Position Description: Director of Attorney/Legal Management

Legal Operations - Spearheading the firm’s efficiency by implementing robust processes to manage and oversee various legal tasks effectively. This responsibility encompasses overseeing critical areas of legal work, including title reviews to ensure accuracy and compliance, managing residential closing signings to maintain timeliness and professionalism, and directing the drafting of real estate documents to meet high standards of quality and alignment with legal and client requirements.

Expectations:

• Implementing streamlined systems and procedures to identify, categorize, track, and organize the diverse legal tasks routinely handled by the firm, utilizing tailored tools such as spreadsheets and targeted email distributions.
• Strategically matching tasks and resources by aligning associate attorneys with tasks based on specific expertise, availability, and workload, while setting and monitoring deadlines with precision.
• Overseeing the quality, timeliness, and productivity of legal work by monitoring assignment progress, addressing potential bottlenecks, and maintaining high standards through consistent review and feedback.
• Enhancing coordination and communication by serving as a pivotal liaison between internal teams, clients, and the legal department, ensuring seamless exchange of information and alignment on objectives.
• Providing expert guidance and mentorship to associate attorneys, nurturing professional growth and fostering a culture of continuous learning and excellence.
• Ensuring compliance and reliability by enforcing adherence to deadlines, company policies, and legal regulations, thereby upholding the firm’s reputation.
• Seamless Coordination: Ensure effective management of all closing signings, ensuring smooth coordination of calendars and assignments to support attorney success.

Attorney Training & Development - Ensuring the ongoing success, growth, and retention of attorneys at all levels. This is achieved through strategic initiatives focused on comprehensive training, personalized career development, and a supportive environment that aligns with the firm’s values. The goal is to empower attorneys to thrive professionally while fostering a strong sense of belonging within our firm's esteemed culture. By fostering a dynamic learning environment and offering comprehensive support, we aim to retain talented attorneys and cultivate their growth within our firm.

Expectations:

• Tailored Onboarding: Design and document a comprehensive onboarding process for new attorneys, covering the critical 30, 60, and 90-day milestones, ensuring they integrate smoothly into our firm culture and understand expectations.
• Personalized Growth Plans: Develop customized workload and hour expectations that align with each attorney's individual growth trajectory, ensuring clear career development paths.
• Strength-Based Assignments: Implement a system to identify and leverage each associate attorney’s strengths, optimizing legal assignments and fostering professional growth.
• Mentorship and Connection: Establish a robust mentoring framework to promote attorney engagement, offering guidance and support to minimize turnover and create a sense of belonging among attorneys who uphold our firm's standards.
• Ongoing Professional Development: Facilitate continuous training programs that encompass firm policies, legal education, and skill development, while consistently providing constructive feedback for continuous improvement.
• Time Management Support: Provide assistance with prioritization, multitasking, email management, and time management to enhance productivity and efficiency in daily legal operations.

Firm Compliance - Dedicated to ensuring the seamless execution of the firm’s legal obligations across residential real estate transactions. This responsibility involves optimizing available resources to ensure full compliance with regulations at the state, file type, client, and lender levels. By meticulously monitoring and managing these various compliance touchpoints, the role aims to mitigate risks and uphold the firm’s commitment to legal and regulatory excellence in every transaction.

Expectations:

• Client Compliance: Oversee process to maintain and organize all relevant client documentation, ensuring it is easily accessible and reviewed quarterly for accuracy. Document the review process thoroughly. Evaluate new buying or selling structures for existing clients to ensure compliance and record findings.
• File-Type Compliance: Develop and implement a system to flag contracts that the firm chooses not to handle. Conduct initial and ongoing reviews of compliance for all modified workflow closings, referencing external compliance counsel opinion letters as necessary.
• State Compliance: Oversee the compliance of all closings with state regulations from start to finish. This includes verifying that processes such as abstracting and post-closing adhere to applicable state laws and the opinion letters obtained.
• Lender Compliance: Oversee process to monitor and maintain lender approvals in alignment with their requirements to ensure good standing. Identify potential risks to this standing, make necessary adjustments, and document any actions taken to maintain compliance.
• Trust Accounting Compliance: Ensure the firm’s trust accounting practices align with Bar regulations. Conduct a thorough review of trust account statements by the 10th of each month, addressing any concerns with the escrow team to maintain compliance and trust accounting integrity.

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