About Ropes & Gray
Ropes & Gray is a preeminent global law firm. The firm has been ranked in the top three on The American Lawyer's prestigious A-List for eight consecutive years and #1 on Law.com's UK A-List twice in the past three years - rankings that honor the "best of the best" law firms. The firm has approximately 2,500 lawyers and professionals serving clients in major centers of business, finance, technology, and government in Boston, Chicago, Dublin, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Tokyo and Washington, D.C.The firm has consistently been recognized for its leading practices in many areas, including asset management, private equity, M&A, finance, real estate, tax, antitrust, life sciences, health care, intellectual property, litigation & enforcement, privacy & cybersecurity, and business restructuring. Ropes & Gray is an equal opportunity employer.
Overview
Reporting to the Senior Manager of Administrative Support, the Administrative Assistant serves as a key liaison for the Chief of Practice Development, the Policy Committee, and other assigned executives, managing complex calendars, coordinating meetings and travel, supporting expense management, and maintaining strict confidentiality. This role requires a proactive and resourceful approach, strong judgment, and the ability to balance multiple priorities while working both independently and collaboratively, often under pressure. The Administrative Assistant provides high-level support to senior leadership, assists with Policy Committee projects, and offers back-up coverage to the Chair’s Executive Assistant, consistently delivering superior client service and ensuring the smooth flow of information and operations across the firm.
Responsibilities
Executive & Administrative Support
- Completes a broad variety of administrative tasks for assigned executive(s), including managing active calendars, scheduling meetings, preparing expense reports, and arranging complex travel plans and itineraries.
- Acts as a gatekeeper, triaging and prioritizing incoming requests and inquiries, and redirecting them as appropriate.
- Provides seamless back-up support to Chair’s Executive Assistant during absences and travel. Develops a deep understanding of coverage requirements, including business priorities, preferences and relationships through partnership with Chair’s Executive Assistant.
- Maintains accurate records, including emails, speeches, instructions, and samples for key processes, and personal, client, and vendor contacts.
- Demonstrates intimate knowledge of assigned executives’ work habits and preferences, anticipating needs and shepherding work forward with limited direction.
- Develops strong understanding of executives, practices and clients, maintaining professional relationships with other legal counsel, courts, agencies, and organizations.
- Supports and demonstrates fluency in the Firm’s Trusted Advisor and Proactive Assistance programs.
Client Service & Relationship Management
- Provides superior client service with a proactive, “can do” attitude when interacting with internal and external clients.
- Fosters open and frequent communication with teammates to ensure smooth and expeditious support, cross-training as needed to ensure continuity of service.
- Builds crucial relationships across the firm, demonstrating professionalism, credibility, trust, and support with partners, senior leadership, and clients.
- Maintains a positive and professional attitude, working effectively with other departments and seeking solutions to business problems.
Time Entry & Expense Management
- Efficiently reconciles and processes expenses, reviews calendar and inbox entries to classify business and personal expenses.
- Manages timekeepers’ diaries, creates and edits draft entries, and ensures submission deadlines are met.
Project Management & Document Production
- Composes, edits, and proofreads correspondence, presentations, and other documents, demonstrating exceptional technological and document production skills.
- Proactively coordinates internal and external meetings and events, arranges logistics, and applies best practices for travel arrangements.
- Monitors and identifies business development opportunities for firm leaders, e.g. flagging client activity in press.
- Demonstrates exceptional proficiency in Microsoft Outlook, managing multiple calendars and scheduling requirements across lawyers, clients, offices, and time zones.
- Effectively leverages AI across a variety of use cases, such as drafting documents and itineraries, reviewing emails, conducting research and due diligence, and managing workflows.
Training & Professional Development
- Actively contributes to culture and engagement initiatives.
- Maintains subject matter expertise in the Firm’s core applications and adheres to best practices.
- Demonstrates intellectual curiosity and a continuous drive to improve service, openness to feedback, and flexibility to adjust performance as needed.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required.
- 2-3 years of experience supporting C-level executives, with demonstrated interest in internal and external communications.
- Expert proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), Adobe Acrobat, and social media/web platforms.
- Strong organizational skills with the ability to seamlessly perform and prioritize multiple tasks with excellent attention to detail.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders, staff, and clients.
- Expert-level written and verbal communication skills, adhering to proper business writing standards.
- Demonstrated proactive approach to problem-solving and strong decision-making capability.
- Emotional maturity, resourcefulness, and ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Proven ability to handle confidential information with discretion and adapt to competing demands.
- Commitment to high performance and meeting deadlines in a dynamic environment.
- Availability to work off-hours and weekends as required.
- Flexible and collaborative.
- Enthusiastically adopts new initiatives and technologies.
- Fluency in AI tools.
Compensation and Total Rewards Package
Ropes & Gray is proud to offer a comprehensive Total Rewards package to our business support team members. The firm also offers comprehensive health and well-being benefits, personal and professional development, career growth opportunities and a collegial and supportive culture. The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below and represents our good faith and reasonable estimate of the starting salary range at the time of posting. In addition, this role is eligible for a discretionary bonus based on performance. The actual offered rate for this position will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors, including qualifications and experience, geographic location, education, external market data and consideration of internal equity.
- Boston, MA ($69,500 - $100,800)
Working Conditions
This position requires hybrid on-site presence as an essential function of the role. Consistent and predictable on-site presence is required for ongoing business continuity, professional development and effective collaboration with colleagues and management.
