The New York office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is seeking to hire a self-starting and highly motivated Practice Development Lawyer (PDL) with 4-5 years significant substantive private funds expertise to serve as the go-to resource for all lawyers in the practice regarding developments in the legal and business environments that impact the practice and its clients. Primarily internally-facing, this role is outside of the standard associate-to-partner track. It is a great opportunity for a well-trained lawyer to become an integral part of the infrastructure of a highly successful practice group by supporting the substantive development and knowledge needs of the group.

The Private Funds Practice Development Lawyer (“PDL”) will play a key role in supporting the knowledge management needs of the practice by maintenance of the practice group’s resources, ranging from precedents and research materials and assisting the practice’s lawyers in their proper use; managing the database of fund documents; and be involved in broadening the skill set and enhancing the efficiency of junior lawyers through the creation of additional development materials on an as needed basis.

This role has overall responsibility for the administration and governance of various information channels including intranet resource pages, databases, practice sites, and email distributions and will work alongside and/or be assisted by  research specialists and paralegals to keep important information current and easily accessible throughout the group. 

The PDL role is expected to keep apprised of all activities and matters within the group and leverage that information to serve as a key liaison to support the business development initiatives of the group from a substantive perspective, including serving as a resource for the BD team in preparing pitches and presentations, helping to identify business development opportunities, and maintaining an accurate record of the group’s experience.

Building and Communicating Knowledge

• Keep current on various topics relating to the private investment funds area, the Securities Act of 1933, the Investment Company Act, the Investment Advisers Act as well as other industry and regulatory trends and developments that are/become relevant to clients and lawyers practicing in the private funds area; assist with the writing and publication of external client alerts on such developments as needed
• Assist with the maintenance of key precedents and other knowledge management materials, in a smart and readily accessible fashion for the group; ensure dedicated sources of information and practice specific databases, including the funds terms and trends database, are well-curated and up-to-date
• Create, develop, organize and maintain substantive content for the practice group including forms, precedents, checklists, and charts
• Oversee capturing matter descriptions and matter profiling to help augment and maintain the practice group’s experience database
• Assist with various thought leadership initiatives relating to developments and trends in the private funds industry

Training & Development

• Act as a source of legal, market and practical expertise for members of the practice group; assist attorneys with locating practice-related knowledge resources and documents
• Work with the Learning & Development and Associate Development teams to address practice specific training needs; coach and train, both one-on-one and in group settings to support the development of attorneys in the group
• Coordinate, and sometimes deliver, group trainings including CLEs, ensuring the group’s attorneys are continually expanding their knowledge and skill sets

Collaboration

• Collaborate with other PDLs throughout the firm to disseminate best practices and facility knowledge sharing, attend Practice Development meetings
• Coordinate with other groups and departments of the firm, (i.e. Business Development, Library and Information Services, and others), to satisfy practice group needs, and support the group in substantive pitches and other Business Development efforts

Other

• Partner with the Practice Innovation and Knowledge Solutions teams to evaluate, test and pilot legal technology, including artificial intelligence application, knowledge management solutions and client-facing applications
• Conduct complex and substantive legal research in connection with client projects as needed; when appropriate, track and enter billable time for client work

This role is to be a critical supporting member of the practice group. Being a strong team player, with discerning judgment who is able to lead and delegate comfortably is critical. Additionally, the ideal candidate will have: 

• JD or LL.M. or equivalent
• Excellent written and verbal communication; strong presentation skills
• Strong service orientation and prompt response time to incoming requests
• Attention to detail and organizational skills
• Ability to solve problems, both technical issues and situations involving collaboration with attorneys and non-legal staff/departments

Salary Range: $260,000 to $365,000, depending upon experience

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