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Staff Attorney - LM07EE

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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 theaccurate amount of payable.• Partner with Regional Managers to ensure the appropriate pre-screenBottom-line billing filters are incorporated into Hartford’s billing process.• Provide and communicate adjustment rationale with appropriate andsufficient detail.• Coordinate with the Legal Practices Operations team to ensure accuratevendor invoices are processed in accordance with existing vendor serviceagreements.• Timely review of invoices with 100% of all legal bills processed in less than45 days with related reporting developed to demonstrate success.• Manage bill review and pending invoices for the assigned region and/orline of business through utilization of team resources as well as provideassistance to other Specialists to achieve group goal of timely processingof invoices.• Bill review will be assessed on the basis of total dollars per month as wellas by count of invoices and line items with specific goals to be determined.• Facilitate gathering and exchange of information with Claims regardingobserved and identified billing issues.• Identify opportunities warranting further investigation through discussionwith Claims and law firms, properly escalating observations internally aswell as to the Regional Manager to whom the region applies.• Drive continued development of appropriate Bottom-line Legal eXchangeupgrades for demonstrated improvement of the system asfeature/functions for end users.• Analysts will be expected to leverage their personal billing and practiceexperience to contact firms where necessary to challenge billing entriesand firm billing issues on a line item level. You will also be expected tomanage 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 practiceexperience to provide comprehensive training from an attorney’sperspective to Claim field handlers.• The training will be by line of business and practice area, including Auto,General Liability, Property Damage/ Construction Defect and ProfessionalLiability claims.• All training will address topics such as billing issue identification andcommonly seen firm practices.• Participation will include the development of training topics and materialsvia PowerPoint as well as delivery of the training to claims personnel viaLink and/or in person.• Such training will provide the basis for a more comprehensive bill reviewoverall from original receipt and review of the bill by the field handlerthrough final audit at the appeal level.• Support Claim reorganization and regional alignment with Claim Centersand territories in furtherance of and execution on the Claims legal costcontainment goals, objectives, and business plan.• Integrate with claim centers in your region with primary focus on educatingnew 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 yourregion.• Performance will be assessed based on direct observations as well asfeedback from litigation managers and Claims personnel.• Read and understand the panel counsel business plan and be able toarticulate our unit’s purpose, goals and direction utilizing this knowledge toenlist field support for panel counsel management and bill review in yourregion’s field offices.• Provide training and guidance to Claims leadership on bill review andlitigation expense management as well as geographical understanding andassessment of bill review and legal, litigation environment for your region.• Obtain competitive intelligence for the unit based on experiences in thefield 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 qualityprogram via remote and on-site quality review of panel firms. Analysts willbe expected to leverage their practice experience to provide support to thequality review process by participating in “deep dive” reviews (holistic andtargeted reviews) of legal files to verify the reasonableness, necessity andpropriety of case handling decisions made by panel attorneys, as well asproviding feedback regarding a firm’s billing practice and history. In thiscapacity, Analysts as reviewers will be expected to understand complexlegal issues covering areas of law ranging from initial pleadings throughtrial preparation and appeal. You will further be expected to providefeedback regarding legal issues to the Quality Review Team Leaders fordiscussion with the firm.• Support panel firm consolidation efforts by providing billing trend feedbackand data analytics to the Regional Managers.• Provide assistance across regions in support of team members and groupgoals as well as in support of Regional Managers related to law firm andlitigation management.• Participate in annual recertification of panel counsel by providing firm-levelbilling trend analysis, compliance information, and a firm’scooperation/communication on billing issues.• Monitor accuracy of the panel counsel map as well as other databases anddisplays.• Coordinate with Regional Manager to continuously assess and editHartford’s billing guidelines to ensure the highest quality legal services areobtained.• Provide Regional Manager with billing trend assessments on billing issuesand patterns for firms in Region. These trend assessments will be gatheredthrough Bottom-line.• Complete onsite law firm bill review audits as well as identify law firmswithin assigned region for multiple onsite reviews.• Develop standard reporting related to onsite reviews other than qualityaudits to provide feedback loop to business partners.• Contribute to update of legal quality audit manual to reflect ongoingdevelopment of audit process.Customer Service• Provide consistently high levels of customer assistance, guidance andservice. Written and oral communication shall be professional andconsistent.• Phone calls and email should be responded to within a business day.• Enhance knowledge of Claim Legal function and cross train within unit toprovide additional point of contact and resource to resolve external andinternal customer needs.• Timely escalate information and/or customer concerns to properlydesignate 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 toprovide assistance and support to customers in matter creation and seeingmatters added for electronic billing system.QUALIFICATIONS:• Juris Doctorate from American Bar Association accredited law school isrequired.• 5+ years of practical experience is required.• Possession of active license to practice law in good standing in at leastone state.• Practical experience necessary in the areas of Auto, General Liability,Workers Compensation, Property Damage/ Construction Defect andProfessional Liability.• Strong foundation in litigation management and billing.• Positions will be assigned by line of business expertise in order to allow foroptimal efficiency and volume. This foundation will provide the auditor withthe background to understand and identify billing deficiencies at anincreased rate over current levels.• Candidates should possess superior technical skills to successfullynavigate and leverage the various systems employed by the team. Primarysystems include Bottom-line Technologies, as well as Hartford’s internalsystems.• Analysts will possess a minimum of 3 years legal experience in a particulardiscipline (i.e. Auto, General Liability, Property Damage/ ConstructionDefect and Professional Liability).• Effective communication skills are needed to help facilitate discussion withfirms regarding billing issues where necessary, delivery of training toclaims personnel around bill review, and preparation and presentation ofbilling 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.

Compensation

The 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:

$114,800 - $172,200

Equal Opportunity Employer/Sex/Race/Color/Veterans/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity or Expression/Religion/Age

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