Bilingual Billing Specialist

At McCarthy Tétrault, we offer challenging and rewarding career opportunities and are delighted to have been selected for the eleventh consecutive year in 2023 as one of Canada's Top 100 Employers and one of Canada's Best Diversity Employers. Our culture is built on professional excellence, collaboration, innovation, thought leadership and entrepreneurialism. We embrace inclusion in all its forms and we provide the tools and opportunities to help our people develop to their full potential.

Bilingualism is required as this is a collaborative role at the national level and the candidate will be handling and following up on various requests from the firm lawyers who has both French and English speaking clients. This position also requires the candidate to be able to interact seamlessly with Financial Analysts - BI (Rates) and E-billing team in our offices across Canada on a daily basis, where English is the predominant language. This position must be performed in English and French, and in order to ensure that the employee in this position can perform their duties autonomously and effectively, candidates for this position must be able to communicate appropriately in French and English both orally and in writing."

This position can be based out of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary or Quebec City. McCarthy Tétrault employees benefit from a hybrid work environment.

Salary Range (Vancouver Only) : $57,000 to $67,000 annually

The offered salary may vary based on the candidate's job-specific knowledge, skills, and experience.

As a Bilingual Billing Specialist, you will be:

• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with billing lawyers, paralegals, legal assistants, external and internal clients and management.
• Ensuring time is entered by set deadlines and following up with lawyers and paralegals where necessary. Preparing, printing and reviewing of prebills (electronically or physically) 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.
• 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 direct supervisor, including requirement for WIP provisions.
• Preparing various reports and spreadsheets related to time, billing, receivables, etc. for lawyers/paralegals and/or external clients where applicable.
• Issue invoices as instructed by lawyers and in accordance with client billing guidelines and Firm standards and policies -including, but not limited to: narrative edits, transfers, splits, obtaining approval for and applying fee adjustments, creating PDF, delimited or XML file invoices for e-billing clients, based on such client's requirements.
• Ensuring invoices and supporting documents are forwarded to client in a timely manner, by mail, email or uploading through or into various e-billing sites/e-billing platforms as per the Firms standards and policies.
• Liaising with Finance Department to ensure client codes and contract specifications are up-to date and procedures are followed.
• 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.
• Acting as monitor for specific clients and/or matters when Alternate Fee Arrangements are in place. Ensuring that special rates and discounts are applied to each invoice. Monitoring thresholds and other milestones and updating billing lawyer on status. Providing reports and ensuring compliance with all special arrangements.
• Acting as liaison between lawyers/LA's and Finance, providing assistance re accounting or financial queries to ensure client needs are met.
• Responsible for initial collection inquiry with external clients. Escalating billing concerns/issues to billing lawyer for direction on next steps. When necessary, cancelling and re-issuing invoices or creating credit notes in accordance with Firm policies. If applicable, forwarding problematic client collections to Collection Department for follow-up.
• Obtaining additional information relating to special arrangements and/or information required for setup for e-billing matters, and assisting E-billing team to ensure matters are set up promptly.
• Liaising with Billings Team to manage requests sent to team inbox and support team with workload during high production times and absences on team.
• Maintaining accurate and up to date records of all approvals and directions as per the Firms standards and policies via uploading necessary documentation into appropriate databases.
• Review/translate narratives to ensure matter is billed in appropriate language and identify such changes for review by billing lawyers.

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

• Post-Secondary education in Accounting is required, or equivalent work experience.
• Minimum of 3 years of related experience, including client service, billing, collections and\or accounts receivable, preferably in a professional services firm.
• Familiarity\Experience with Aderant Expert or a similar accounting system would be an asset
• Strong time management skills, ability to handle multiple tasks, set schedules and work under pressure to meet deadlines.
• Analytical and problem solving skills.
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills.
• Knowledge of business and legal terminology.
• Capacity to demonstrate tact and diplomacy when dealing with internal and external clients.
• Flexibility to work overtime during peak billing periods (including but not limited to month-end, quarter-end, year-end, etc.).
• Strong written and oral communication skills (French and English).
• 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:

External candidates are encouraged to apply online. All Internal applicants must apply directly through our internal careers portal on Espresso.

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.