Credit Management Business Partner

Practice Group / Department:

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. 

The Commercial Finance and Revenue Operations function and our focus

Part of EMEA Group Finance, the Commercial Finance and Revenue Operations function encompasses Client Financial Decision Support (which includes Pricing & Commercial Insight and Client Finance Support), Finance Business Partnering (strategic financial business management and financial planning and analysis activities), Finance Business Intelligence and Revenue Operations. We support NRF leadership and wider stakeholder groups to run a successful legal practice by providing financial leadership, timely insights and initiatives designed to improve commercial confidence and decision-making quality.

As part of a recent review, Revenue Operations has been refreshed and fully integrated across EMEA creating a strong network of professionals which work closely together to provide best-in-class support to the Partnership. Revenue Operations is made up of c. 85 colleagues across EMEA spread across three service pillars: Newcastle Revenue Operations (c. 45 FTE), Credit Management Business Partnering (c. 15 FTE) and Revenue Management Business Partnering (c. 25 FTE).

The Role

This role sits within the Credit Management Business Partnering pillar and is the first line of contact for fee earners in relation to debt management and client exposure. These are future-facing roles, reflecting the needs of an ambitious and successful law firm to have proactive, value-add support from Finance. In order to be successful in delivering credit management advisory services the successful candidate will wear many hats: -

• Analyst – using data and business intelligence to help inform priorities
• Storyteller – bringing numbers “to life” confidently and clearly delivering insights, recommendations and actions
• Relationship builder – gaining and maintaining trusted advisor status to ensure maximum influence and effectiveness both internally and externally
• Problem solver – taking issues away from fee earners and owning until resolution, using other SME’s as required
• Planner – always being “on the case”: anticipating and preparing for issues before they arise, taking a methodical approach to workload planning and ensuring sufficient value-add activities are being conducted to improve decision making and business profitability

Key Responsibilities

• Actively manage client debt across assigned practice area(s), liaising with colleagues across the business (Finance, BD, Client Relationship Partners) as required to understand business/client context to help prioritise and plan collection efforts which achieve/exceed cash collection and lockup targets.                            
• Proactively arranging regular meetings with partners who have material levels of aged lockup. Providing data, insights and recommendations to ensure efficient and effective credit control support. Obtaining partner guidance and insight to improve debt recovery efforts
• In conjunction with colleagues across Finance, proactively managing client exposure. Ensuring regular follow up on aged client debt in line with policy / procedures
• Acting as the credit management lead for selected key accounts, working collaboratively with internal stakeholders to drive better financial hygiene. Building strong and trusted relationships with external clients and demonstrating financial acumen through effective credit control, enhancing the firm’s reputation as a reliable and responsible business partner
• Acting as the first point of contact within assigned practice areas in respect of client/partner debt queries
• Assist the wider Finance team with anything related to the final invoice, including AP queries, e-billing queries, re-issue and credit requests, allocation of unknown funds for the Cashiers Team
• In conjunction with the other Finance Business Partners, attend partner meetings and provide working capital updates
• Working with Finance colleagues to provide training to improve fee earner confidence and commercial acumen
• Assisting Revenue Operations leadership in formulating, maintaining and enforcing working capital policies to drive best practice and risk reduction
• Contributing to the EMEA community of Credit Management Business Partners, sharing best practice and providing support as needed
• As an expert user of First Finance suite, promote and train fee earners in its use
• Identifying areas for improvement in cash flow optimisation. Implementing processes to improve cash management and create the frameworks to sustain those improvements
• In conjunction with BD, Pricing and Partners, play an active role in the setting of payment terms with clients. Ensuring pricing governance / payment policies are adhered to and any exceptions are escalated as required

Skills and Experience Required

• 3+ years within professional services businesses supporting partners with client credit management with demonstrable technical finance experience using recognised legal practice management system (SAP, Aderant Expert or Elite Enterprise/3E)
• Finance Business Partnering experience with internal senior stakeholders. Excellent soft skills including the ability to influence or challenge stakeholders when necessary
• A good level of commercial acumen and a clear and demonstrable understanding of working capital in a law firm and its impact on Lockup and profitability. You are able to articulate the “what’s in it for me” when supporting fee earners with credit management decision making
• Excellent written and verbal communication and demonstrable experience of engaging in a professional manner with external clients to achieve successful credit management outcomes. Clear and transparent communication sets a professional tone and avoids misunderstandings that could strain the lawyer-client relationship
• Emotionally resilient and has strength of personality to ensure the perspective of ‘Finance’ is clearly communicated. The ability to remain calm and focused under pressure
• A continuous improvement mentality to support development of self, colleagues and business processes and interactions
• Attention to detail as well as an ability to see the bigger picture
• A collaborative team-player with a “can-do” attitude who is transparent and has a straight-forward approach
• Gravitas to succeed in a partnership environment and to gain respect as a trusted advisor
• Hard working and an ambition to grow professionally

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To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, have a sense of belonging, and realize their full career potential. 
Our new enabled work model allows our people to have more flexibility in the way they choose to work from both the office and a remote location, while continuing to deliver the highest standards of service. We offer a range of family friendly and inclusive employment policies and provide access to programmes and services aimed at nurturing our people’s health and overall wellbeing. Find more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams. We strive to create an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any tailored adjustments or accommodations, please let us know here.