Business Development Junior Executive

The Role

Clifford Chance seeks a Business Development Junior Executive to help support and proactively drive forward the business development and marketing strategy for our South East Asia practice.

The Client & Market Development team is responsible for helping partners to develop the firm’s business, build its relationships with existing and potential clients and also manage the firm’s market profile.

Who you will work with

You will be a critical member of a seven-person South East Asia team and will liaise directly with partners, lawyers and other business services professionals. You will work very closely with the wider Asia Pacific Client & Market Development (CMD) and Brand, Communications & Marketing (BCM) team which consists of over 35 members across our eight Asia Pacific offices.

What you will be responsible for

In broad terms, your focus will be to:

• Operate as a trusted advisor to the fee earners
• Coordinate and support on the pitching process
• Support the strategic development of practices, clients and sectors
• Ensure delivery against agreed business development plans
• Produce research on companies, industries and countries
• Co-ordinate submissions to the main legal directories and advise practices on promoting their capabilities to these directories

What you will do

You will be accountable for the following:

Relationship building

• Develop strong relationships with the fee earners across multiple practice areas 
• Develop equally strong relationships across the APAC (and global as appropriate) CMD and BCM team so that you can effectively connect with the wider network
• Develop good relationships across all areas of Business Services – HR, Finance, Best Delivery, Knowledge, IT, EAs

Proposals, pitches and capability statements

• Proactively manage proposals, pitches, capability statements with fee earners and other business functions to produce key materials in PowerPoint, Word, etc.
• Contribute to cross-border pitch projects, liaising with the global CMD team
• Support the pitching process, delivering market analysis to assist partners to assess new opportunities
• Maintain up to date global and local materials on the Singapore office and South East Asia
• Track pitch outcomes and produce win/loss reporting

Opportunity spotting

• Develop market knowledge, understanding and insights to identify potential business opportunities and expanding existing business, as well as raising the practice's profile via events, conferences and client seminars
• Identify and co-ordinate cross-selling opportunities with other practices, sectors and client teams
• Ensure correct information for all fee earners is correctly captured in the various Singapore trackers

Country, client, and sector focus

• Support the Firm's key sector program by feeding into global initiatives
• Support on the execution and delivery of country-specific focus group initiatives including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
• Advise partners on targeting and client relationships in conjunction with client, sector and country focus teams

Marketing and communications

• Produce targeted client lists from the Firm's CRM tool (InterAction)
• Develop the Firm's reputation through targeted marketing communications, publications (newsletters, client briefings), and awards and directories submissions.
• Liaise with the BCM team on media and PR opportunities.

Events, seminars and conferences

• Manage and support on activities relating to client events (including guest list, coordination of slides, management of speakers and logistics).
• Work efficiently with the wider facilities and Business Services team on both internal and external events.

Business planning

• Support practice group business planning with senior members of the CMD team in APAC:
  • Understanding the external forces that shape the clients' industries and the legal profession.
  • Assisting with the preparation of BD practice plans based on comprehensive market research (region and country macroeconomics, clients, competitors)
  • Supporting partners on targeting and client relationships in conjunction with client, sector and country focus teams 

Your experience
 

• Minimum of three years' experience working in a similar role.
• Experience in working on competitive proposals and pitches, ideally within the legal market.
• Experience in developing and implementing programmes in relation to client portfolios whether in a marketing or business development context.
• A track record of being pro-active and delivering high quality work.

Skills

• The ability to think strategically coupled with the energy and determination to realise these strategies at a tactical level.
• Strong project management and analytical capabilities and a pragmatic approach.
• Practical, proactive, commercially minded and service driven with a "can do" and positive attitude.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to prioritise; responsiveness.
• Analytical ability and high levels of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Sensitive to different business cultures.
• Well-developed influencing and presentation skills coupled with confidence, resilience and focus.
• Builds strong effective relationships with partners, fee earners, and CMD and BCM colleagues across the firm.
• Strong writing skills, editing ability and proficiency in Word, PowerPoint, Excel and InterAction (or other CRM software).
• Asian language abilities would be an advantage but not essential.

How we will support you

From your first day with us, you will have varied opportunities to continuously grow and development your skills and knowledge. From formal training, informal coaching and mentoring through to skills-based and technical training and on the job learning.

Who we are

We are one of the largest international law firms in the world. With over 30 offices across the globe, we strive to exceed the expectations of our clients, providing them with the highest-quality advice and legal insight, which combines the firm’s global standards with in-depth local expertise.

Our firm, work and people span jurisdictions, cultures, and languages. We offer our clients a truly international perspective. We believe every career should be rewarding and stimulating - full of opportunities to learn, thrive, and grow. That’s why we’re so proud of our inclusive, friendly, and team-based approach to work.

You’ll find our clients in commercial and industrial sectors, the financial investor community, governments, regulators, trade bodies, and not-for-profit organisations. But no matter who they are or why they’ve reached out to us, we provide a world-class service every step of the way. And that’s possible thanks to the entrepreneurial spirit and conscientious approach to work that you’ll find across all of our teams.

Whichever area of the business you join, you’ll become an integral part an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people. Clifford Chance is a place where the brightest minds and the best of colleagues meet

Equal opportunities statement

At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age.  This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm. 

Find out more about our inclusive culture here