The Legal Support Lead Officer is a senior level, non-attorney role, responsible for providing legal support to the Citi Legal team. This role requires a pragmatic, proactive professional with thorough understanding of the Citi Legal Team. The overall objective of this role is to provide support to the Legal Team.

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for legal support activities related to legal operations, litigation/discovery/settlements or negotiation and contract administration
• Manages the execution, review, processing and tracking of legal documentation and records, executes transactions and completes varied work requests from multiple sources that may be complex in character and have tight deadlines
• Participates in legal programs and projects to achieve coordinated and efficient process improvements and legal support solutions; liaises with other control/functional businesses in support of initiatives
• Interacts with senior leaders, internal and external peers to gather information and works closely with the team?s management to determine legal solutions
• Continuously stays informed of regulatory changes, new regulations, internal policy changes and developments in the law
• Conducts independent research, investigations and analysis, applying institutional knowledge and knowledge of laws, rules and regulations, to support in the identification of legal solutions situations or to formulate an approach or strategy
• Applies in-depth understanding of how associated risks differ depending on product and documentation envisaged in relevant jurisdiction(s) and provides advice to the Risk function and business partners accordingly
• Appropriately assess risk when business decisions are made, demonstrating particular consideration for the firm's reputation and safeguarding Citigroup, its clients and assets, by driving compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations, adhering to Policy, applying sound ethical judgment regarding personal behavior, conduct and business practices, and escalating, managing and reporting control issues with transparency.

Qualifications:

• 6-10 years of relevant industry experience, preferably with some experience working in an in-house legal role within financial services
• Ability to manage complex documentation with organization and detail
• Must possess excellent interpersonal and project management skills, as well as the ability to interact and communicate effectively with Senior management
• Proficient in Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook
• In-depth knowledge of legal customs and practices
• Knowledge and understanding of the financial services industry

Education:

• Bachelors/University degree, Master?s degree preferred

This position leads a team of legal bill review professionals to confirm that our legal suppliers are acting in compliance with Citi?s outside counsel terms of engagement and matter specific engagement letters, standard billing guidelines, and/or customary and reasonable industry billing standards. This position will lead and participate in the legal bill review, audit and appeal process, directly making adjustments where appropriate and overseeing similar efforts by team members to ensure law firms comply with billing guidelines and to prevent/avoid inappropriate billing of time and services. This position will provide advice and counsel on opportunities to enhance Citi?s relationships with outside counsel and optimize its various billing structures and commercial terms. This position will also perform data analysis and review on a micro-and macro-level around external legal spend, its drivers and identify areas for enhancement. Must be rational, confident and comfortable explaining invoice adjustments and decisions related to invoice appeal resolutions with Citi?s in-house lawyers and law firms. Responsibilities:

• Analyze and audit outside law firms? billings against Citi?s billing guidelines and customary and reasonable billing standards in the industry to determine if adjustments or reductions are required. Items that may be identified in the legal invoice audit for adjustments or reductions may include, but are not limited to, billing for time in excess of what was actually spent, inefficient/insufficient reporting descriptions; duplicate time charges; over-staffing ? proper utilization of personnel, rounding of time charges; excessive de minimis time charges; charges for overhead and mark-up on costs; etc.
• Develop, communicate and implement the legal bill review program strategy and guidelines to various stakeholders, including law firm partners and in-house attorneys.
• Prepare, present and lead implementation of legal bill review program across different practice areas and regions in Citi.
• Manage team of 3-4 legal bill auditors based in Citi?s Mumbai office, providing them with the strategy, structure, leadership and guidance to effectively execute the legal bill review program strategy and protect Citi?s interests.
• Identify and understand trends and activities driving Citi?s overall multi-million dollar legal spend and propose actions to address or leverage those trends as appropriate.
• Test the reasonableness and necessity of charges incurred by legal suppliers to confirm that invoices fairly reflect the basis for charges for Citi?s global network of law firms.
• Create reports and summaries of breaches of Citi policy and/or generally accepted industry billing standards.
• Work with Citi Attorneys and its legal suppliers to resolve appeals and other discrepancies.
• Train and/or advise Citi attorneys and external law firms on critical components and best practices around legal bill review.
• Liaise with the reporting, system administration and invoice operations support teams to resolve any invoice data and billing related issues.
• Leverage management information, analytics and technology to drive performance improvement and sharing observations and trends with the team and senior management.
• Identify new improvement or innovative opportunities and understand, assess and remove barriers to success. Maintains deep knowledge and familiarity with industry best practices and latest technologies, including but not limited to artificial intelligence, machine learning etc., that should be adopted at Citi.

Qualifications:

• 5 - 8 years? of legal practice and/or legal bill review experience in a large global law firm or global corporate legal department (preferably operating in the financial services industry).
• An ability to lead and influence people across cultures at a senior level using sound judgment, successful execution of strategies, and an understanding of how to operate effectively across diverse businesses.
• Practical knowledge of common legal matter progression (e.g., course of litigation, basic procedure in the US and/or UK, basic corporate or financial transactions).
• Knowledge of Uniform Task Based Management System (UTBMS) and Legal Electronic Data Exchange Standard (LEDES) is required.
• Prior experience using any Enterprise Legal Management (ELM) and eBilling software is required. Prior experience of using Passport platform will be an added.
• Exceptional data analytical skills, including advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Power BI will be an added advantage).
• Strong ability to analyze and organize data.
• Highly effective project and process management skills. Lean Six Sigma a plus
• High attention to details, excellent time management and critical thinking skills
• High social acumen and the ability to collaborate directly, daily and effectively across cultures, geographies, and time zones
• Superior attention to detail.
• Flexible, adaptable, responsive, and positive.
• Exceptional written communication skills, including advanced proficiency in Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Word Education:
• Bachelors/University degree in Law is required

This job description provides a high-level review of the types of work performed. Other jobrelated duties may be assigned as required - Job Family Group: Legal - Job Family: Legal Professionals - Time Type: Full time - Citi is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. Citigroup Inc. and its subsidiaries ("Citi?) invite all qualified interested applicants to apply for career opportunities. If you are a person with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation to use our search tools and/or apply for a career opportunity review Accessibility at Citi. View the "EEO is the Law" poster. View the EEO is the Law Supplement. View the EEO Policy Statement. View the Pay Transparency Posting