Legal Operations Specialist
Valley Bank
Full-time
On-site
Morristown, New Jersey, United States
Responsibilities include but are not limited to:
- Manage list of Panel and approved law firm relationships with Valley. Serve as a key liaison between law firms, internal stakeholders, and third-party vendors.
- Act as subject matter expert for Valley's current e-billing system (LegalTracker). Updating information in our matter management system (Legal Tracker) and various excel spreadsheets to reflect the status of each case and project.
- Oversee all phases of the EDRM (Electronic Discovery Reference Model), including identification, preservation, collection, processing, review, and production of electronically stored information (ESI).
- Monitor the budget by creating dashboards and reports on outside counsel/third-party vendor spend; working with Finance and stakeholders to ensure accurate budget controls.
Prepare status reports monthly or as needed, pertaining to outside counsel/vendor expenses; analyze actual and projected costs vs. budgeted amounts, including breakdown of costs by applicable categories. - Develop and manage department processes, policies, procedures, and tools.
Develop and implement best practices, workflows, and quality control protocols to ensure defensibility and efficiency. - Manage and maintain sensitive documents with a high level of discretion.
- Act as a strategic and trusted partner in the legal team and across business functions.
- Provide notary services as needed.
Qualifications
Required Skills:
- Experience in paralegal and/or legal operations roles, preferably in the banking, wealth management, or finance sectors.
- Experience in e-Discovery platforms.
- Proven ability to design and implement legal department processes and legal technology systems.
- Experience in managing and coordinating law firm relationships.
- Strong knowledge of corporate governance, contracts, and legal processes.
- Skilled in Microsoft Office Suite, legal research platforms (e.g., Westlaw, LexisNexis), and contract management tools.
- Familiarity with legal spend analytics and financial reporting tools.
Required Experience:
- High School diploma
- Minimum of 5 years experience working in public company reporting environment, legal compliance, and cross-functional legal support in an in-house legal department at a bank. Will consider experience with banking matters at a medium to large law firm with banking clients and/or in-house legal department in other industries.
Preferred Experience:
- Bachelor's degree