Legal Department Manager

Sumitomo Electric U.S.A. Holdings, Inc. (SEUHO) seeks an experienced, sophisticated office and department manager for its U.S.-based in-house legal department.  Located in Torrance, California (near Los Angeles), this non-lawyer position will report directly to the General Counsel for the Americas and will be generally responsible for the administrative management of the SEUHO Legal Department.  This position is a hybrid role, which will allow certain flexibility between time in the office and working remotely from home.

The SEUHO Legal Department is responsible for developing and maintaining a full-service legal function to comprehensively support the legal and compliance needs of over 48 Sumitomo Electric Group companies that operate in North and South America and design, manufacture, and sell a wide variety of electric components, electrical wires and cables, industrial materials, information and communication devices, and cutting-edge energy storage cells/systems. The group companies in North and South America are subsidiaries of Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., which is a publicly-traded company on the Tokyo stock exchange and is a Fortune Global 500 company. 

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Office Manager Responsibilities:
  • Non-lawyer position; administrative management background preferred
  • Manage administrative aspects of legal department, including staffing, procurement, IT projects, facilities issues
  • Supervise administrative staff activities
• Accounting and Budget Responsibilities:
  • Prepare and monitor legal department budget, including filing monthly and quarterly reports
  • Accounts Payable Supervision: Supervise and approve all legal invoice and department expense processing, including vendor setup in accounts payable system, fiscal year-end accrual preparation, and outside counsel annual rate review process
• Legal Matter Management Responsibilities:
  • Manage operation of case and matter management system, including developing data entry and assignment protocols and ensuring effective legal matter management,
  • Prepare and issue engagement letters to outside law firms for new matters and monitor documentation for all new matters
  • Prepare monthly Legal Status Update Report on all active matters, coordinating with in-house counsel to receive updates and close matters, as necessary

Qualifications

• 7-10 years of experience as an administrative manager or coordinator in a corporate legal department or law firm. Preferred candidate would have experience managing a legal department for a large corporation.
• S. degree in Accounting or Finance, with working knowledge of accounting principles.
• Excellent knowledge of both legal service organization and experience managing business operations such as human resources, systems, and finance. Knowledge and experience regarding best practices in a state-of-the-art legal department.
• Ability to develop and implement policies and protocols for effective delivery of legal services to Sumitomo Electric Group companies in the Americas.  
• Ability to perform special assignments and tasks under only general supervision.
• Experience supervising other employees
• Ability to operate in a fast-paced, sophisticated, and congenial work environment.

About Sumitomo Electric Group

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. is a recognized global technology leader with over 280,000 employees working at around 400 group companies in 40 countries. Building on more than 120 years of innovation, today Sumitomo Electric is engaged in diversified business activities that support people’s daily lives and industries in five business segments: automotive, infocommunications, electronics, environment & energy, and industrial materials.  To learn more about Sumitomo Electric, please visit https://sumitomoelectric.com. You can watch videos from our past interns and corporate profile from our YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/SumitomoElectric/). Follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sumitomo-electric). 

SEUHO is an Equal Opportunity employer and will consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, genetics, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.