Legal Executive Assistant

Ropes & Gray · United States

Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm. The firm has been ranked in the top three on The American Lawyer's prestigious A-List for eight consecutive years and #1 on Law.com's UK A-List twice in the past three years - rankings that honor the "best of the best" law firms. The firm has approximately 2,500 lawyers and professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology, and government in Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.The firm has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including asset management, private equity, M&A, finance, real estate, tax, antitrust, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity, and business restructuring. Ropes & Gray is an equal opportunity employer. Overview

We are seeking a seasoned Legal Executive Assistant ("LEA") to serve as a trusted right hand to our partners. This is a high-impact role for a polished professional who thrives on building deep, lasting relationships with attorneys and their clients, and who brings the judgment and initiative needed to anticipate needs, drive matters forward, and deliver seamless day-to-day support. The ideal candidate has a proven track record of supporting senior-level professionals in a demanding, fast-paced environment and has embraced modern toolsincluding artificial intelligenceto maximize efficiency across core administrative functions such as email management, scheduling, and document handling.

Client Service and Relationship Management

• Develop and maintain strong, trusted relationships with attorneys and clients. Invest the time to understand each attorney's practice, client roster, and business development priorities so as to serve as a knowledgeable and effective representative on their behalf. Conduit to the practice.
• Act as a gatekeeper and liaison, prioritizing conflicting demands and handling sensitive matters confidentially, expeditiously, and independently. Follow through on all tasks until successful completion.
• Anticipate attorneys' needs based on an intimate knowledge of their work habits, preferences, and upcoming commitments. Keep attorneys well-informed and moves work forward with minimal direction, suggesting process improvements to expedite projects and day-to-day workflow.
• Maintain professional relationships with a range of internal and external clients, and professional organizations on behalf of assigned attorneys. Keep client contacts current in InterAction and maintains detailed client and matter lists.
• Foster open and frequent communication with teammates to ensure smooth and continuous first-class service to assigned lawyers, including cross-training to maintain service standards during absences.

Calendar management and Scheduling

• Manage and coordinate very busy calendars and travel.
• Work with conference services for meeting scheduling support.
• Work with Meetings & Events for targeted client meetings, both on and offsite.

Travel Coordination

• Apply best practices when arranging travel, utilizing agent-assist and online tools. Monitor travel to ensure smooth arrivals and departures, maintains up-to-date travel preferences, and manages airline check-in and boarding passes as needed.
• Coordinate travel both ad hoc and recurring conference participation.

Document & Matter Management

• Maintain organized files for active regulatory advisory matters.
• Track deliverables tied to matters.
• Support deal-closing logistics for matters of the scale handled, typically requiring coordinated document execution across multiple parties.

Committee, Board & Advisory Support

• Assist with the preparation of briefing materials and track meeting schedules for Committee membership.
• Coordinate correspondence and agenda items for varied "chair" roles.
• Manage administrative touchpoints for civic board service.
• Support outside memberships and Senior Advisor role(s).

Media, Publications & Public Profile

• Coordinate response logistics with appropriate departments for press inquiries.
• Assist with speech and panel preparation materials for recurring engagements, given the volume and regularity of his public speaking record.

Client & Business Development, Research & Proactive Support

• Conduct research as requested, gathering and synthesizing information from internal and external sources to support client matters, business development, and practice management.
• Maintain a relationship log and client management relationship contacts.
• Support new-business intake and complete conflict checks for matters.

AI-Enabled Administration and Technology

• Leverage artificial intelligence tools to manage high-volume email inboxes efficiently, including triaging, organizing, drafting routine responses, and flagging priority communications per attorney preferences.
• Apply AI and other technology solutions to gain efficiencies across core administrative functions such as scheduling, document handling, expense processing, and information management.
• Monitor and manages attorneys' Outlook inboxes, organizing folder structures and ensuring client- and matter-related documents and emails are properly stored in iManage Workspaces.
• Demonstrate exceptional proficiency with Microsoft Outlook and the full Microsoft Office suite, utilizing creative problem-solving skills to manage complex scheduling across multiple lawyers, clients, offices, and time zones.

Billing Management

• Efficiently reconciles and processes expenses. Reviews inbox, diary entries, calendars, and other items to classify business and personal expenses. Reviews Chrome River and American Express accounts to allocate expense items, collaborating with internal and external resources to address outstanding items within the payment window.
• Actively manages timekeepers' diaries, creating draft entries based on knowledge of attorney activity and reviewing entries for conformity to best practices. Proactively manages attorneys to ensure entries meet submission deadlines.
• Communicates and collaborates with assigned billing coordinators, coordinating the review of proformas, tracking edits and updates, and facilitating final approval of bills to ensure timely delivery to clients.

Project Management

• Compose, edit, redlining, and proofread correspondence, presentations, and other documents with exceptional attention to detail and strong document production skills.
• Proactively coordinates internal and external meetings with limited direction, arranging all logistics including visitor offices, conference rooms, videoconference links, and dial-in numbers as appropriate.

Training and Professional Development

• Actively contributes in team huddles, focus groups, lunch-and-learns, and other knowledge-sharing activities, including the mentor program as appropriate.
• Maintains subject-matter-level expertise in the firm's core applications and adheres to established best practices.
• Stays current on emerging technologies, including AI-driven productivity tools, and shares insights with colleagues.

Other Responsibilities

• Performs other work-related duties as assigned.

• College degree or equivalent.
• Minimum of five years of experience providing direct administrative support to partners, senior executives, or other senior-level professionals, preferably in a law firm or professional services environment.
• Demonstrated use of artificial intelligence tools (e.g., AI-assisted email management, scheduling assistants, or document automation) to drive efficiency in day-to-day administrative work.
• Expert proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook).
• Proven ability to build and sustain strong relationships with professionals and clients at all levels, with a genuine curiosity about the business and a commitment to understanding client needs.
• Strong organizational skills reflecting the ability to seamlessly perform and prioritize multiple tasks with excellent attention to detail.
• Expert written and verbal communication skills.
• Proactive approach to problem-solving, with strong decision-making capability and the ability to work independently with sound judgment.
• Ability to conduct research and synthesize information clearly and concisely.
• A track record of anticipating needs, exercising discretion, and moving work forward on behalf of the professionals supported.

Ropes & Gray is proud to offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package to our business support team members. The firm also offers comprehensive health and well-being benefits, personal and professional development, career growth opportunities and a collegial and supportive culture. The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below and represents our good faith and reasonable estimate of the starting salary range at the time of posting. In addition, this role is eligible for a discretionary bonus based on performance. The actual offered rate for this position will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors, including qualifications and experience, geographic location, education, external market data and consideration of internal equity.

• Washington D.C.: $77,000 - $117,450

This position requires hybrid on-site presence as an essential function of the role. Consistent and predictable on-site presence is required for ongoing business continuity, professional development and effective collaboration with colleagues and management.