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Practice Resource Consultant (FTC)

Employer
Ashurst
Location
London (Central), London (Greater)
Salary
Competitive
Closing date
11 Sep 2019

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Job Details

About Ashurst:

Ashurst is a leading global law firm with a history spanning almost 200 years, and clear strategy for our future growth. Our in-depth understanding of our clients and commitment to providing exceptional standards of service have seen us become a trusted adviser to local and global corporates, financial institutions and governments in all areas of commercial law.

Our people are our greatest asset. We bring together lawyers of the highest calibre with the technical knowledge, industry experience and regional know-how to provide the incisive advice our clients need.  How we share our knowledge across our business, and with our clients, is critical in delivering value to our clients.

We currently have 25 offices in 15 countries and a number of referral relationships that enable us to offer the reach and insight of a global network, combined with the knowledge and understanding of local markets. With 420 partners and a further 1,450 lawyers working across 10 different time zones, we are able to respond to our clients wherever and whenever they need us.

Our clients value us for being approachable, astute and commercially minded. As a global team we have a reputation for successfully managing large and complex multi-jurisdictional transactions, disputes and projects, and delivering outstanding outcomes for clients in innovative ways.

Ashurst regards an inclusive and diverse environment as critical to its business success.  Accordingly, the firm encourages applications from candidates representative of all talent pools.  Find out more about our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy on the "About Us" section of our website.     

In order to comply with regulatory and client requirements, Ashurst will undertake appropriate vetting of staff. When applicants accept a job offer, Ashurst, alongside a specialist provider, will undertake professional verification and background checks.  These checks are only undertaken with consent, and in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations

Job Overview

Business Area – Human Resources

Role: Practice Resource Consultant (14 month FTC)

Location: London

Reporting to: Head of Practice Resource Manager

Hours of work - Monday to Friday, 9:30am - 5:30pm, may be required to work such hours as are necessary to carry out your duties 

Department/ Role Overview:

Practice Resource Management and Work Allocation has been introduced to enable our practices to be more agile in the ever evolving markets in which we work. Practice Resource Management aligns work to lawyers taking into account their experience, their development needs and their capacity. Put simply Practice Resource Management helps ensure we are providing the right people on the right projects at the right time, across all of our services.

This is an exciting time for Practice Resource Management as Ashurst expands the scope and coverage of the function.  Working closely with the business Practice Resource Management is a key initiative to develop and implement our business and people strategy.

We are looking to recruit a Practice Resource Consultant to support teams across two of our UK  and EMEA practice groups. The practices are complex, fast paced and high energy with high volumes of resourcing requests, which require a fast turnaround on a daily basis. With c750 Lawyers in the EMEA practice we also have other practices and specialists within international offices, which this individual will be critical to engaging and accessing, when required.

As a Practice Resource Consultant, you’ll play an important role in implementing and supporting the delivery of Practice Resource Management Services, helping to provide operational excellence. You’ll work with the business to support the firm's strategy around agility and mobility of our people and will support the firm’s people agenda, reporting directly to the Head of Practice Resource Management (based in Sydney) but closely supporting the Division and Practice Group Leadership teams.

You'll be responsible for the staffing of Graduates, Lawyers, Senior Associates and Counsel, on a daily basis. You will also have the opportunity to support the Practice Management strategy across the firm's Global Network. You will have an important role in talent management and liaising with the HR and leadership teams, to discuss individual performance and development. You will also be involved in a range of projects that are designed to improve the efficiency and agility of the firm.

Main responsibilities:

  • Demonstrate good knowledge of the business and be proactive in relation to the supply and demand challenges of the business - i.e. busy periods, recurring business, etc
  • Make sure the business needs are delivered in an efficient manner at all times by optimising the allocation of work and deployment of staff to maximise profitability in conjunction with personal development plans and individuals’ wellbeing
  • Work with Partners to ensure clients' needs are delivered in an efficient manner at all times by optimising headcount, managing/overseeing joiners, leavers and secondments, smoothing utilisation and being aware of the impact on employee engagement
  • Support Practice Heads to ensure that resourcing is appropriate to deliver revenue and profit targets. This includes maintaining a forward looking view on resourcing, using available levers to 'bulk-up' of 'slim-down' resourcing.  This includes the use of secondments, mobility, freelancers etc.
  • Assisting prepare business cases for recruiting
  • Being constantly visible and accessible to all, allowing for constant communication and an accurate view of activity and capacity across the group
  • Understanding individual career development needs and supporting access to opportunities which will support personal development
  • To a point, policing the use of the function, to avoid direct allocation of work which could see work allocated in a manner inconsistent with best practices
  • Ensure accurate forecasting of individual activity by tracking activity data and analysing this against actual time recording, flagging any discrepancies to individuals and escalating where required
  • Support the business by delivering the manpower and resourcing plan, having a deep understanding of the BU growth plans and headcount required to support these
  • Engage with the BU Group Leaders and support with people issues and recruitment
  • Be prepared to challenge the BU protocols if impacting resourcing - i.e. completion of timesheets, accuracy of codes, etc
  • Consider work allocation in the context of a multi-practice, multi-jurisdiction firm and help share work across these different groups
  • Produce accurate and commercially focussed Management Information (MI) for your Division, identifying trends / key risks / conflicts etc.
  • Work in close partnership with other key functions - i.e. Finance / HR / Business Development / etc
  • Engage and promote the use of key work allocation systems
  • Be prepared to engage in work allocation projects aligned to the resource management vision
  • Share knowledge / best practice and network with your colleagues

Risk and Control: Ensure that all activities and duties are carried out in full compliance with our regulatory requires and internal policies.

Desired skills and experience:

  • Prior experience in a resource management, manpower/workforce planning or similar role - ideally within a large professional or corporate environment

Or

  • Experience of working in another role within a medium – large size law firm, either in an operational role or as a Lawyer looking for a change of career direction
  • Outstanding stakeholder engagement skills at all levels, the ability to build relationships quickly and flex approach to be credible to a variety of audiences
  • Strong influencing skills at all levels
  • Ability to work with tight deadlines in a fast moving environment
  • Excellent project management and organisational skills
  • Experience of conflict resolution, with the ability to manage complex conflicts between numerous parties
  • Commercial and risk focussed with good operational business acumen
  • Good problem solver and decision maker
  • Effective team player with an ability to develop personal networks through strong interpersonal skills
  • Trusted advisor who provides balanced, pragmatic advice around manpower planning and resource management to the business
  • Proactive with a positive, flexible, assertive attitude
  • Strong IT skills – experience of working with resource management/manpower planning software would be advantageous

Company

Ashurst is a leading progressive global law firm with a rich history spanning more than 200 years. We are proud of our history and are future-focused, having expanded into new technologies through our NewLaw division, Ashurst Advance, and our consulting arm. Our in-depth understanding of our clients and commitment to providing excellent standards of service have seen us become a trusted adviser to local and global corporates, financial institutions and governments in all areas of commercial law. To find out more please visit  www.ashurst.com

Company info
Telephone
+44 20 7638 1111
Location
London Fruit & Wool Exchange
1 Duval Square
London
E1 6PW
United Kingdom

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