Group Practice Manager (GPM)

Group Practice Manager (GPM) Reports To

Board of Directors

Job Purpose

To manage and optimize the non-legal business operations of the Group of Companies. The GPM is responsible for financial management, human resource management, risk mitigation, asset management, office operational efficiency, governance, strategic growth initiatives, and ensuring full compliance with South African statutory frameworks, including the Legal Practice Council (LPC), B-BBEE, and POPIA.

This role directly supports the Board of Directors by maintaining a secure, fully functional environment for legal professionals, managing the different portfolios delegated to different Directors or their practice, maintaining operational efficiency and co-ordinating task lists.

Key Performance Areas (KPAs)

Strategic Board Reporting & Executive Governance

• Quarterly Board Packs: Compile and present comprehensive quarterly executive reports to the Board of Directors, detailing overall Group performance against strategic goals.
• Financial & Profitability Metrics: Provide deep-dive analysis on practice, group and individual fee-earner profitability, fee-write-offs, and gross margin trends.
• Operational KPI Dashboard: Report on operational metrics, including capital work-in-progress, IT uptime, and employee turnover.
• Risk & Compliance Briefings: Keep the Board appraised of regulatory shifts, material audit findings, insurance coverage status, and upcoming lease or contract liabilities.
• B-BBEE & Transformation Updates: Deliver status reports on the firm's B-BBEE scorecards, project future tier ratings, and present expenditure forecasts for compliance.

Financial Governance & Accounting Oversight

• Group Finance: Maintain bookkeeping records for ancillary group companies, reconciliations, and cash flow forecasting.
• Audit & Compliance: Manage external audits and statutory submissions for ancillary group companies (SARS, VAT, PAYE).
• Profitability Tracking: Implement group and individual company profitability metrics and budget variances.

Risk Management, Insurance & Business Continuity

• Mitigate Risk: Maintain professional indemnity insurance (AIIF and top-up cover), directors' and officers' liability, and asset insurance.
• Business Continuity Planning (BCP): Design, test, and execute disaster recovery plans, ensuring off-site failovers for ICT, power, and physical infrastructure.
• Regulatory Compliance: Support the Information Officer for POPIA and PAIA, minimizing data breach liabilities.

B-BBEE Transformation & Company Secretarial

• Drive B-BBEE Strategy: Formulate and execute strategies to optimize the firm's B-BBEE scorecard across Ownership, Management Control, Skills Development, Enterprise/Supplier Development, and Socio-Economic Development.
• Verify Certification: Manage the annual verification process with accredited rating agencies to maintain a competitive tier for state and corporate panel tenders.
• Company Secretarial: Oversee CIPC compliance, annual returns, minutes of directors' meetings, share register maintenance, and resolution drafting for all group companies.

ERP & ICT Services Infrastructure

• ERP Optimization: Serve as the executive custodian of the AJS ERP system, ensuring optimal utilization for billing, document management, and reporting.
• ICT Strategic Support: Provide support to the Director in charge of ICT services to implement and manage services.
• Manage ICT Contracts: Manage outsourced ICT support to maintain high-availability network architecture, cybersecurity defences, and cloud collaboration tools.

Human Resources Management (HR)

• Supervising HR: Supervise HR and assist with performance management and workflow oversight.
• Supervising the outsourcing of Payroll functions: Oversee the processing of monthly payroll and benefits.
• Supervising Labour Compliance: Ensure strict adherence to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) and Employment Equity Act, representing the firm at CCMA if required.

Facilities, Vehicles & Stationery

• Vehicles - Fleet and Driver Logistics: Manage the firm's corporate vehicle fleet and optimise logistics to ensure compliance, cost-effectiveness and risk management.
• Lease and Contract Management: Manage offices and facilities, including lease contracts, maintenance and utilities
• Asset Management and Maintenance: Manage the lifecycle of all group assets and maintain a fully compliant asset register, with warranties.
• Stationery: Manage and supervise the procurement, safe-keeping, issuing and recording of stationery for the group

Procurement, Contracts & Service Providers

• Procurement Policy and Procedures: Update, implement and maintain an approved Procurement Policy and Procedures to ensure cost-effectiveness and risk mitigation.
• Service Legal agreements (SLA): Enforce service level agreements (SLAs) for all outsourced services across the group and perform annual performance reviews.

Marketing & Client Entertainment

• Brand Strategy: Supervise the coordination of marketing campaigns, corporate identity, website presence, and legal directory submissions.
• Client Engagement: Supervise the planning and budgeting of client entertainment, corporate events, and golf days to drive business development within the Tshwane corporate ecosystem.

Storage, Filing, and Archives

• Storage: Oversee on-site physical filing rooms and document storage.
• Archives: Manage off-site archival storage, including vendor contracts and service levels.
• Filing: Implement an optimal filing, retrieval and indexing system and supervise filing processes.

Candidate Profile & Requirements

Qualifications & Formal Training

• Primary Degree: BCom Accounting / Financial Management, BCom Law or a specialized Advanced Diploma / Degree in Business Management.
• Postgraduate Advantage: MBA, MBL, or a post-grad qualification in Practice Management / Corporate Governance is highly advantageous.

Experience

• Years of Experience: Minimum of 8–10 years in a senior operational leadership role, OR
• Finished articles with SAICA and at least 3 years post article experience in a professional services firm (legal practice experience is highly preferred), OR
• Experience in corporate or operations management of a similar size entity, preferably in a legal practice

Critical Skills

• Technical ERP Literacy: High-level competency in accounting ERP environments (ideally AJS
• Financial Acumen: Deep understanding of group accounting principles vs. business accounting.
• Strategic Negotiator: Ability to negotiate commercial property leases, multi-year ICT licenses, and high-value vendor contracts.
• Operational Leadership: Pro-active leadership skills across multiple functions and diverse demands, i.e. managing concurrent workstreams.
• Local Market Knowledge: Strong familiarity with the Tshwane corporate and public sector landscape to support tender positioning and B-BBEE compliance.

Key Skills

• Strong accounting acumen
• Excellent communication skills
• Versatile multi-tasker
• Strong negotiation and vendor management capabilities
• Proficiency in asset tracking software and MS Excel
• Basic understanding of commercial property lease agreements
• Excellent geographic knowledge of the local metropolitan area
• Deep understanding of legal document storage and archival protocols
• Knowledge of occupational health, safety, and POPIA compliance
• Knowledge of ISA, IFRS for SME, Companies Act, Legal Practice Act For more information please contact: Lidia Meyer