Senior Legal Project Manager

King & Spalding is a leading global law firm committed to excellence, innovation, and seamless delivery of legal services. The Senior Legal Project Manager will lead project management for the firm’s largest and most complex legal matters and portfolios, working with practice groups, matter teams, and partners to provide strategic and operational support across project management, staffing, budgeting & fee arrangements, and client communications. This role reports to the Director of Pricing and Legal Project Management and includes line‑management responsibility for other team members.

Responsibilities

• Lead planning, execution, and delivery of complex legal matters and client portfolios by developing and maintaining matter plans, timelines, milestones, deliverables, performance trackers, status reports, and communication plans.
• Partner with attorneys, clients, business services personnel, and other stakeholders to define matter scope, objectives, staffing needs, roles, responsibilities, workstreams, and key success measures.
• Develop, monitor, and manage matter and portfolio budgets, including spend tracking, forecasting, timeline management, scope changes, and budget revisions; identify risks/bottlenecks, escalate concerns, and recommend mitigation or corrective actions.
• Serve as senior point of contact for partners, matter teams, clients, and key internal stakeholders, providing consolidated updates, executive summaries, strategic insights, and recommendations across matters and portfolios.
• Facilitate matter governance and collaboration, including kick‑off meetings, project team meetings, steering meetings, agenda development, follow‑up tracking, and coordination across practice groups, offices, external counsel, vendors, and clients.
• Support fee arrangement and client outside‑counsel guideline management by preparing summaries, communicating, and monitoring implementation across matters and client portfolios.
• Advise partners and matter teams on staffing and resource allocation strategies, balancing capacity, expertise, leverage, workload, and client requirements.
• Develop, refine, and promote LPM methodologies, templates, playbooks, workflows, reporting tools, dashboards, and best practices to improve consistency, scalability, efficiency, and profitability.
• Contribute to business development and client relationship efforts by supporting pitches, RFP responses, client presentations, LPM collateral, and showcasing innovative legal service delivery.
• Evaluate, implement, and optimize LPM technology, data analytics, benchmarking, matter management, collaboration, and reporting tools to enhance project delivery, budget visibility, decision‑making, and client service.
• Provide LPM training, coaching, and change‑management support to partners, associates, clients, and business services professionals to encourage adoption of project‑management tools, processes, and best practices.
• Supervise, mentor, and develop legal project managers, analysts, or junior team members, including onboarding, workload management, performance feedback, professional development, recruiting support, and knowledge sharing.
• Serve as day‑to‑day coach and resource for team members, offering guidance on matter management, stakeholder engagement, budgeting, and client communication.
• Help build and mature the LPM function by influencing adoption, expanding the pipeline of LPM work, championing knowledge sharing and continuous improvement, defining operating standards, supporting global consistency, and fostering a collaborative, high‑performing team culture.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; JD or master’s degree in business, finance, accounting, or a related field preferred.
• Formal project‑management qualification preferred (e.g., APMQ or PMP).
• Minimum 7 + years of legal project management, legal operations, or practice‑management experience within a law‑firm environment.
• Prior experience managing or mentoring a team, including performance management and professional‑development responsibilities.
• Significant experience managing project teams and supporting complex, multi‑jurisdictional matters in a dedicated project‑management capacity, including work with global legal teams.
• Strong knowledge of legal project‑management methodologies, approaches, and processes.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; ability to interact at all levels, negotiate, influence, and build trusted relationships with senior business stakeholders.
• Strong commercial acumen and financial‑analysis skills, with ability to prepare analyses, provide insight, and make recommendations.
• Leadership, organizational, and problem‑solving abilities; capacity to manage multiple priorities.
• Flexible and resilient; able to adapt in a fast‑moving, detail‑oriented environment.
• High proficiency with Microsoft suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, SQL, Power BI, Project, etc.) and AI tools such as Co‑pilot and Harvey.
• Ability to protect and maintain confidential and sensitive information.

Benefits

• Generous total compensation package with performance‑based bonuses and raises.
• Comprehensive benefit program for full‑time Business Services employees, including health and wellness plan, life and disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings account, 401(k) plan, profit‑sharing plan, and substantial paid time off (PTO).

Pay

Anticipated full‑time annualized salary ranges:

• Atlanta, GA: $165,000 – $217,000
• Chicago, IL: $175,000 – $230,000
• Washington, DC: $195,000 – $240,000
• New York, NY: $205,000 – $250,000

The final salary offer will consider relevant experience, internal equity, market data, job location, and other lawful factors.