Attorney Talent Performance Manager

Winston & Strawn LLP Chicago or New York
300 North La Salle
Chicago, IL 60654
United States

For Business Professionals, Winston & Strawn presents an exciting opportunity to be a part of a leading global law firm. With our commitment to excellence, diversity, a collaborative work environment, and an emphasis on professional growth, Winston offers a platform for individuals seeking to advance their careers in a dynamic and rewarding environment. Winston is known for its collaborative and collegial culture.

We believe teamwork is an essential component in providing high-quality legal services and we value the talents and skills of our entire business professional team.

The Attorney Talent Performance Manager oversees the firm’s performance management frameworks for associates and non-partner track attorneys, ensuring consistent execution, thoughtful calibration, and alignment with firm-wide, department, and practice-specific development expectations. This role is also responsible for continuously refining and optimizing the process to enhance clarity, efficiency, and developmental impact. The Manager partners closely with the Associate Evaluation Committee, department and practice leadership, and members of the Talent team to drive consistency in performance standards, enhance the quality and clarity of feedback, and ensure alignment across practices and offices.

This role is central to strengthening accountability, promoting consistency, and advancing the firm’s high-performance culture.

• Oversee the annual evaluation processes for associates and non-partner track attorneys, as well as the new associate feedback process.
• Partner with the Associate Evaluation Committee to support thoughtful calibration and consistency across practices and offices.
• Maintain clear timelines, tools, and communications to support reviewing partners.
• Identify opportunities to streamline workflows, improve usability, and modernize systems, including leveraging AI opportunities.
• Drive thoughtful redesign initiatives and training to enhance the overall effectiveness and developmental value of the process.

• Maintain and refine competency frameworks, rating definitions, and performance criteria in collaboration with Professional Development and practice group management.
• Monitor and analyze rating patterns and feedback themes to promote consistency and alignment with firm expectations.
• Ensure performance documentation reflects clear expectations, actionable feedback, and alignment with established standards.
• Partner with members of the Talent team and firm leadership on performance-related matters requiring discretion and sound judgment.

• Serve as a trusted advisor to partners on complex performance matters, including delivering difficult feedback, addressing underperformance, and navigating sensitive talent decisions.
• Partner with Career Development Advisors (“CDA”s) to manage the administration of the Performance Development Plan (PDP) framework, ensuring clarity of expectations for partners and associates.
• Guide partners in having candid, constructive feedback conversations.
• Support proactive identification of performance trends and early intervention strategies.

• Develop dashboards and analytics to assess trends across practice groups, class years, and offices.
• Provide data-driven insights to Talent team and firm leadership regarding performance trends, promotion pipeline health, and retention indicators.
• Collaborate with Talent team to Integrate performance insights into broader talent strategy, including compensation modeling and workforce planning.

• Promote a culture of accountability, through timely, actionable, forward‑looking feedback.
• Collaborate with Professional Development to design and deliver training for reviewing attorneys, reviewees, and Associate Evaluation Committee members on effective coaching and evaluation practices.
• Lead change management efforts related to process enhancements and systems…