations of the Firm, and for directing the implementation of Firm policies.  It is responsible for a wide range of responsibilities in all phases of law firm administration including personnel, finances, and business systems. In short, everything but the practice of law.

The People:

• You will play a major role in shaping this firm's culture and business strategy, so we need someone with significant hands-on experience. This position has broad discretion and authority to manage the people throughout, i.e. you will need to hire, oversee training, assess, retrain, potentially fire, and not be afraid to start all over again until we find the A-Players that we will need to grow.
• Accountability should be your middle name. Do not apply if you want to be friends with your team more than you want to manage and hold them accountable
• If you can help us create a culture that is professional, service-oriented, systems-focused, and KPI-driven—where everything that matters is clearly written down, clearly communicated, and clearly measured --then you may be the one for us
• You will create employee scorecards with individual and department KPIs to measure against. You will obsessively monitor every team member's contribution to the firm and will know you have done a good job when everyone in the production is hitting their numbers.

The Financials:

• The Firm's Legal Administrator manages the financial functions of the Firm so you must have some financial background and be familiar with the review and analysis of key financial reports used for the data-driven management of a law firm
• You will oversee financial operations and develop key finance and accounting tools for us to review, including cash flow forecasting reports, financial forecasts, budgets, performance reports, etc. which will help us make informed strategic business decisions. You will ensure the accuracy and reporting of monthly financial reports prepared each month by the bookkeeper
• You will be maximizing the profitability and productivity of the team by determining if the Firm is understaffed or overstaffed, whether employees are overpaid or underpaid; and building the tools and training to help those employees “lean in” to their biggest strengths so they can be happy and productive, and the Firm can get the highest ROI

The Systems:

• Acquiring and analyzing data should be one of your favorite pastimes
• We are building a firm where systems run the business, and people run the systems. This position is responsible for improving both our people and our systems
• The primary tools of this position are policies, procedures, checklists, templates, examples, scripts, and software (referred to as “PSPs” for short), which come together to compose systems that make the Firm more productive and profitable. You are going to be responsible to create, manage, and oversee those systems to ensure they are being executed according to our established standards. A key part of your job is to create and implement best practices that transform an ineffective system into a profitable and productive one

Snapshot of Roles and Responsibilities

HR /Management Responsibilities:

• Recruit, onboard, and train new staff. Retrain current staff as applicable
• Conduct performance reviews. Accountability and management of staff
• Develop and manage a proactive and organized sales process and pipeline and track achievement against strategic objectives and business plan
• Create an internal audit system to trigger red flags when systems are not working optimally, investigate the reason for the failures, and propose solutions (whether related to personnel, technology, workflow, etc.)
• Refine and maintain the Firm’s technology infrastructure to minimize waste and maximize internal efficiencies within the Firm

Financial Analysis Responsibilities:

• Analyze and improve financial controls
• Work with the Owner and key vendors to improve financial controls and analyze key financial reports to identify inefficiencies in the Firm and spot opportunities for improvement to the Firm’s bottom-line
• Create, oversee, and execute financial systems: time-tracking, billing, trust account management, collections, bookkeeping, expense management, accounts payables, payroll, taxes
• Collaborate on budget strategy to drive firm profitability

Systems Development Responsibilities:

• Refine “SKUs” and PSPs and train staff on the same
• Create, Audit, and enforce PSPs
• Optimize firm technology and firm efficiency

• Must Speak Spanish
• Should have a lot of prior experience Administering a Law Firm
• Have a high energy level and even a little impatient
• Been called Neurotic and TOUGH before
• Be metrics-driven and KPI-obsessed
• Sharp and driven
• Have an unshakeable work ethic
• Seek out and uncover performance issues and come up with the solutions
• You must have experience managing a team of more than 20 people
• Not only adapt to change but seek and drive change toward growth
• You must embrace candor in communications and interactions
• Having keen conflict resolution (not conflict avoidance) skills

TO APPLY: In addition to your resume, submit a cover letter and include the following information:

• Why are you specifically interested in this position? Seriously, it is a lot less work to be Administrator of a stable firm that isn't growing or growing at a conservative pace, so why are you interested in the much more challenging task of Administering a Firm in growth mode?
• Why should we be excited to partner with you? What you will bring to the table? What law firms have you scaled?
• How does this position align with your career goals and your life right now and for the foreseeable future?
• Start the Letter with "I am the ONE!"

Our name says it all. We are a boutique firm of qualified attorneys dedicated to helping clients protect themselves, their families, and their legacy through proper planning. We practice only the areas of family wealth succession: Estate Planning, Asset Protection, and Estate Administration. We know what we are doing, we love what we are doing, and we believe in what we are doing.

Benefits:

• Full Benefits include 401(k)(we contribute to yours even if you don't), Qualified Plan Profit Sharing, Fully Covered Health insurance (PPO), Dental & Vision insurance, Life Insurance, PTO