Benefits
- Competitive salary
-
25 days annual holiday
-
Permanent Health Insurance
-
Life Assurance
-
Interest free Season Ticket Loan
-
Private Healthcare
-
Pension Scheme
-
Staff Introductory Scheme
-
Employee Assistance Programme
The role
This role sits within our Commercial Dispute Resolution team, part of the wider Dispute Resolution Department. The team is highly collaborative and supportive, with a strong emphasis on teamwork and delivering seamless support to our fee earners. Alongside providing dedicated assistance to your allocated fee earners, you will work closely with colleagues across the team to ensure an exceptional level of service. The team advises on a range of high-profile, complex and often ground-breaking matters, making this a varied and engaging role.
Our Commercial Dispute Resolution team acts for a diverse client base, ranging from entrepreneurial individuals and owner-managed businesses to large national and international organisations. The team advises across all aspects of commercial dispute resolution, including domestic and international litigation, appeals, arbitration, restructuring and insolvency, civil fraud, and mediation. Working across a broad range of sectors, the team develops tailored strategies to achieve clients' commercial objectives in a practical and cost-effective way.
Main responsibilities
- Manage fee-earner diaries, scheduling meetings and appointments, and coordinating all associated logistics (meeting rooms, video conferencing, travel, taxis, restaurants, and refreshments).
-
Arrange domestic and international travel, including visa applications, itineraries, and post-trip follow-up.
-
Process and manage expense claims.
-
Monitor and manage fee-earner inboxes during absences, prioritising correspondence, responding where appropriate, and maintaining accurate filing in iManage.
-
Support new client onboarding, including KYC compliance checks and matter opening processes.
-
Manage matter administration, including matter opening forms and checklists.
-
Act as the primary point of contact for internal and external queries.
-
Prepare, amend, proofread, and maintain high-quality documentation, correspondence, and reports.
-
Coordinate billing activities, financial reporting, account forms, and liaise with billing teams to ensure timely completion of processes.
-
Record time entries and monitor outstanding time reports on behalf of fee earners.
-
Prepare and manage electronic and hardcopy bundles, including indexing and pagination.
-
Conduct research using online resources and databases.
-
Liaising with clients, Counsel and other external parties.
-
Provide support to colleagues and cover for other PAs as required.
-
Proactively manage administrative tasks to support fee-earner efficiency and productivity.
-
Maintain accurate electronic filing and document management within iManage.
-
Keep business development and financial systems, reports, and trackers up to date.
-
Manage internal and external referral logs and maintain the live capacity tracker on behalf of fee earners.
About you
Ideally, you will be able to demonstrate:
-
Previous experience within a fast-paced, high-performing legal services environment, ideally supporting a Commercial Dispute Resolution team. Experience in insolvency and civil fraud would be advantageous.
-
Strong organisational, diary management and time management skills, with the ability to prioritise competing demands.
-
Experience supporting senior fee earners, including Partners.
-
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
-
Exceptional attention to detail and accuracy.
-
A proactive, flexible and self-motivated approach to work.
-
A collaborative mindset with a willingness to support colleagues and contribute to team success.
-
Strong proficiency in Microsoft 365 applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams.
-
Experience using legal support systems such as BigHand, Elite 3E and iManage would be advantageous.
-
Familiarity with a range of business systems and technologies, including Emburse, InTapp Time, OnePlace CRM, DocuSign, TitanFile, Lexis+, CE-File and Adobe Acrobat/Bundledocs.
-
An interest in leveraging AI and emerging technologies to improve efficiency, productivity and ways of working.
At Howard Kennedy we believe that everyone deserves the space to thrive. We’re committed to creating an inclusive recruitment experience that reflects the diversity of both our people and our clients.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and identities, and we’re committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and accessible to all.
We understand that every candidate’s needs are different If there’s anything we can do to make your application journey more comfortable— whether for interviews, assessments, or onboarding—please let us know. We’ll work with you to remove any barriers and ensure our recruitment process is comfortable for you.
Contact our recruitment team at [email protected] to discuss any support you might need.
Agency Introductions
Please note that we are not accepting applications via agencies for this role at this time. Before sharing any named candidate CVs, please contact your recruitment representative. If any named CVs are sent from agencies without approval from our recruitment team, they will not be deemed valid introductions, and no agency fee will be paid.
About Us
With almost 200 lawyers in one location, we ensure our clients have the right team to help them get from where they are to where they want to be. We advise major corporates and institutions as well as entrepreneurial, ambitious enterprises which are often privately or family owned, or private equity backed. As well as our significant business law capability, we are one of only a few London-based law firms with a large private wealth offering. Our clients find our straightforward approach a compelling alternative to larger, less personal firms.
Whether you are an ambitious and talented individual wanting to hit the ground running from day one, or an established professional looking for a new opportunity, Howard Kennedy is the firm where you can really make it happen.
We have earned a strong reputation for our exceptional and uniquely talented people who between them deliver outstanding results for clients. In a firm of our size, our strong team dynamic creates a thriving culture of creativity and entrepreneurialism. Howard Kennedy is a pragmatic and non-hierarchical environment where success is shared, and you are proactively encouraged to thrive at your own pace.
Our distinctive culture is built on fairness and respect. Guided by the firm’s values of talk straight, think smart and be yourself, everyone in the firm holds equal value, and everyone plays their role in supporting, encouraging and inspiring colleagues to do their best work.
At the same time, we recognise and reward individualism, celebrating the diversity of our people and supporting them to grow their practice and drive their own career advancement.
As well as client work, there is opportunity to broaden your horizons at the firm with fulfilling pro bono and charity projects. We have a regular social calendar full of wellbeing activities, charitable and social events too.
