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Travers Smith

Travers Smith is an award-winning law firm. We build lasting relationships with public and private sector clients. It is Travers Smith's purpose to provide the very highest quality of service to our clients whilst enabling our people to achieve professional fulfilment in a supportive, inclusive and enjoyable working environment.

The Role

Reporting to the Chief Marketing Officer, the role is responsible for creating, managing and implementing strategically important client relationship, client development initiatives and client solutions across the firm.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy and business and client planning

• Work with the Managing Partner, CMO and Partnership Board to review and regularly update the firm wide client strategy.
• Provide input into the firm wide business strategy, helping identify market and client trends that relate to the market and the firm's chosen acceleration pillars, existing and new potential clients.
• Commission and manage the preparation of research with the wider Business Development, Central Finance and Research teams to identify and highlight client opportunities.
• Support the CMO in creating a quarterly update report on clients, markets and competitors for the Partnership Board.
• Work with the Central Finance team to identify and analyse the Top 250 clients, break down by practice group etc. and provide insight to the BD teams to help drive business plan actions.
• Support the CMO, Legal Operations Director and CPO with the roll out of Smart Collaboration activities, designed to increase engagement across the firm, with specific reference to improved BD activities and client relationships, including increased focus on client centred service delivery.

Client listening, actions plans and matter reviews

• Manage the firm's client listening programme by carrying out interviews with clients on your own and with the CMO, Managing Partner and Senior Partner. Analyse the client feedback to provide trends and solutions to the partnership.
• Ensure a coordinated approach to all of the firm's client listening activity including developing a process to track relationship review meetings, client matter reviews and pitch debriefs.
• Work with the BD team, Legal Operations, CRPs and Matter Partners to develop and implement regular and ongoing client listening, with the aim of building our institutional knowledge of key clients, enhancing service delivery and increasing touch points.
• Plan, undertake and report on a full programme of Senior/Managing Partner Client Reviews on an annual basis, to include pre-research, attendance at reviews and follow up actions and recommendations.
• Support the Business Development teams by creating templates and approaches to client action planning.
• Work with KLs, Legal Operations team, Legal Technology team and the BD team to ensure that all actions from client listening exercises are communicated across the firm and a co-ordinated approach to clients is adopted.
• Support the Senior/Managing Partner and CRPs in all actions regarding setting up and holding client reviews - including strategic reviews, senior partner client reviews and client matter reviews as appropriate.

Client Data and systems

• With the CFO, CPO, CMO and Director of Legal Operations, agree and outline all the data points required for capturing information on source of business, work allocation and client development, to support accurate reporting of partner and lawyer activity.
• Lead a cross-functional team (EDS team, BD team, Legal Ops and Central Finance) to ensure that all systems are updated, implemented and work effectively to deliver the data points identified in the point above.
• Work with the CPO and L&D team to ensure that all lawyers and business services teams are trained in creating, uploading and using the data systems to create meaningful management information.
• Work with Central Finance and Projects colleagues to create and implement a workflow process that allows the capture and output of pertinent client, matter and deal information to create a credentials database that supports BD, marketing and pitch activity.

Client-related projects and other initiatives

• Work with BD, Legal Operations and HR colleagues to create an effective secondee programme, developing appropriate training, guidance and question sheets for secondees to use and complete. Help to develop an action plan for the best way to develop the relationship further. Feed information into all CRPs and relevant partner groups, Legal Operations and BD teams.
• Review best practice for client relationship management in other professional service and client-focused organisations and suggest changes and improvements as required.
• Ensure that client related activities are shared regularly with the wider BD team to maximise cross- group engagement and knowledge-sharing.
• Create and maintain a toolkit of documents, best practice guidance, tips and techniques for establishing client teams, undertaking client reviews, creating client action plans and other client-related activities.
• Update and maintain the Client Hub on the firm's intranet site.

Client Solutions

• Work with the Legal Operations Director by mapping and reviewing the client experience, identifying opportunities for improving and optimising it.
• Using a legal design methodology and taking feedback from client listening reviews and secondments into account, work closely with KLs and Legal Operations to enhance legal service delivery for key clients, promoting a joined up, collaborative and client-centred approach.
• Be responsible for the firm's key client programme, this will involve selecting and reviewing the appropriate clients, providing insights on the client relationship partners, core teams and wider team. Working with 3rd party providers to ensure market leading relationship techniques are being used.
• Be the central point of co-ordination for all client solution projects - working with the Legal Technology team to ensure that all solutions, visits and updates are incorporated in client action plans and that information and learnings are shared across the BD and Legal Ops teams.

Other Responsibilities

• Be an active member of the BDMC Leadership team, helping to promote cross-practice activities and initiatives.
• Manage a dedicated team member, providing guidance, support, objective setting etc.

Key Relationships

• Line manager: Chief Marketing Officer.
• Direct report(s): Client and External Relationships Executive.
• Key stakeholders: Senior Partner, Managing Partner, Heads of Department and client relationship partners, Head of BD, Head of Communications, Head of Brand & Digital, CFO and the management accounting team.
• Other stakeholders: Wider business development team, Central Finance team, Knowledge Lawyer community, Legal Operations team, HR team.

Person Specification - Knowledge, Skills & Experience

Experience & Knowledge

• Minimum ten years' experience working in a business development role in a professional services organisation or relevant advisory service.
• Previous experience or client listening, client account management and management of a key client programme are essential.
• Graduate with a relevant professional marketing and/or business qualification - preferable.

Skills

• Strong influencing, negotiating and coaching skills at partner level.
• Strong project management skills.
• Analytical ability to manipulate data and identify trends.
• Excellent communication skills - both written and verbal.
• Proven ability to plan and execute against business development plans/goals.
• Excellent systems and database skills - Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.
• Ability to use InterAction and Vuture - desirable.

Personal Attributes

• Able to navigate relationships with demanding colleagues and instil confidence.

• Able to inspire a team through a personal and energetic approach.

• Flexible team player with a 'can do' attitude.
• Ability to build strong relationships with internal and external clients.
• Commercially astute.

• Proactive in generating high quality strategic ideas to help the firm grow.

• Able to lead and manage meetings with partners and senior players with confidence and an assured approach.
• Comfortable providing recommendations with confidence to senior level stakeholders, even when there is ambiguity involved.
• Identifies opportunity for change and influences accordingly.