Commercial Business Partner
- Recruiter
- Holman Fenwick Willan LLP
- Location
- London (City) / hybrid
- Salary
- Up to £80,000 per annum + benefits
- Posted
- 19 Sep 2022
- Closes
- 17 Oct 2022
- Job Title
- Legal Finance
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
The Firm
HFW is a sector focused global law firm. We have over 600 lawyers working across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. We take a progressive approach to our roles in commercial business – thinking creatively and pragmatically to support our clients.
Whether we are solving complex issues within the construction, aviation or shipping industries, or providing advice across insurance, commodities and energy we are specialist lawyers here to add value to our clients. We think about the commercial solution first, and then underpin our advice with a solid foundation of legal expertise.
Job Purpose
This will be in the firm's Commercial Insights and Pricing team which supports HFW leadership across 6 practice groups by providing accurate, timely, insightful and relevant financial planning and analysis advice, and provide pricing support, ensuring compliance with firm's Pricing and Credit policy.
Key Responsibilities
Commercial Insights
• Drive and coordinate the annual planning, budgeting and forecasting of revenues for your designated practice areas.
• Support the practice group in steering performance to meet agreed objectives, by providing insightful analysis and commentary on performance.
• Support the practice groups in investment appraisal and compiling business case for growth initiatives, including lateral hires.
• Advanced ad-hoc analysis as required to support the review of financial performance of business segments.
• Provide financial mentoring and training to newly promoted partners / laterals / promotion candidates / new firm joiners.
• Proactively drive process improvements in the commercial insight space, and support/train the regional office accounting resources to develop a commercial mindset.
Pricing
• Provide or procure relevant training to partners and associates on pricing strategy, fee negotiation, AFA alternatives, and value propositions, engaging outside consultants as appropriate.
• Proactively review and analyse client and matter pricing and profitability to understand the underlying pricing trends and issues and propose strategies to respond to the firm's particular pricing challenges.
• Provide functional and administrative support for the firm's pricing tool and improve the offering to enable a roll-out to partners and associates.
• Support client pitches on pricing through modelling and sensitivity testing of proposed fee arrangements (including preparation of budgets); creating and reviewing reports pertaining to pricing.
• Development of policies, processes, guidelines and reference materials pertaining to pricing to assist pricing decisions, including matter review post-delivery to create a learning log.
• Support and maintain a database of existing on-going fee arrangements with clubs and other major clients, review profitability trends and recommend revisions in a timely manner.
• Stay informed of current AFA trends within the legal market; learn and apply new concepts; seek to develop and propose innovations in the field.
• Work with the client on-boarding, Revenue, and Finance Systems teams as SME and propose enhancement/development to systems to enhance quality of information on pricing as well as the development of pricing tools.
• Support the process to review and recommend level of headline rate increases/
• Any other ad hoc duties as may be required.
• Providing necessary financial support to ensure strategic business development, client retention and increased client profitability within the practice groups (BD).
Key Skills & Experience Required
• Must have 5 years of Finance Business Partnering experience in a professional services organisation.
• Experience in a law, accountancy or other professional services firm in a pricing role, with the ability of building the pricing function from the ground up.
• Accounting background advantageous.
• Strong understanding of law firm economics.
• Strong Excel skills.
• Highly numerate with the ability to manipulate data / experience in data modelling.
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Stakeholder management, with the ability to influence and build trusted relationships.
• Strong communicator, both written and verbal, as the role will require presentation to key stakeholders and collaboration across departments.
• Ability to work independently as well as part of a team.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Customer focussed, responsive, with the ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure.
Additional Information
Kindly note that this job description is not contractual. It will be reviewed periodically and may be amended or altered to meet the needs of the firm.
HFW collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants to manage its recruitment process. The firm is committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations. For information on how the firm will process your data, please see our Privacy Notice on our website (www.hfw.com/Privacy-Notice), in the section "What we collect and how we use it".
HFW aims to ensure equality of opportunity and we are actively working towards improving the diversity of our staff. All applications will be considered only on merit and the applicant's suitability to meet the requirements of the role.
Due to the volume of applications, only those candidates shortlisted for interview will be contacted.
HFW operates a Preferred Supplier List (PSL). Recruitment agencies should not submit CVs unless they are part of the PSL and have been engaged regarding this specific vacancy.