Senior Pricing Analyst

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. We are currently seeking a Senior Pricing Analyst in the Client Value & Practice Management department, reporting to the Director of Client Value.

The role can reside in the New York or Washington, DC office with hybrid work capabilities and will be responsible for supporting the firm’s Advocacy practice groups with pricing requests, fee estimates/budgets, and related client value financial analytics with the goal of raising the profitability, realization, and market share while helping to communicate and deliver the maximum and expected client value. The Senior Analyst’s primary responsibilities will include, but are not limited to: (i) assisting with the development, evaluation and execution of practice group pricing strategies and fee estimates; (ii) helping ensure that pricing strategies are aligned with client and firm needs; (iii) assisting with tracking, measuring and reporting the firm’s non-standard pricing arrangements in accordance with defined financial and business performance objectives. The Senior Analyst will also support client and practice group analytics to help address defined financial performance objectives.

Key responsibilities of this position include:

• Work with Director, Managers and attorneys to interpret, suggest, model and develop pricing strategies and fee estimates (non-standard and alternative fee arrangements) that take into account firm/attorney needs and objectives, practice group/team or firm goals, and key performance indicators, as well as client requirements;
• Serve as a resource for Director, Managers and attorneys, by offering credible financial data, synthesizing and presenting information, compiling historical financial statistics in a useful format, and using information to help proactively inform strategic pricing decisions;
• Support Director, Managers and Business Development and serve as the lead Client Value representative, when necessary, to prepare and/or review of RFPs/business development proposals relating specifically to strategic pricing, alternative fees, and budgetary fee estimates and assist with recommending strategic pricing and compiling written proposal content as requested/needed;
• Assist with procurement rate/fee negotiations, including liaising with the Billing and Compliance teams as needed to ensure negotiated rates/fees are correctly implemented;
• Advise attorneys on rate negotiation and prepare the necessary documents for their client negotiations;
• For identified clients/matters with existing pricing arrangements, work with the Director, Managers to review and revise pricing (if and/as needed with support from the Managers) to best meet shifting client/firm priorities or mandates;
• Track and maintain pertinent information relating to all pricing and budgeting/fee estimate efforts and offerings across the firm and assist with data integrity efforts in ADERANT and Prosperoware’s Umbria Platform;
• Work with Director, Managers, and attorneys to build reports to analyze ongoing realization and profitability of engagements, particularly focused on the success or failure of initial pricing strategies in producing profitable outcomes;
• Work closely with the Director, Managers and analysts to report and analyze client/practice group financial performance along key financial data points and KPIs, focused especially on revenue generation and profitability;
• Provide decision support analysis to attorneys to support practice group and firm goals and strategic priorities;
• Review historical data to help issue spot and identify trends and insights that focus on ways to improve performance by creating actionable reports and techniques to avoid pitfalls;
• Assist Director, Managers and analysts with the development of ad-hoc and standardized financial and performance reports on practice/client/matter levels to provide additional clarity and enhance transparency for Practice Group Leaders;
• Share relevant legal market and competitor information and analysis with the Client Value team;
• Participate, if and as needed, in the review of Outside Counsel Guidelines for pricing or project management guidelines impacting the practice groups;
• Collaborate and work with the Director, Managers and other business services teams in the performance of special projects as assigned;
• Assist in the review and approval of non-standard fee arrangements as documented in engagement letters; and
• Assist with training and mentoring analysts and interns on Client Value responsibilities/areas of focus, systems.

Qualifications (Experience, Knowledge, Skills & Abilities):

• BA or BS required
• 5+ years in client service oriented functions, preferably with financial analyst background
• Flexibility to adjust working hours to the hours necessary for meeting business needs
• Demonstrate excellent attention to detail
• Excellent analytical, organizational, and planning skills
• Ability to organize and prioritize deadlines
• Ability to handle multiple projects and shifting priorities
• High proficiency in Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint and the ability to quickly learn and utilize additional software and systems; experience with SQL a plus
• Data-driven and/or financial analytics experience preferred
• Understanding of financial management and business drivers, and ability to think strategically and analytically (issue-spot)
• General knowledge of industry business acumen; apply sound judgment and discretion with respect to confidential and sensitive information
• Ability to communicate persuasively, both orally and in writing (visual reports, graphs, etc.) with Attorneys, Director, and Managers
• Strong ability to work independently and with teams, creatively and proactively
• Good interpersonal skills and the ability to deal effectively with all levels of personnel and work collaboratively across all firm departments

The base salary range for this position in New York is $88,000 to $110,000. Additional information about benefits and rewards can be found here.

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