Client Account Operations Lead - CT/ET

DLA Piper is a bold, exceptional, collaborative, and supportive firm where our people are the backbone, heart, and soul. This role offers the opportunity to engage in meaningful work and grow your career while collaborating with a dynamic team.

About the role

The Client Accounts Operations Lead is an advanced-level Legal Biller with analytical and job-priority sequencing responsibilities. This position dynamically manages the firm’s top-tier billing portfolios on an as-needed basis, supporting multiple managers and billing teams. Responsibilities include analyzing and prioritizing tasks to maximize contribution to the larger billing organization, conducting process and gap analysis, and providing customized training and mentoring to staff on billing procedures.

The role ensures a cohesive, full-cycle billing support solution for attorneys with complex domestic and international billing books, serving as a subject-matter expert in billing. It may also provide temporary managerial support during absences or periods of increased workload. The position is remote and may require work across various time zones with a dynamic schedule based on business needs.

Location

This hybrid role can be based in one of the following offices: Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Short Hills, Washington, DC, or Wilmington.

Responsibilities

• Provide temporary managerial support in the absence of designated regional managers.
• Serve as a functional supplemental senior-level billing resource during absences, unplanned vacancies, or increased workloads.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert to provide legal billing surge support for regional billing teams or managers.
• Handle internal assignments to support billing groups experiencing temporary production surges or resource shortfalls, including splitting time across multiple managers and billing attorneys.
• Review data for accuracy prior to submission and gather/submit accrual information based on client requirements.
• Research and resolve electronic billing rejections and client billing data, providing detailed analysis to attorneys and support staff.
• Track and resolve tickets assigned by the Accounting Service Desk daily.
• Collaborate across multiple teams within Legal Support Services and Accounting to streamline billing and client account services.
• Analyze and prioritize responsibilities to maximize contribution to the billing organization, incorporating process and gap analysis into training and mentoring.
• Maintain accurate client billing requirements, including guidelines from the client’s general counsel, and update them as necessary.
• Interact with billing stakeholders to understand business problems and define solution requirements.
• Analyze legal billing processes and systems, develop business cases, build metrics, and perform reporting. Document and communicate functional and system requirements, and create process-flow diagrams.
• Apply best practices for communication and problem-solving, create standardized department reports, and identify areas for efficiency improvements.
• Support projects, report progress, liaise with participants, and ensure effective communication and task completion.
• Interface with IT and other departments to execute cross-functional project requirements, perform system testing, and validate requirements.
• For US clients: Support the full billing cycle, including reviewing and editing proformas, seeking approvals for deferrals, write-offs, and time transfers. Field billing inquiries and create complex monthly reporting.
• For global clients: Coordinate and lead unified billing, review data for accuracy, manage global client account assignments, and perform full-cycle billing functions. Create and maintain complex monthly reporting and liaise with international attorneys or finance counterparts for accrual and forecasting information.
• Generate global client LEDES files for electronic billing based on client requirements.
• Develop and deliver training programs to ensure consistent billing processes across the team.
• Finalize and submit invoices directly to clients or provide them to attorneys for transmission, including additional billing information as needed.
• Serve as a point of escalation and Quality Analyst, providing support, guidance, mentoring, and training to junior staff.

Skills

• Advanced experience as a senior-level Legal Biller.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for interacting with colleagues and stakeholders.
• Advanced billing experience in a major law firm or professional services organization.
• Expert-level knowledge of direct billing, client accounts (domestic, global, and e-Billing), and legal billing systems.
• Strong proficiency with Aderant Legal Billing accounting system.
• Experience with e-billing applications such as e-Hub or Bill Blast.
• Team-oriented with the ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy in proofreading.
• Ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex problems independently.
• Strong analytical skills with a focus on efficiency improvements and coaching others on industry and process optimization.
• Comfortable summarizing and communicating project scope and execution.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including Lookup and PivotTable functions.
• Organized, self-starter capable of handling multiple projects and meeting concurrent deadlines.
• Ability to prioritize assignments and provide backup billing support to multiple managers.

Qualifications

• Minimum: High School Diploma or GED.
• Preferred: Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Accounting, Finance, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years’ senior-level legal billing experience managing high-volume billing portfolios in a fast-paced customer environment.

Essential Job Expectations

• Demonstrate excellence in serving clients and developing people, upholding firm values.
• Communicate effectively with clients, lawyers, business professionals, and external audiences.
• Produce high-quality work and respond to correspondence efficiently and professionally.
• Meet deadlines, manage competing priorities, and maintain high standards.
• Comply with firm policies and procedures.
• Maintain confidentiality as required in a law firm environment.

Physical Demands

This role involves primarily sedentary work, with occasional exertion of up to 10 pounds of force. It requires sitting for extended periods, with occasional walking, standing, and potential domestic or international travel.

Pay

The expected hiring range for this position is $89,991 - $137,126 per year, depending on the candidate’s geographic market location and experience.