davispolk

Manager, Conflicts

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Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (including its associated entities) is an elite global law firm with world-class practices across the board. Clients know they can rely on Davis Polk for their most challenging legal and business matters. From offices in the world's key financial centers and political capitals, our more than 1,000 lawyers collaborate seamlessly to deliver exceptional service, sophisticated advice and creative, practical solutions. Visit davispolk.com.

Position Summary

The Manager, Conflicts leads the day-to-day operations of the Conflicts Department and manages a team of conflicts analysts primarily based in New York, with responsibility for overseeing conflicts operations and search quality, including by ensuring consistent adherence to Firm protocols and that requests are processed in an accurate and timely manner. This is a working manager role, combining workflow oversight, coaching and development of staff, and quality control with hands-on searching and research.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Typical responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

Global Workflow Oversight. Escalation and Quality Control

  • Manage overall conflicts workflow, including prioritization, assignment, and tracking of requests to ensure timely completion

  • Serve as an escalation point for complex or sensitive matters and coordinate with the Office of the General Counsel as needed

  • Ensure on-call coverage is provided by assigning analysts to a rotating schedule and adjusting coverage for peak-volume periods and urgent requests across time zones

  • Review and provide feedback on conflicts searches performed by staff outside the New York-based conflicts analyst team; provide corrective direction and targeted training as needed

  • Ensure consistent practices across offices and teams

Process Ownership and Continuous Improvement

  • Take initiative in developing, documenting, and maintaining conflicts department procedures, trainings, templates, and escalation protocols to ensure consistent practice across offices

  • Identify trends impacting turnaround time, accuracy, and efficiency; implement process improvements and controls as appropriate

Team Leadership and Development

  • Manage, train, and coach conflicts analysts, including onboarding, ongoing skills development, and performance feedback

  • Set clear expectations for quality, responsiveness, confidentiality, and professionalism

  • Identify training needs and deliver appropriate and targeted refreshers to promote consistent best practices

  • Foster a culture of strong work ethic, reliability, and ownership of outcomes

Conflicts Searching and Research (Working Manager)

  • Conduct conflict of interest searches for all Davis Polk offices

  • Perform necessary research to ensure complete conflicts searches, including analysis of naming variations and corporate affiliations

  • Monitor new clients and matters to ensure required levels of conflicts review have been completed and appropriately documented

  • Perform conflict of interest searches on all new employees

  • Record and follow up with lawyers to return conflict signature pages

  • Support data integrity efforts, including maintaining and updating corporate information and affiliations in the conflicts system and related tools

  • Monitor new clients to ensure that both basic and expanded conflict searches have been completed

Vendor Relationship Management

  • Manage relationships with the Firm’s conflicts technology providers and corporate family tree database vendors; serve as the primary operational point of contact

  • Coordinate issue escalation and resolution; track issues and communicate status and impact to stakeholders

  • Monitor vendor performance and drive corrective actions as needed

  • Support evaluation, renewal, and cost-management activities (as applicable), including review of invoices, usage, workflow improvement opportunities

Qualifications/Position Requirements

  • Expert knowledge of a conflicts management/new business intake system used by large international law firms (e.g., iManage Conflicts Management (ICM), Intapp, or equivalent); ICM preferred

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including ability to comfortably and appropriately communicate with attorneys and staff

  • Excellent interpersonal skills and strong client-service orientation

  • Strong people-management skills, with the ability to coach and develop staff in a high-volume, deadline-driven environment

  • Ability to work independently and effectively in a fast-paced environment, manage competing priorities, and exercise sound judgment

  • Demonstrated initiative and ownership in improving workflows, documenting procedures, and ensuring adherence to Firm protocols

  • Thorough working knowledge of major online databases and business resources and proactive in maintaining and developing research skills

  • Ability to work additional hours when needed to support business needs and support time-sensitive requests

Education and/or Experience

  • B.A. required, JD or MLS degree a plus

  • Minimum 5 years of related experience, including conflicts experience at an AmLaw 100 firm and experience managing a team

Compensation

The expected base salary for this position is $200,000 - $225,000.00. Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, anticipated assignment, and, where applicable, licensure or certifications obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. Davis Polk offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.