Practice Operations

Firm: Tier 1 Indian Law Firm

Location: Mumbai

Reports to: Strategy Leadership

Experience: 8 - 12 years post-qualification

About the Role:

A tier 1 Indian Law Firm is looking for an internal business partner to a practice group of multiple partners. The role works alongside the partners to keep the practice growing, well utilised and profitable, and runs the internal operations that make this possible. The person will not practise law. They will bring structure, data and discipline to how a group of senior lawyers plans, sells, staffs and performs.

This is a high-influence role. The partners are senior and independent, so the successful candidate leads through credibility, evidence and relationships rather than formal authority.

This is an internal, partner-facing role within a professional-services firm. It is not an external sales, client delivery or business-line management role.

What You Will Do:

1. Commercial growth:

- Build and drive account plans for the practice's key clients together with the partners.

- Track the pipeline and opportunities, and help partners convert them.

- Identify cross-selling opportunities across practices, sectors and offices.

- Support proposals, pitches and pricing, including matter budgeting and fee structures.

- Use market and client intelligence to spot growth areas and emerging opportunities.

2. Operational performance:

- Monitor the utilisation of partners and teams, and help ensure work is spread well across the group.

- Track billing, realisation and write-offs, and highlight matters or clients that need attention.

- Monitor profitability by partner, client and matter, and recommend improvements.

- Run efficient internal processes, and remove bottlenecks in staffing, onboarding and reporting.

3. Performance management and reporting:

- Define the practice's key metrics and targets with the partners and the Strategy Leader.

- Build and maintain dashboards for real-time visibility of pipeline, utilisation, billing and profitability.

- Run monthly and quarterly business reviews with partners and present insights and actions.

- Prepare reports and analysis for the firm's leadership on the practice's performance.

4. Firm-level initiatives:

- Partner with Strategy, Finance, HR, Knowledge and Technology on firm-wide programmes.

- Lead special projects such as process improvement, new practice or sector launches, and technology adoption.

- Share best practices across practice groups.

What We Are Looking For:

Experience:

- 8 - 12 years of post-qualification experience in a Big 4 firm or a leading consulting firm.

- Experience in program management, account management, business operations, strategy, or a firm-operations or chief-of-staff style role.

- A proven track record of working with and influencing senior partners or leaders without direct authority.

- Experience owning financial metrics such as revenue, margin, cost or utilisation.

- Prior law firm experience is not required.

Education:

- MBA from a leading business school.

Skills:

- Strong commercial and financial understanding, including P&L, margins, pricing and cost management.

- Strong analytical ability and comfort with data and dashboards (for example Power BI or similar tools).

- Excellent stakeholder management and communication, with the ability to hold credible conversations with senior partners.

- Structured problem solving and process improvement.

- Ability to manage multiple priorities and a small team.

Stability:

- A stable career record with meaningful tenure at each employer.

Success Measures:

- Improved utilisation and realisation across the practice group.

- Growth in pipeline, new opportunities and cross-practice work.

- Reliable, timely dashboards and business reviews that partners use in decision-making.

- Partner confidence in the role as a trusted business adviser.

Qualities That Matter:

- Credibility with highly intelligent, independent senior professionals.

- Ownership and follow-through.

- Discretion and sound judgement with sensitive commercial information.

- A collaborative approach that gets results through influence.