Chief Operating Officer

New York, NY

Full Time

Executive

To be considered for this role, please call 866-996-6549 and follow the step-by-step instructions outlined by our Co-Founder and Managing Partner. In addition, please complete your application here. You will be evaluated and vetted based on your ability to follow instructions. We look forward to hearing from you!

About the role

We started Chaffin Luhana in January 2010 because we wanted to build a firm where our actions match our values. Since then, our attorneys have recovered more than $1 billion for injured people, and state and federal judges have appointed us to lead national product liability litigation. Our ethos is Doing Good by Doing Right™.
We are looking for a full-time COO to join us as the senior-most business leader in the firm. We run on EOS, and you will serve as our Integrator, reporting directly to the two founding partners.
Here is the honest context. We built this firm’s operations ourselves, and the firm has outgrown the way we built them. We have strong department leaders, a growing brand, and some very good years in front of us. What we don't have is one person who is fully engaged in driving the business forward: someone who identifies the priorities, brings us recommendations, and gets the team executing without either founder having to keep pushing things along (or getting in the way). Everything else in this description is detail. That is the job.

Why Be the COO at Chaffin Luhana?
Run the business. You will run the whole business, not a slice of it. Marketing, intake, client experience, finance, people, and technology all report through this seat, and you will work directly with the two founders on where the firm goes next.
Help shape what comes next. AI, management services organizations (MSOs), and changing client expectations are creating new choices for law firms. Help us evaluate those choices and remain competitive while staying true to our ethos. We want your judgment about where to invest, what to change, and what to protect.
The timing is genuinely good. We have significant litigation maturing over the next few years and the resources to invest ahead of it. This is a role for a growing firm that needs a real operator at the wheel.
You will build, not maintain. Our reporting and analytics are partially built, and finishing that work is yours to own and design. A year from now, the way this firm makes decisions should reflect how you decided it should work.
The mission is real. We describe ourselves as data driven but heart led. Our clients come to us during the darkest time in their lives, and we believe one of our strongest differentiators is the compassion we have across the team. We hire by our values, promote by them, and have parted ways with talented people over them.
We have staying power. Mass torts and contingency work run on long business cycles, and plenty of firms don't last. We've been doing this for fifteen years, we've grown through the hard parts, and it's been worth the push.
Help people become their best. We want our team members to grow professionally and personally, become exceptional colleagues and leaders, and give clients an incredible experience. Strong operations should help our attorneys and team deliver outstanding litigation and trial results. Compassion, high standards, and accountability belong together here.

The authority to lead

Once you understand the business and have established an operating plan with the founders, you will have authority to allocate the approved budget, make hiring and firing decisions, change leadership when needed, and direct marketing execution. We expect you to use that authority and develop leaders who own their responsibilities.
You will work with the founders on firm strategy and major investments, keeping us informed about performance and significant decisions. We welcome thoughtful challenge, clear recommendations, and sound judgment. Attorneys retain responsibility for legal judgment and litigation strategy.

What you will own

Priorities and execution

Translate the partners’ vision into the annual plan and quarterly Rocks. Bring your recommendation on what matters most, identify capacity constraints, and keep the firm focused—including telling the founders when we are adding too much.
Run leadership meetings that end in decisions, owners, and deadlines. Make sure the work gets done between meetings and that department leaders take responsibility for results.

Business reporting and analytics

Complete the reporting buildout with Finance and Technology: consistent KPI definitions, reliable data, named owners, and dashboards leaders actually use. Determine the expertise needed, whether an analyst hire or outside support, and drive the work to completion. This is a core first-year deliverable.
Understand the numbers well enough to challenge assumptions, explain what is changing, and recommend action. Connect marketing, intake, case inventory, staffing, and financial information.

Marketing and intake

Own case acquisition economics end to end: spend, lead quality, conversion, cost per qualified signed case, and expected case value by market, practice area, and channel. Hold Marketing and Intake leaders accountable for both case quality and signed-case targets.
Pressure-test changes in spending and strategy. Watch leading indicators and act before a shortfall becomes a revenue problem, accounting for different PI and mass tort timelines. Assess whether the right people are in the right seats and make changes when needed.

Financial visibility

Partner with Finance on the operating budget, compensation and staffing models, forecasting, and monthly variance reviews. Resolve variances with the responsible department leaders.
Maintain a rolling view of cash and case inventory that connects expected fee timing to spending and hiring decisions. Make assumptions and uncertainty visible, and distinguish operating performance from the timing of individual case recoveries.

Client experience and innovation

Take ownership of implementing our client journey vision. Set priorities, assign owners, and turn ideas into measurable improvements from intake through resolution. Work with legal leaders to remove operational barriers to case progress, settlement, and trial readiness.
Evaluate technology, AI, and process changes through focused pilots. Measure whether they improve client service or team effectiveness, protect confidential information, and ensure successful changes become part of everyday work.

Leadership and people

Lead department heads, address missed commitments directly, and develop managers who solve problems at their own level. Partner with People Services on hiring, onboarding, development, and performance management.
Create an environment where people are supported and challenged to grow, and where compassion and candor reinforce high expectations. Bring significant issues to the partners promptly, with recommendations whenever possible.

Experience and expectations

What success looks like in year one

First 90 days. Assess leadership, reporting, acquisition economics, and client-experience priorities. Agree with the founders on the operating plan, resources, decision boundaries, and measurable targets while addressing urgent issues.
By six months. A dependable core scorecard and monthly business review are in use, key measures have owners, and a rolling cash forecast informs decisions. Client-experience improvements are underway.
By twelve months. The agreed reporting buildout is complete and driving decisions. Client-experience improvements are implemented and measured. Department leaders reliably execute, with substantially less founder follow-up.

What you must bring

Proven operating leadership. You have successfully run a business or a substantial division, with responsibility for financial performance, department leaders, staffing, and execution across multiple functions. You can explain the decisions you owned and the results you delivered.
You do not need to have held the COO title. You do need to arrive ready to lead at this level. We will help you learn our firm, people, and practice; we expect you to bring the operating judgment and leadership experience.
Evidence of building. Show us an operating capability you personally built or materially improved, what changed, and how you measured the result.
Commercial and financial fluency. Experience with acquisition and conversion, budgets, forecasts, labor models, and variance analysis. You understand the difference between projected value and cash in the bank.
Direct and compassionate leadership. You have hard conversations early, develop people, and follow through. You can challenge founders constructively, build trust, and put agreed decisions into action.
Relevant experience. Plaintiff personal injury or mass tort experience is strongly preferred. We will consider exceptional operators from other legal or consumer-service businesses who can learn contingency-fee economics. EOS Integrator experience is a plus.

Location and compensation

This is an in-person role based in Pittsburgh, Stamford, or New York City, with regular travel among the offices and attendance at quarterly and annual planning sessions. It will also provide an opportunity to and require attendance at mastermind groups in our field to learn about state-of-the-art operations for firms like ours.

We anticipate a base salary of $200,000-$250,000, plus a meaningful annual performance bonus tied to agreed operating and firm results. We have flexibility for exceptional experience and a demonstrated record of delivering results.

Benefits include health insurance with dental and vision options; generous PTO and holidays; a 401(k) with a discretionary firm match; executive coaching; an annual charitable donation through the Chaffin Luhana Foundation; and relocation assistance for the right candidate.

Note: 

This job description is not an exclusive or exhaustive list of all job functions an employee in this position may be asked to perform.  Duties, responsibilities, and requirements can be added, changed, or reduced by management to meet the business needs of the company. 

Chaffin Luhana LLP does not discriminate based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities. 

Location: This is an in-person role based in Pittsburgh, Stamford, or New York City, with regular travel among the offices and attendance at quarterly and annual planning sessions

Salary Range: $200,000 - $250,000

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