About Us

Blank Rome is an Am Law 100 firm with 16 offices and nearly 750 attorneys who provide comprehensive legal and advocacy services to clients operating in the United States and around the world. Our professionals have built a reputation for their leading knowledge and experience across a spectrum of industries and are recognized for their commitment to pro bono work in their communities. Since our inception in 1946, Blank Rome’s culture has been dedicated to providing top-level service to all of our clients and has been rooted in the strength of our diversity and inclusion initiatives. Our commitment to our core values and dedication to providing a supportive and inclusive work environment, allows the firm to attract and retain the brightest in the industry.

Job Overview

The Legal Budget Analyst will support the Innovation and Value Department by creating, tracking, and reporting on alternative fee arrangements and matter budgets. The Legal Budget Analyst will collaborate with the pricing team, client relationship attorneys and other attorneys to ensure that the budgets align with firm expectations and provide recommendations if arrangements exceed agreed upon scope. The Legal Budget Analyst will collaborate with attorneys and clients providing status updates and conducing ad hoc analyses. The Legal Budget Analyst will support the firm’s matter management tools and collaborate with Legal Project Manager(s) in the development of best practices in project management.

This role has a hybrid working arrangement. Potential candidates must live within commuting distance of our Philadelphia, PA or Dallas, TX offices to be onsite 3 days per week. In this role, you will report to the Senior Value Manager.

Essential Functions

• Collaborate with the value team and attorneys to draft and submit budget proposals; tracking actual project costs against budget and proactively flag budget variances to the lead lawyer.
• Collaborate with attorneys to track legal budgets including but not limited to tracking actions, timelines, deliverables, assumptions and escalating activities when there are changes in scope or status.
• Provide options for resolution and course correction on matters that begin to diverge from initial expectations.
• Work with attorneys and clients to define requirements and develop custom budget reporting.
• Prepare and manage financial and client status reports, as required.
• Collaborate to automate the firm’s legal project management workflow and task/phase code groupings, including the creation of dashboards to create and update matter budgets, view matter status reports, and search historical data for future matter planning.
• Assist in the development and proliferation of best practices, tools, budget templates, and reference materials across the firm’s client portfolio.
• Support effective communication strategies on projects/matters that foster a collaborative approach between project workstreams including between our lawyers and our clients.
• Support post project review and post-mortem assessments and recommend process improvements as appropriate.
• Build relationships and foster a collaborative approach when working with clients and across all departments.
• Perform other responsibilities as assigned.
• Work additional hours as needed to fulfill job requirements.

The above essential functions represent the general nature and level of responsibilities for this position and is not intended to be an all-inclusive list. The firm may modify and amend any job description at any time in its sole discretion.

Skills/Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in positions requiring strong project and budget management skills.
• Law firm or professional service organization experience is required.
• Client facing experience is a plus.
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, management, or other related business function.
• Strong technical skills, including advanced Excel skills (including use of vertical and horizontal lookups, macros, pivot tables and modeling) and a high level of proficiency in Word and PowerPoint required.
• Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference.
• Experience in using data visualization tools (e.g., Tableau or Power BI) is strongly desired.
• Proficient with pivot tables and data cubes, and an understanding of relational databases.
• Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables in situations where only limited standardization exists.
• Strong communication skills (verbal and written) with the ability to develop positive working relationships (in-person and virtually).
• Meticulous attention to detail and accuracy is extremely critical.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with a customer service focus.
• Ability to protect and maintain confidential and sensitive information.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks with effective organizational skills.
• Demonstrated energetic and enthusiastic team player.

General Expectations

• Promote positive work habits, including effective and prompt communication, teamwork, and demonstrating respect for colleagues.
• Contribute to providing the highest quality of service to internal and external clients.
• Take proper initiative and ownership of job responsibilities while ensuring the assignments/job duties are performed successfully and on time.
• Understand and abide by firm policies and embrace firm values.
• Ability to maintain regular attendance and work regularly scheduled hours.
• Ability to sit for long periods of time, type, and handle light lifting (files, copy paper, etc.) in a professional office environment.
• Comply with safe work practices including compliance with the firm’s COVID-19 policies and safety measures.

EEO Statement

Blank Rome is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information, or any other status protected by law.

Our core values of respect for the individual, the community, and the law are clearly demonstrated in our ability to recruit and develop a diverse group of exceptionally talented attorneys and professional staff who enable us to best serve our clients and our communities.