Client Account Specialist

Job Description

McCarthy Tétrault is a leading Canadian law firm offering a full suite of legal and business solutions to clients in Canada and around the world. With offices in Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, Calgary and Vancouver, we provide challenging and rewarding career opportunities across the country. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers for eleven consecutive years and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for fourteen consecutive years, our culture is guided by The McCarthy Way—our shared approach to working with clients and with each other.

The McCarthy Way is built on four core elements: Excellence, through attracting and developing top talent committed to delivering on our Client Commitment; Collaboration, through seamless, integrated teamwork; Inclusion, through eliminating barriers to belonging and success; and Innovation, through delivering maximum value by embracing leading-edge technologies and approaches. Together, these principles shape how we work, lead, and grow—every day.

The candidate in this position will be part of a national team, working with lawyers and professionals in all of our offices across Canada, where English is the predominant language. This involves working in English or French for clients, lawyers, or professionals who only understand and communicate in English or French. Bilingualism (French and English) is therefore a required skill for this position.

We are recruiting for a Client Account Specialist to join our team in the Calgary office. The successful candidate must have a minimum of 3 years of hands-on experience in managing relationships with lawyers, dealing with multiple deadlines and must be familiar with the entire billing cycle. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a solid foundation in preparing invoices, monitoring and reviewing outstanding WIP (Work In Progress), collecting aged accounts receivable and developing weekly collection strategies. McCarthy Tétrault employees benefit from a hybrid work environment.

As a Client Account Specialist, you will be:

• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with billing lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants and external clients, and responding to any queries regarding the billing and collections process.
• Ensuring time is entered by set deadlines and following up with lawyers and paralegals where necessary. Preparing, printing and reviewing of prebills in a timely manner, monthly, quarterly or on request, including any necessary follow up with others in the Firm and revising according to client billing guidelines and Firm standards and policies.
• Preparing invoices and forwarding to Lawyers, Clients as required. If necessary, ensuring supporting documents are forwarded to client in a timely manner.
• Creating PDF, delimited or XML file invoices for e-billing clients, based on such client’s requirements. Liaising with E-billing Team with respect to any rejected invoices during e-billing submissions.
• Completing online status reports and budgets in e-billing systems for various clients in coordination with lawyers and legal assistants.
• Monitoring and reviewing of outstanding WIP (Work In Progress) and following up with lawyers and paralegals to ensure timely billing. Tracking contingency files, closings and other milestone billing arrangements and reporting on status of such files to Manager/Director, Finance Operations, including requirement for WIP provisions.
• Collecting outstanding/aged accounts receivable within the prescribed protocol/ procedure in a timely and professional manner by phone, letter and email; using the Expert Collection module in the Aderant system.
• Developing a weekly collection strategy/plan to expedite payment or resolution for overdue accounts in concert with the Billing Lawyers, Legal Assistants, and/or Client for accounts that present high exposure.
• Escalating accounts through Senior Management, as deemed necessary for follow-up. Facilitating and preparing supporting documentation for the remedy requested/recommended for accounts which present credit risk/loss through insolvency procedures, service suspension, third party collection or taxation.
• Monitoring credit performance and ensuring the client operates and maintains the account within the terms and conditions of agreement, as applicable..
• Coordinating, investigating and resolving payment/account discrepancies to include: short payment, over payments, unapplied cash, and misapplication, posting errors, payment analysis/support documentation in the event of request or dispute.
• Preparing and reporting WIP/AR Exposure reports to the assigned Billing Lawyers in each respective portfolio. Preparing various reports and spreadsheets related to time, billing, receivables, etc. for lawyers/paralegals and/or external clients where applicable.
• Serving as the central contact/liaison for the financial needs of a client’s account. Performing complex account reconciliations with a view to resolution of a full range of possible issues/challenges.
• Acting as liaison between Lawyers/LA’s and Finance, providing assistance re accounting or financial queries to ensure client needs are met.

As our ideal candidate, you will distinguish yourself by the following profile:

• Post-secondary education in a related field.
• 3 to 5 years of related experience, including client service, billing, collections and\or accounts receivable, preferably in a professional services firm.
• Familiarity with Aderant Expert or a similar accounting system would be an asset.
• Certification from the Credit Institute of Canada would be an asset.
• Offering superior client attentiveness by making every effort to respond and assist clients in a timely, efficient and professional manner.
• Building and strengthening working relationships with billing lawyers, Billing Analysts, Legal Assistants, Finance team members and supporting team initiatives.
• Strong time management skills, ability to handle multiple tasks, set schedules and work under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Analytical and problem solving skills.
• Flexibility to work overtime during peak billing periods.
• High level of discretion and confidentiality.

As a member of the McCarthy team, you will have access to:

• Outstanding benefits from day one, including insurance premiums paid by the Firm and wellness and technology reimbursements.
• Competitive compensation, paid overtime and generous time off, including a day off to volunteer and a day off for your birthday.
• A commitment to professional development and growth opportunities for our people at all levels, supported by a culture that fully embraces and encourages two-way feedback.
• Strong community involvement and a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• A collaborative, cohesive culture that connects lawyers and business teams through collective purpose.

How to Apply: 

We encourage external candidates to apply online and internal applicants must apply directly through our internal careers portal on Espresso. We look forward to receiving your application.

We thank all applicants for their interest in McCarthy Tétrault; however, only chosen applicants will be contacted. We regret that we are unable to respond to individual inquiries about application status. McCarthy Tétrault is an equal opportunity employer that fosters an inclusive, equitable, and accessible environment. Please notify us if you require accommodation at any time during the recruitment process.