Affirm Partners is looking for Director, Litigation Business Development in Chicago, IL. This local job opportunity with ID 3704048743 is live since 2026-06-07 02:31:11.

Our client, a premier global law firm, is building a dedicated Business Development function for its Litigation practice. This is the founding role: a senior, client-savvy professional whose primary mission is to help elite litigators win mandates. It is fundamentally a business development role, not marketing. As the function scales, practice-area specialists will be added and this Director will help build the team.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Owning BD strategy across the litigation platform, including mass torts, antitrust, complex commercial, white collar, appellate and beyond
• Leading the client pitch process end-to-end: diligencing opportunities, developing strategy, overseeing materials and preparing teams to execute and win
• Building and managing a structured opportunity pipeline across both existing client expansion and new client development
• Overseeing market intelligence and competitive analytics, including tracking emerging litigation trends, docket activity and competitor positioning to identify and execute on growth opportunities
• Serving as the senior liaison across firm management, practice group leadership, and the firm's KM and AI functions to supercharge business development

Market Intelligence and New Business

• Proactively identify emerging litigation opportunities before clients come to the firm
• Monitor mass torts, antitrust, white collar, commercial disputes, and MDL filings for partner-level leads
• Leverage legal analytics platforms and AI tools to surface whitespace in the client base and broader market
• Maintain a structured opportunity pipeline and bring leads to partners with context and a point of view

Client Relationship Development

• Identify expansion opportunities within existing client relationships across practice areas
• Develop fluency in clients' legal exposure profiles and outside counsel decision structures
• Surface cross-sell opportunities between Litigation and corporate and restructuring practices

Function Buildout

• Audit existing BD activity and develop a roadmap; establish systems and workflows to scale the function
• Integrate AI-enabled analytics into the BD workflow alongside the firm's innovation team

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• Current or former practicing litigator with 8+ years of experience in BigLaw, in-house, or litigation finance
• J.D. required; conversant across mass torts, antitrust, commercial litigation, white collar, and appellate
• Demonstrated ability to identify and pursue business opportunities
• Credible peer to elite litigation partners who earns trust through knowledge and judgment