Director of Legal Engagement

With 500+ professionals and 350+ business professionals, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP (www.manatt.com), is a multidisciplinary, integrated national professional services firm known for quality and an extraordinary commitment to clients. The Firms groundbreaking approachbringing together legal services, advocacy and business strategydifferentiates Manatt from its competitors and positions the Firm to provide a distinct and compelling value proposition.#### OpportunityThe Director of Legal Engagement & Optimization will be a senior member of the Talent team, responsible for partnering with Business Group Leaders, Business Unit Leaders, and Attorney Leadership to drive strategic attorney staffing, workload optimization, development alignment, and talent sustainability across the Firms legal practices.This role plays a critical connective function between practice leadership, practice management, recruiting, and training and development, performance and advancement teams to ensuring that the Firms attorney resources are deployed effectively in support of client service, attorney growth, and Firm profitability.#### Key ResponsibilitiesAttorney Staffing, Utilization & Optimization * Develop and implement the Firms attorney staffing and resource optimization strategy, aligning matter demand, pipeline projections, attorney skill sets, seniority mix, and development needs with client service requirements across practices and offices. * Establish and maintain staffing policies, workflows, and governance structures to support consistent, transparent, and equitable attorney work allocation. * Analyze matter pipelines, demand forecasts, and utilization trends to identify staffing risks, hiring needs, leverage opportunities, and structural constraints. * Collaborate with Business Group Leaders, Business Unit Leaders, and designated staffing attorneys to oversee attorney work assignment processes and proactively manage capacity, utilization, and workload balance. * Track and interpret key attorney staffing and utilization metrics, translating insights into actionable recommendations that support productivity while balancing attorney development, engagement, and well-being.Attorney Development & Performance Management * In close partnership with Training and Development and Performance and Advancement teams, support the attorney performance review cycle by helping ensure reviews are timely, calibrated, and grounded in workload and matter experience data. * Collaborate with Practice Leaders to identify highperforming attorneys as well as attorneys facing specific challenges, facilitating targeted coaching, mentoring, or development interventions. * Support the implementation of review feedback and development plans, working with Talent Team members to align attorneys matter exposure with growth and advancement goals. Integration, Engagement & Retention * Partner with Strategic Growth, Legal Training, Practice Management and other business professionals to shape and support the successful onboarding, integration, and engagement strategies for all non-partner attorneys and paralegals. * Partner with Business Directors on leading initiatives to enhance engagement, retention, and career satisfaction across attorney populations. * Take an active role in the Summer Associate Program, including but not limited to, being the point person for the Summer Associates, Summer Chairs, Work Allocation Coordinators and Mentors; strategically plan the Summer Associate target numbers and interview all potential Summer Associates. * Serve as Business Professional representative on Associate Leadership Committee. * Manage and administer policies related to non-partner attorneys, including in office attendance, hours, and bar admission policies. Provide hands-on support for attorney transitions, including internal moves, practice transfers, leaves, visas, secondments and separations, and coordinate outplace