Staff Attorney - LM07EE
The Hartford is seeking to hire a Senior Litigation Analyst to join our Legal team. We are looking for motivated attorneys to join this team responsible for reviewing outside counsel legal bill invoices and to conduct in office Legal Bill Review audits.
As a Senior Litigation Analyst you will be expected to provide a breadth and depth understanding around the billing process in specific practice areas. You will be responsible for identifying deficiencies in our panel counsel billing at an increased volume over current levels. As well as provide your legal practice experience and expertise to communicate directly with panel firms/attorneys to discuss specific billing issues.
SUMMARY OF RESPONSIBILITIES:Legal Bill Review - Complete assigned legal bill review in a timely and accurate manner and in accordance with bill review unit standards and Hartford guidelines.
- Perform quality legal bill review with processing of invoice fairly with the accurate amount of payable.
- Partner with Regional Managers to ensure the appropriate pre-screen Bottom-line billing filters are incorporated into Hartford's billing process.
- Provide and communicate adjustment rationale with appropriate and sufficient detail.
- Coordinate with the Legal Practices Operations team to ensure accurate vendor invoices are processed in accordance with existing vendor service agreements.
- Timely review of invoices with 100% of all legal bills processed in less than 45 days with related reporting developed to demonstrate success.
- Manage bill review and pending invoices for the assigned region and/or line of business through utilization of team resources as well as provide assistance to other Specialists to achieve group goal of timely processing of invoices.
- Bill review will be assessed on the basis of total dollars per month as well as by count of invoices and line items with specific goals to be determined.
- Facilitate gathering and exchange of information with Claims regarding observed and identified billing issues.
- Identify opportunities warranting further investigation through discussion with Claims and law firms, properly escalating observations internally as well as to the Regional Manager to whom the region applies.
- Drive continued development of appropriate Bottom-line Legal eXchange upgrades for demonstrated improvement of the system as feature/functions for end users.
- Analysts will be expected to leverage their personal billing and practice experience to contact firms where necessary to challenge billing entries and firm billing issues on a line item level. You will also be expected to manage the prompt, efficient handling of appeals.
Litigation Expense Containment Training - Create and administer litigation cost containment training to Claims.
- Analysts will be expected to leverage their knowledge and practice experience to provide comprehensive training from an attorney's perspective to Claim field handlers.
- The training will be by line of business and practice area, including Auto, General Liability, Property Damage/ Construction Defect and Professional Liability claims.
- All training will address topics such as billing issue identification and commonly seen firm practices.
- Participation will include the development of training topics and materials via PowerPoint as well as delivery of the training to claims personnel via Link and/or in person.
- Such training will provide the basis for a more comprehensive bill review overall from original receipt and review of the bill by the field handler through final audit at the appeal level.
- Support Claim reorganization and regional alignment with Claim Centers and territories in furtherance of and execution on the Claims legal cost containment goals, objectives, and business plan.
- Integrate with claim centers in your region with primary focus on educating new litigation handlers who are unfamiliar with legal bill auditing.
- Report quarterly on participation in roundtables, one on ones, office events, office training as well as other activities and events occurring within your region.
- Performance will be assessed based on direct observations as well as feedback from litigation managers and Claims personnel.
- Read and understand the panel counsel business plan and be able to articulate our unit's purpose, goals and direction utilizing this knowledge to enlist field support for panel counsel management and bill review in your region's field offices.
- Provide training and guidance to Claims leadership on bill review and litigation expense management as well as geographical understanding and assessment of bill review and legal, litigation environment for your region.
- Obtain competitive intelligence for the unit based on experiences in the field at your location as well as for centers in your region.
Quality Business Reviews - participate in quality reviews with the Regional Managers of Counsel and the Claims field office.
- The Litigation Practices group administrates the panel counsel quality program via remote and on-site quality review of panel firms. Analysts will be expected to leverage their practice experience to provide support to the quality review process by participating in "deep dive" reviews (holistic and targeted reviews) of legal files to verify the reasonableness, necessity and propriety of case handling decisions made by panel attorneys, as well as providing feedback regarding a firm's billing practice and history. In this capacity, Analysts as reviewers will be expected to understand complex legal issues covering areas of law ranging from initial pleadings through trial preparation and appeal. You will further be expected to provide feedback regarding legal issues to the Quality Review Team Leaders for discussion with the firm.
- Support panel firm consolidation efforts by providing billing trend feedback and data analytics to the Regional Managers.
- Provide assistance across regions in support of team members and group goals as well as in support of Regional Managers related to law firm and litigation management.
- Participate in annual recertification of panel counsel by providing firm-level billing trend analysis, compliance information, and a firm's cooperation/communication on billing issues.
- Monitor accuracy of the panel counsel map as well as other databases and displays.
- Coordinate with Regional Manager to continuously assess and edit Hartford's billing guidelines to ensure the highest quality legal services are obtained.
- Provide Regional Manager with billing trend assessments on billing issues and patterns for firms in Region. These trend assessments will be gathered through Bottom-line.
- Complete onsite law firm bill review audits as well as identify law firms within assigned region for multiple onsite reviews.
- Develop standard reporting related to onsite reviews other than quality audits to provide feedback loop to business partners.
- Contribute to update of legal quality audit manual to reflect ongoing development of audit process.
Customer Service- Provide consistently high levels of customer assistance, guidance and service. Written and oral communication shall be professional and consistent.
- Phone calls and email should be responded to within a business day.
- Enhance knowledge of Claim Legal function and cross train within unit to provide additional point of contact and resource to resolve external and internal customer needs.
- Timely escalate information and/or customer concerns to properly designate individuals and assist in problem resolution.
- Provide customer assistance, guidance and service in claim utilization of e-Billing platform through claim training and person to person assistance.
- Cross train on Claim systems such as Accounts Portal and iManage to provide assistance and support to customers in matter creation and seeing matters added for electronic billing system.
QUALIFICATIONS:- Juris Doctorate from American Bar Association accredited law school is required.
- 5+ years of practical experience is required.
- Possession of active license to practice law in good standing in at least one state.
- Practical experience necessary in the areas of Auto, General Liability, Workers Compensation, Property Damage/ Construction Defect and Professional Liability.
- Strong foundation in litigation management and billing.
- Positions will be assigned by line of business expertise in order to allow for optimal efficiency and volume. This foundation will provide the auditor with the background to understand and identify billing deficiencies at an increased rate over current levels.
- Candidates should possess superior technical skills to successfully navigate and leverage the various systems employed by the team. Primary systems include Bottomline Technologies, as well as Hartford's internal systems.
- Analysts will possess a minimum of 3 years legal experience in a particular discipline (i.e. Auto, General Liability, Property Damage/ Construction Defect and Professional Liability).
- Effective communication skills are needed to help facilitate discussion with firms regarding billing issues where necessary, delivery of training to claims personnel around bill review, and preparation and presentation of billing practices amongst team members.
- Proficiencies in Microsoft Office and Excel.
This role can have a Hybrid or Remote work arrangement. Candidates who live near one of our office locations (Hartford, CT, San Antonio, TX, Lake Mary, FL, Phoenix, AZ, Naperville, IL) will have the expectation of working in an office 3 days a week (Tuesday through Thursday). Candidates who do not live near an office will have a remote work arrangement, with the expectation of coming into an office as business needs arise.
CompensationThe listed annualized base pay range is primarily based on analysis of similar positions in the external market. Actual base pay could vary and may be above or below the listed range based on factors including but not limited to performance, proficiency and demonstration of competencies required for the role. The base pay is just one component of The Hartford's total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include short-term or annual bonuses, long-term incentives, and on-the-spot recognition. The annualized base pay range for this role is:
$118,800 - $178,200
