Our client, a top tier litigation firm with a nationally recognized platform and continued strategic growth, is seeking a Chief Financial Officer to join its team in New York. This is a true executive seat, working directly with the Management Committee and equity partners, with a central role in shaping partner economics, capital strategy, and firm level decisionmaking.
The CFO will serve as a trusted advisor to firm leadership, translating financial data into clear, actionable direction while aligning partners and administrative leadership around performance and longer term outcomes. The mandate is to strengthen financial architecture and reporting clarity, improve liquidity discipline and working capital performance, and support leadership as the firm continues to scale. This role requires both strategic judgment and hands on execution, with a clear expectation of driving initiatives through to completion.
The CFO will lead the firm’s full finance function, including FP&A, accounting and reporting, treasury and capital planning, partnership finance and distributions, billing and collections, working capital management, tax, audit, risk, and financial systems. This role includes direct oversight of partner distributions, capital accounts, billing and collections, and overall working capital performance within a partner driven governance structure. The firm operates on an accrual basis, with leadership reporting increasingly driven by a cash focused operating lens, requiring the ability to reconcile and communicate the relationship between earnings, liquidity, and partner distributions. Demonstrated experience leading or optimizing law firm financial systems (e.g., Aderant, Elite/3E) and building decision ready reporting infrastructure is strongly preferred.
The ideal candidate will bring 15+ years of progressive financial leadership within a law firm, including a demonstrated track record of long tenured experience in a sophisticated firm environment and meaningful experience advising partnership leadership within a management committee structure. Candidates should have deep, hands on experience with partnership finance, including partner distributions, capital accounts, and working capital management, along with a proven ability to improve cash conversion across billing, realization, and collections. Bachelor’s degree required; MBA and/or CPA strongly preferred. Compensation includes salary ($475K to $550K+ base) plus bonus tied to firm profitability, liquidity performance, and execution of key financial initiatives, along with a comprehensive executive level benefits package.
J. Sheppard Associates represents Attorneys, C-Suite Talent and Top Tier Law Firms
