Legal Operations & Client Guidelines Specialist

Legal Operations & Client Guidelines Specialist

Location: Los Angeles, CA

Schedule: Hybrid, 1 day onsite per week

Compensation: $140,000 – $150,000 annually

Status: Exempt

A highly regarded global law firm is seeking a Legal Operations & Client Guidelines Specialist to support the review, negotiation, implementation, and ongoing management of client billing and outside counsel requirements. This is a unique opportunity for someone with a strong background in legal operations, billing compliance, conflicts, risk, or client guideline management who enjoys working at the intersection of business operations, ethics, finance, and attorney-client service.

The ideal candidate will bring strong analytical judgment, excellent drafting skills, and the ability to partner with attorneys, finance, billing, and risk teams to ensure client requirements are practical, compliant, and operationally manageable. A J.D. or equivalent legal training is strongly preferred, and this role may be well-suited for a former attorney, senior paralegal, conflicts professional, or billing compliance professional with significant exposure to outside counsel guidelines.

Key Responsibilities

• Review and analyze client billing guidelines, engagement terms, and outside counsel requirements to identify provisions that may conflict with firm policies, ethical obligations, billing procedures, or operational capabilities.
• Draft, revise, and negotiate responses to client guideline terms, including proposed revisions, exceptions, and alternative language.
• Partner with attorneys, firm leadership, finance, billing, conflicts, and risk teams to evaluate the practical impact of client requirements.
• Advise internal stakeholders on guideline provisions related to billing restrictions, staffing expectations, matter management, confidentiality, conflicts, privilege, reporting, and invoice submission requirements.
• Coordinate with billing and finance teams to help ensure compliance with client-specific billing terms, rate arrangements, invoice formats, write-off protocols, and eBilling requirements.
• Maintain internal resources related to client guideline positions, approved language, escalation procedures, and client-specific exceptions
• Support the development and organization of a centralized database for client guidelines, executed terms, and related documentation
• Monitor trends in client guideline requirements and help the firm evaluate evolving expectations across the legal industry
• Collaborate with ethics, risk, and professional responsibility stakeholders on guideline provisions involving confidentiality, conflicts, privilege, and compliance obligations
• Provide training and guidance to attorneys and administrative teams regarding client guideline requirements and internal processes

Qualifications

• 5 years of experience in a law firm, legal operations, billing compliance, conflicts, risk management, or related legal administrative environment
• J.D. preferred but open to any educational background
• Strong understanding of outside counsel guidelines, billing requirements, engagement terms, and common client-driven compliance obligations
• Excellent drafting, redlining, analytical, and issue-spotting skills
• Ability to communicate effectively with attorneys, senior administrative leaders, client representatives, and cross-functional teams
• Experience with legal billing, eBilling, or matter management systems such as Aderant, Elite 3E, CounselLink, Onit, or similar platforms
• Familiarity with LEDES billing formats, client billing portals, rate management, and invoice compliance preferred
• Working knowledge of legal ethics, professional responsibility considerations, confidentiality obligations, and conflicts-related issues is a plus
• Experience in an AmLaw 100/200, large regional law firm, or sophisticated legal department environment strongly preferred
• Exposure to legal project management, client reporting, or DEI-related billing and reporting requirements is helpful

We Want to Hear From You

We encourage you to apply if you bring experience from one or more of the following backgrounds:

• Billing management or billing compliance within a law firm or legal department
• Outside counsel guideline review, implementation, or compliance
• Conflicts, risk management, legal operations, or professional responsibility support
• Senior paralegal work with exposure to client guidelines, engagement terms, or matter administration in either in-house or at a law firm
• Prior attorney experience, whether in-house or at a law firm
• Client-side experience reviewing, managing, or enforcing outside counsel requirements

The ideal candidate will understand how outside counsel guidelines impact the client relationship, billing process, firm compliance, and overall matter management.