Associate Director, Finance Practice

Overview

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (including its associated entities) is an elite global law firm with world-class practices across the board. Clients know they can rely on Davis Polk for their most challenging legal and business matters. Our approximately 1,000 lawyers located in 10 offices in the world’s key financial centers and political capitals collaborate seamlessly to deliver exceptional service, sophisticated advice and creative, practical solutions.

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Associate Director, Finance Practice for its top-ranked Global Finance Group. The Associate Director will work closely with the Practice Group Coordinator(s) (PGCs) and other professional development, business development and practice resource personnel to oversee the day-to-day administration of the Finance Group across offices, including with respect to talent management, staffing, internal communications and presentations, practice resources, client coverage, business development and lateral integration.

The Associate Director will also be integral to developing and executing on annual strategic plans for the Finance Group. This role reports into the Finance PGCs & Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer.

Typical responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Strategic Planning
  • Assists in preparing the annual practice group business plan, assist with managing implementation, monitoring progress and suggesting proactive measures to achieve priorities. Manages strategic initiatives and other projects, including collaborating with Business Development/Marketing.
• Staffing
  • In partnership with the Professional Development team, manages and supports staffing together with the group’s staffing Partners and PGCs, ensuring that each attorney (i.e., special counsel and associates) is fully utilized, while balancing client needs with development goals.
  • Proactively monitors group activity, including individual attorney activity and client-matter status, to inform staffing.
  • Manages work assignment policies, procedures and systems, including work assignment tracking, time-entry compliance, vacation requests/approvals, etc.
  • Conducts outreach to associates regarding capacity, interest and overall workflow, and monitors time and availability of attorneys to effectively assign and reallocate matters as necessary to maximize overall productivity.
  • Liaises with partner leads of Finance sub-groups (i.e. infrastructure finance, structured finance) to monitor and ensure consistency in approach to staffing; coordinates with staffing Partners to discuss and implement procedures to foster broader group cohesion.
  • Synthesizes, analyses and presents data to the PGCs and management as appropriate.
• Attorney & Professional Development
  • Develops in-depth understanding of development needs within the group and manages attorney satisfaction and retention initiatives. Prepares and follows through on individual attorney development plans.
  • Acts as a confidant for attorneys. Guides and coaches attorneys and connects them to Firm or other resources.
  • Identifies training needs and works with practice resources personnel to develop substantive programs.
  • Helps to manage the counsel compensation process for the group.
  • Tracks the group’s pipeline for promotion. Manages the annual promotion process for the group, including business case development and drafting promotion memos.
  • Monitor and push forward various AI-related projects.
• Recruiting & Lateral Integration
  • Coordinates with internal Finance recruiting team regarding entry-level and lateral hiring needs, including maintaining and reporting on leverage levels, recruiting goals, progress against those goals, reporting on challenges and market intelligence.
  • Interfaces with external recruiters and with our internal recruiting team to ensure appropriate and timely follow up and no missed deadlines.
  • Coordinates onboarding, integration and follow up check-ins of entry-level and lateral attorneys into the group.
  • Supports the integration of lateral partners, including helping to prepare integration plans and facilitating connections within the group and across the Firm. Relatedly…