Innovation Manager

Practice Group / Department:

Job Description

We're Norton Rose Fulbright - a global law firm with over 50 offices and 7,000 employees worldwide. We provide the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. At Norton Rose Fulbright, our strategy and our culture are closely entwined. We know that our expansion will mean little unless it is underpinned by truly global collaboration and we understand that pioneering work only takes place when our people have room to move and think beyond boundaries. As well as the relevant skills and experience, we're looking for people who are innovative, commercial and value the work that they do. 

Our L ondon office is recruiting for an Innovation Manager to join our innovation capability within the Innovation Design and Technology (IDT) team.

The Role

This role will be aligned to one of the firm’s core practice areas (Banking, Corporate, or Dispute Resolution), subject to the prior experience of the successful candidates.

The primary responsibilities of an Innovation Manager are to deliver the firm’s innovation and change strategy within these practice areas by: (a) becoming a trusted advisor to our Associates, Counsels and Partners on technology solutions and new ways of working available in the firm, (b) ensuring that the appropriate experts are involved in the delivery of legal work, and (c) managing the successful delivery of projects or programmes which modernise the way legal services are delivered.

The Team

The IDT team is a central part of a wider transformation function with responsibilities for legal teams across EMEA and works in close collaboration with the Legal Project Management team (LPM), the Legal Services team (LST) in Newcastle, the Digital Solutions team (DS), IT and the Knowledge Management team (KM).

The goals of the broader transformation function are to improve: (i) the lawyer experience (LX), (ii) the client experience (CX), and (iii) financial performance of the firm. This is done by identifying opportunities to support, and deliver innovative solutions, using technology and new ways of working.

Key Responsibilities

Collaborate with others

• Build new and expand existing relationships with lawyers by understanding the unique challenges and pain points faced by their clients or by them in the delivery of certain types of legal work.
• Collaborate closely with your teammates in the UK and Europe, ensuring that the right people with the right expertise and experience are involved in appropriate opportunities early.
• Identify and facilitate opportunities to involve colleagues from other teams, such as: LPM, LST, DS and KM Teams or to refer work to other Business Services Teams.

Consult and advise

• Advise and influence partners and lawyers on technology tools and new ways of working to add value and deliver better outcomes for clients.
• ‘Walk the floors’ in the London office to engage with and get feedback from lawyers and practice support staff.
• Lead the adoption of generative AI tools for legal work, including consulting and guiding legal teams to identify specific use cases and tailor AI solutions to meet their needs.
• Facilitate and lead problem identification, ideation, process mapping and continuous improvement workshops for your projects and matters.
• Organise and lead project and matter retrospectives and document lessons learned.

Training and learning

• Develop and deliver demonstrations and training sessions on the capabilities and benefits of legal technology tools, including Generative AI tools.
• Coach legal teams to ensure they are adept at using legal technology, including Generative AI tools, and features effectively.
• Guide lawyers in developing prompts and optimising their interactions with AI systems to maximise efficiency and accuracy.
• Coach and train lawyers and staff in your practice area[s] on new tools and approaches for legal service delivery.
• Oversee that all legal training incorporates and considers the relevant tools and approaches for improved service delivery.
• Direct technology tools and design approaches into local best practice guides, training materials, and new employee onboarding programmes.

Project delivery and stakeholder engagement

• Ensure all relevant stakeholders are regularly updated on project progress, milestones, and any changes.
• Foster and maintain strong, positive relationships with partners, clients, and team members.
• Promptly address and resolve or escalate any stakeholder concerns or issues to maintain trust and collaboration.
• Manage project scope and timelines to ensure that project deliverables are met.
• Oversee the monitoring, recording, analysis, and communication of project metrics and outcomes, such as efficiency gains, cost savings, quality improvements, and client satisfaction.

Knowledge Sharing and Industry Awareness

• Maintain awareness of the latest legal innovation and technology trends and developments in the market and encourage the same in your teammates.
• Document and share insights and best practices learned from industry or conferences.
• Cultivate relationships with the local/regional legal technology and innovation ecosystem by attending events, presenting at conferences, and delivering lectures.
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of generative AI tools in legal tasks and provide feedback for benchmarking and continuous improvement activities.

Skills and Experience Required