Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Company: Melone Hatley, P.C.
Location: On-Site in Virginia Beach or Remote (with regional travel)
Position Type: Full-Time, Executive Leadership
Melone Hatley, P.C. is seeking an experienced, results-driven Chief Operating Officer (COO) to translate high-level firm strategy into disciplined, profitable, and scalable daily execution across all offices and departments.
Reporting directly to the Owner/CEO, you will hold enterprise-wide authority over multi-location legal operations, process standardization, cross-department handoffs, facilities, and capacity management.
Key Responsibilities
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Operational Leadership: Lead and mentor office leaders and department managers, driving a culture of high performance, accountability, and independent problem-solving.
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Process & System Optimization: Centralize, audit, and enforce standard operating procedures (SOPs), identifying root-cause friction points and leveraging automation to boost efficiency.
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Legal Production & Utilization: Partner with Managing Attorneys to monitor workflows, track case progression, and maintain target capacity (aiming for 90%+ billable utilization).
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Financial Accountability: Partner with the CEO and CFO to manage annual budgets, monitor Revenue per FTE, optimize Average Case Value, and protect office-level net margins.
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Cross-Functional Alignment: Remove bottlenecks between Legal, Intake/Sales, Marketing, HR, IT, and Finance to ensure clean operational handoffs and minimize executive escalations.
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Infrastructure & Procurement: Oversee facility expansions, physical security, IT resources, and vendor contracts across all regional footprints.
Core Performance Metrics (KPIs)
Your impact is measured through clear, results-oriented benchmarks:
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Firm Growth & Capacity (60%): Revenue per FTE, Average Case Value, legal staff utilization ($\ge$90%), office-level net profitability, and attorney retention (<12% annual attrition).
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Operational Health (40%): Process standardization, leadership accountability, cross-department throughput, facility readiness, and escalation reduction.
Qualifications
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Executive Experience: Proven track record in a senior operations leadership role (COO, VP of Operations, Director of Operations) managing managers across multiple sites.
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Industry Background: Strong preference for experience in legal operations, law firm management, or multi-location professional services.
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Financial Acumen: Deep competency analyzing P&Ls, budgets, headcount modeling, and utilization metrics.
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Systems Architect: Demonstrated ability to build, document, and scale repeatable operational frameworks and leverage legal tech/automation.
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Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Operations, or related field required; MBA or J.D. strongly preferred (active bar license not required unless supervising legal representation).
Ready to Scale With Us?
Apply directly through LinkedIn/Indeed or submit your resume and cover letter detailing your operational track record.
Base Salary: $150K and up to $300K with Bonuses.
Skills Required
- Proven senior operations leadership experience as a COO, VP of Operations, Director of Operations, or equivalent
- Experience managing managers across multiple sites
- Strong preference for legal operations, law firm management, or multi-location professional services experience
- Deep competency analyzing P&Ls, budgets, headcount modeling, and utilization metrics
- Demonstrated ability to build, document, and scale repeatable operational frameworks
- Experience leveraging legal technology and automation
- Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Operations, or a related field
- MBA or J.D.
- Active bar license
What We Do
Melone Hatley, P.C. is a family and estate-planning law firm that helps clients navigate divorce, custody and visitation, military divorce, and broader family-law matters. The firm also provides estate-planning services, positioning its work around protecting clients’ families, finances, and futures. It serves families across Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, and Florida through offices in those states, offering clear, practical guidance to people facing significant family and estate-planning decisions.
