Assistant Director: Practice Enablement and Adoption

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realize their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm’s client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Information Technology department in our Chicago, New York, or Washington, D.C. office, as an Assistant Director: Practice Enablement and Adoption.

As a member of the Firm’s Practice Technology and Solutions team, this role extends the Firm’s Technology and Innovation mission into the heart of legal practice ensuring that technology investments are fully leveraged, innovations are adopted, and lawyers and clients experience measurable benefits. They focus on uncovering operational pain points, unmet client needs, and opportunities for innovation, as well as driving the adoption and enablement of legal technology solutions across the firm. The Assistant Director: Practice Enablement and Adoption ensures that all practice innovation efforts are grounded in real-world legal practice and aligned with the firm’s strategic goals.

Reporting to the Senior Director: Practice Technology and Solutions, and partnering with the broader technology and business teams, they function as a connector between practice groups and our technology delivery teams, between ideas and execution, and between emerging technologies and the Firm’s long-term strategy. They help identify opportunities, co-develop solutions, and implement practice-specific transformation while streamlining and innovating the practice of law. The role will also be responsible for identifying, collaborating towards prototypes, and implementing related technology.

This role will supervise members of the Practice Enablement and Adoption team, they will work in partnership with the other practice support teams , including and not limited to, Knowledge, Pricing, Practice Managers, Legal Risk Management, and fellow Technology partners to facilitate the smooth implementation of pilots and product launches of legal software tools and technology solutions. This role will be responsible for driving adoption of those solutions by leveraging usage data (tracked by Practice Solutions team) and coordinating various change management and adoption best practices.

The Assistant Director: Practice Enablement and Adoption will be responsible for their team’s operations and budget. Responsibilities may vary and grow as the team matures and the role progresses.

Essential Functions:

• Enable Practice Transformation: Drive the implementation, change and adoption of the firm’s agreed AI Strategy within the practice areas under the leadership of the Senior Director: Practice Technology & Solutions. Lead the evolution of the transformation of legal workflows and processes through design thinking sessions, process improvement workshops, pilots, and rollouts in partnership with Legal project managers, pricing, and knowledge professionals.
• Understand Needs & Opportunities: Manage the partnering with lawyers, clients, and business services to map and evaluate current processes with an eye to identify where process improvement and technology can deliver greater value. Orchestrate capture of user stories, best practices, insights and maintain a knowledge base of lawyer challenges and opportunities.
• Shape and Prioritize Initiatives: Facilitate the Firm’s idea intake process by evaluating, scoring, and prioritizing ideas. Manage the translation of feedback into clear problem statements that IT and other business services can act on.
• Increase Awareness and Engagement: Develop and oversee targeted outreach through listening sessions, practice presentations, vendor days to increase lawyer awareness and engagement with existing investments and emerging technologies that could help practice/industry/product groups.
• Prototype and Validate: Collaborate with the Practice Solutions team to build prototypes and validate the proposed solution. Work with Practice Technology team to customize templates or pilot/custom-build solutions for practice needs.
• Drive Adoption & Change: Collaborate with Practice Technology and Learning & Development to deliver tailored training, awareness sessions, and direct support. Focus on building confidence, adoption, and measurable ROI for legal technology solutions.
• Collaborate Across Business Teams: Work with other business departments e.g., Knowledge Management, Practice Management, Information Services, Legal Risk Management, Business Development & Marketing to solve the issue holistically. Collaborate with Practice Solutions team to onboard vendors and pilot innovative solutions.
• Horizon Scanning: Monitor legal technology trends and emerging vendors with an eye towards those that might address pain points of our lawyers. Share insights with Firm and IT leadership to inform strategy and future investment.
• Management Responsibilities
  • Oversee the operational success of the team, including budget tracking, project reporting, and alignment of resources with Firm priorities
  • Support workforce planning, recruitment, onboarding, training, and ongoing staff development
  • Manage performance reviews and contribute to merit-based compensation decisions
  • Lead feedback, coaching, and disciplinary processes as needed
  • Perform other duties as assigned or required to meet Firm goals and objectives
  • Align working hours as necessary to support global teams and business partners

Education/Training/Certifications:

• JD or Master’s degree; however, a Bachelor’s degree with relevant experience will also be considered
• 7+ years’ experience working in legal environment either in a law firm or a legal department or a legal tech solution provider

Professional Experience:

• Demonstrated experience of leading strategic legal technology related projects, and particularly in evaluating and implementing legal tech solutions, in a large law firm or corporate/financial institution legal department or enterprise level, strongly preferred
• Deep knowledge of the lifecycle of a legal matter is strongly preferred
• Proven experience in increasing adoption of legal tech tools and different methods of engaging and enabling lawyers
• Solid experience in business analysis, solution design, consulting, and/or client-facing roles
• Demonstrated use of business requirements elicitation and documentation skills

 Technical Skills:

• Required:
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office products
  • Working knowledge of process improvement principles (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma), when to invoke each methodology, and how to deploy process improvement tools (e.g., process maps, fishbone diagrams, root cause analysis)
  • Deep experience with project management principles, including Agile/Scrum and Waterfall methods, together with requisite experience, to determine when to use each method
• Preferred:
  • Strong ability to engage in design thinking, being able to conceptualize and implement a project from end-to-end, knowing which skills and techniques are required for a particular situation

Performance Traits:

• Proven ability to communicate complex technical concepts in clear, non-technical language to stakeholders at all levels
• Strong customer service and problem-solving mindset
• Effective collaborator in diverse environments; thrive under pressure and meet shifting deadlines
• Pragmatic, initiative-taking, flexible, and good team player
• Self-starter with high initiative; meticulous, organized, and multitasking
• Maintain confidentiality and discretion

Management Accountabilities:

• Manage performance appraisals, compensation, goal setting, and performance counseling for direct reports
• Demonstrated leadership and supervisory experience; set priorities and delegates efficiently
• Conduct operational budget analysis and staffing level assessments; participate in recruitment
• Implement change processes to improve workflow efficiency
• Strong leadership and project management skills

Physical Requirements:

• Light lifting; up to 20 lbs
• Open to regional and/or global travel, as needed

The typical pay scale for this position is between $180,000 and $260,000, although the actual wage or salary could be lower or higher if the candidate’s education, experience, skills and internal pay alignment are different from those specified. 

The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, 401(k) savings plan, back-up childcare and eldercare, generous paid time off (PTO), as well as opportunities for professional development and growth.

Thank you for your interest in Mayer Brown. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities and disabled veterans. To request a reasonable accommodation related to the application process and/or job interview, please email uslateralrecruiting@mayerbrown.com. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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