Legal Partnerships Manager

Role

Third Chair builds a network of outside law firms, one jurisdiction at a time, to handle IP enforcement for our customers. Each of those firms is a commercial partnership. We bring matters and a platform, they bring local expertise and capacity, and the terms between us decide whether it works for both sides. We're hiring a full-time Legal Partnerships Manager to build and run that network, reporting to our SVP of Operations and Strategy. 

You'll own our law firm relationships end to end. That starts with finding the right firms in new markets and pitching Third Chair to senior partners. It continues through negotiating terms that align incentives and that our GC can approve, and getting each firm onboarded and producing. From there you're the firm's main point of contact for as long as the partnership runs: you keep work flowing, hold the firm to our standards on quality and turnaround, and grow the relationships that perform. The role is remote (work from home) for employees based in India (Bangalore preferred but not required). Our partners and team span many time zones, so this role is ideal for candidates with a flexible schedule.

What You'll Do

• Build a pipeline of prospective partner firms, prioritizing the markets where customers need coverage.
• Pitch Third Chair to senior partners at firms that have never heard of us, and evaluate them against our framework: real copyright enforcement experience, the client relationships worth knowing, and capacity to take on volume.
• Negotiate partnership terms: fee structures, scope, volume and performance expectations. Our default is outcome-based because our customers pay only on what we recover, and you'll make that case to firms used to billing by the hour.
• Onboard each new partner: engagement letters, platform training and first matters.
• Serve as the ongoing point of contact for every partner firm, and work with our GC and customer team to route matters and resolve issues.
• Track each firm's turnaround, quality, recoveries and responsiveness. Grow the partnerships that work, and renegotiate or wind down the ones that don't.
• Keep the pipeline and partner performance visible, and write short, candid recaps for the GC and founders.

What We're Looking For

• 3+ years in business development, partnerships or other commercial roles, ideally partnering with or selling to law firms or professional services firms.
• Ability to take meetings with flexible hours across many international time zones, including at least 3 hours of overlap with the United States (EST) every day. 
• A track record of negotiating and closing commercial agreements. You can walk us through a deal you structured and why.
• Experience owning relationships after the deal closes, such as account management, partner management or client service. You keep partners engaged and accountable over months and years, not just through the signing.
• You're comfortable pitching cold to a senior partner at a firm that has never heard of us, and following up a fifth time.
• Commercial instincts: you understand how a fee structure actually behaves, can hold a position in a negotiation, and know when to escalate to a lawyer.
• Cross-border experience. You've done business across multiple countries and can get oriented quickly in an unfamiliar legal market.
• Exceptional written communication in English. Your recaps are short enough to read in thirty seconds and sharp enough to act on.
• Extremely organized across many parallel conversations in different time zones, with nothing dropped.

What Success Looks Like

• 30 days: Built a prioritized pipeline and opened conversations with 100+ prospective firms.
• 60 days: Negotiated and signed your first 2 partner firms on Legal-approved terms, with cases assigned.
• 90 days: Those firms are producing legal work, and you have a regular check-in and performance review rhythm with each one.
• 12 months: Active partner coverage across 50+ countries and jurisdictions, with a partner network you can vouch for on quality and results.

Nice to Have

• Experience negotiating contingency, success-fee or revenue-share arrangements.
• Background in IP, copyright, or media and entertainment law.
• Experience building a vendor, partner or referral network from scratch in a new market.
• A lawyer or ex-lawyer who moved into business development or partnerships.
• Legal recruiting experience, such as law firm lateral partner search.
• Additional languages, especially Spanish or Portuguese.
• Comfort with modern productivity tools: GSuite, Slack, Linear, and AI tools (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini).

About Third Chair

Third Chair (YC X25) provides legal infrastructure for the media and entertainment industry. Our platform makes it easy for the entertainment industry to monitor for unauthorized use of their content, streamline licensing negotiations, and recover missed revenue — without adding headcount. Founded by exited, second-time founders and backed by Y Combinator, we're building modern legal infrastructure to serve every general counsel.