About the position
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 seven years and is ranked #1 on Law.com International's "A-List" in the U.K. - rankings that honor the "Best of the Best" 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, New York, 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: Reporting to the Director of Revenue, the Manager of Control will play a significant leadership role within the Finance department with the critical responsibilities of overseeing the collections portfolio that averages over $200 million monthly and supporting nearly 1,500 lawyers and Firm Management. The scope of the role requires strong leadership, interpersonal, decision-making and communication skills.
Responsibilities
- Ensure that all firm receivables are turned into cash receipts consistent with Firm goals.
- Review account activity with the Supervisor of Collections and Credit Control Team Leads on a regular basis and provide guidance regarding items that require increased attention or escalation.
- Build, mentor, and maintain a strong team that achieves uniformly excellent results and strives towards continuous improvement, including hiring, training, and reviewing.
- Maintain focus and hold themselves and other individuals in the department accountable for executing against plan and achieving challenging business results.
- Implement best practices, policies and procedures related to collections.
- Monitor the Firm's largest receivables and advise senior management and department heads of potential problems through periodic reporting, status updates and escalation as appropriate.
- Work closely with billing to understand issues that may impact collection timeliness and overall realization.
- Produce collection targets that are accurate and timely in collaboration with senior management.
- Assist with target distribution to billing partners and report to management on target performance.
- Consult with department heads and policy committee members for write-off approvals.
- Work with outside auditors to ensure compliance of internal controls, policies and procedures.
- Manage the escalation process for delinquent accounts including outside collection agency relationships.
- Negotiate with lawyers and clients to reach settlements that maximize the collection of receivables.
- Work on special projects and analyses related to cash receipts and collection of accounts receivable.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree, preferably with a concentration in Business, Accounting or Finance.
- A minimum of 10 years of general business experience in a professional services environment is required, preferably in legal services.
- Minimum eight years of supervisory experience.
- Minimum five years experience with professional services time and billing software such as Elite or CMS, 3E, and collections software such as *Collect or ARCS.
- Demonstrated proficiency with MS Excel spreadsheets, including advanced features such as pivot tables, charts and graphs and formulas.
- Strong leadership abilities with a demonstrated track record of coaching a team to superior results.
- Self-directed with a strong work ethic.
- Outstanding ability to identify the need for change and implement thoughtfully but quickly.
- Ability to interact well with all levels of personnel, including management, staff and administration with a high level of customer service.
- Excellent ability to plan, organize and manage multiple priorities and projects.
Benefits
- Health insurance
- Opportunities for advancement
- Comprehensive health and well-being benefits
- Personal and professional development
- Career growth opportunities
- Collegial and supportive culture
