Legal Executive Assistant

About Ropes & Gray

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 tech-forward Legal Executive Assistant ("LEA") to serve as a trusted right-hand and force multiplier for our industry-leading lawyers. The ideal candidate is a polished professional who builds deep relationships with attorneys and clients, anticipates needs before they arise, and combines strategic project management capabilities with deep knowledge of the legal industry. Going well beyond traditional administrative support, you will manage complex workflows, drive operational efficiency through modern tools—including artificial intelligence—and actively contribute to business development efforts, ensuring the legal function operates as a strategic business partner.

Responsibilities

Client Service and Relationship Management

• Develops and maintains strong, trusted relationships with assigned attorneys and their clients. Invests 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.
• Acts as a gatekeeper and liaison, prioritizing conflicting demands and handling sensitive matters confidentially, expeditiously, and independently. Follows through on all tasks until successful completion.
• Monitors action items and deliverables across the legal team, holding stakeholders accountable and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.
• Anticipates attorneys' needs based on an intimate knowledge of their work habits, preferences, and upcoming commitments. Keeps attorneys well-informed and moves work forward with minimal direction, suggesting process improvements to expedite projects and day-to-day workflow.
• Maintains professional relationships with a range of internal and external clients, and professional organizations on behalf of assigned attorneys. Keeps client contacts current in InterAction and maintains detailed client and matter lists.
• Fosters 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.

Research and Proactive Support

• Anticipates the needs of partner by tracking upcoming deadlines, renewals, regulatory changes, and organizational developments.
• Develops and maintains standard operating procedures, playbooks, and onboarding materials for the legal department.
• Proactively identifies bottlenecks, risks, and opportunities across the legal department and surface them to leadership with recommended solutions.
• Continuously refines internal processes to improve efficiency, reduce redundancy, and enhance the team's capacity.
• Builds and maintains dashboards, trackers, and reporting tools to provide leadership with real-time visibility into departmental workflows and key metrics.

AI-Enabled Administration and Technology

• Leverages artificial intelligence tools to manage high-volume email inboxes efficiently, including triaging, organizing, drafting routine responses, and flagging priority communications per attorney preferences.
• Applies AI and other technology solutions to gain efficiencies across core administrative functions such as scheduling, document handling, expense processing, and information management.
• Monitors and manages attorneys' Outlook inboxes, organizing folder structures and ensuring client- and matter-related documents and emails are properly stored in iManage Workspaces.
• Demonstrates 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 reconcile and process expenses. Review inbox, diary entries, calendars, and other items to classify business expenses. Review Emburse and American Express accounts to allocate expense items, collaborating with internal and external resources to address outstanding items within the payment window.
• Actively manage timekeepers' diaries, creating draft entries based on knowledge of attorney activity and reviewing entries for conformity to best practices. Proactively manage attorneys to ensure entries meet submission deadlines.
• Communicate and collaborate 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. Work directly with various timekeepers to identify, address, and correct billing errors or discrepancies, ensuring accuracy and compliance with client billing guidelines before final submission.

Project Management

• Composes, edits, and proofreads 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.
• Applies best practices when arranging travel, utilizing agent-assist and online tools. Monitors travel to ensure smooth arrivals and departures, maintains up-to-date travel preferences, and manages airline check-in and boarding passes as needed.

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.

Qualifications

Essential Capabilities

• Demonstrates a track record of supporting partners, senior executives, or other senior-level professionals, earning trust through reliability, discretion, and sound judgment.
• Builds and nurtures strong professional relationships with attorneys, clients, and colleagues at all levels, developing a deep understanding of the practice, the client base, and each attorney's work style and preferences.
• Anticipates needs and shepherds work forward proactively with limited direction, acting as a true extension of the professionals supported.
• Maintains strict confidentiality in all interactions and demonstrates a professional demeanor in appearance, behavior, and communication.
• Possesses exceptional verbal and written communication skills adhering to proper business writing standards, with a keen eye for detail in both formal and informal communications.
• Maintains a positive, solutions-oriented attitude and works effectively across departments, demonstrating intellectual curiosity and a continuous drive to improve service.
• Demonstrates openness to constructive feedback and flexibility to adjust behavior or performance as needed.

Education, Experience, and Skills Required

• 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.

Compensation and Total Rewards Package

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.

• Silicon Valley: $87,500 - $133,450

Working Conditions

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.