Providing a full PA and secretarial service supporting the Partners and Legal Advisers and cover for any secretarial absences in the team where necessary. This role requires proactive thinking, exceptional organisation, and the ability to use one’s initiative to support the needs of the team.
The team
Our national Employment team is widely respected for providing an excellent service, providing pragmatic and timely legal advice to its highly regarded client base. The team primarily works with employer clients along with some individual advisory work and a mix of both contentious and non-contentious matters. We also have specialists in advocacy, corporate work, and business immigration.
Main responsibilities
- High volume typing of correspondence and documents including instructions to experts and counsel, reports, file notes and attendance notes
- Photocopying
- Preparing enclosures ready for signing and sending out with the post
- Opening and closing client files
- Filing of incoming and outgoing correspondence, e mails and other documents and keeping this up to date
- Reconciling payments, compiling, and sending bills
- Chasing bills as per legal adviser instructions
- Expenses
- Paying suppliers
- Monitoring of financial hygiene for the team
- Keeping records of closed files
- Interaction with clients mainly over the telephone
- In house forms, laser forms
- Diary management acting proactively where possible and highlighting diary clashes.
- Organising meetings, conferences, travel arrangements etc.
- Travel booking for legal advisers
- Answering the telephone and dealing with routine enquiries
- Use of case management system (training will be given but previous use is desirable)
Skills and qualifications
- Ideally previous Legal PA experience in a similar role looking after Partners and a broader team
- Self-motivated and able to work without supervision to a high standard
- Accurate keyboard skills required
- Good working knowledge of various applications – word, outlook, digital dictation (power point and excel helpful but not a necessity)
- Taking care and attention to detail and quality in relation to all correspondence and documentation
- Flexible with the ability to adapt to change, new practices and cope under pressure
- Excellent presentation skills reflected in their work
- A methodical and organised approach with keen attention paid to every detail
- Good organisational skills to ensure that the tasks are effectively scheduled within working time available, and that urgent work is completed and returned within the specified timescales
- Excellent communication skills and telephone manner
- Ability to prioritise
- Ability to work well under pressure
- Good listening skills
- Able to integrate within a team
- Ability to be pro-active and deliver a quality service to both internal and external clients
- Adapt and manage the differing demands and working patterns
The firm
Shoosmiths is the law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for our ability to focus on what matters. From offices across the UK and Brussels, we support some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses; amazing clients making an impact. We empower our people to be their authentic selves and deliver together in supportive teams committed to excellence and innovation. The first top 50 law firm to achieve ‘Platinum Standard’ Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm.
We have an outstanding benefits package to complement our competitive remuneration system. In addition to the competitive salaries, great working environment and high-quality work, we believe that all staff should be rewarded for their commitment to the continued success of the firm through a comprehensive and flexible range of benefits.
Shoosmiths is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. Disability Confident is a government scheme designed to encourage employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term conditions. The Disability Confident scheme replaced the Two Ticks Positive about Disabled People scheme. We had been accredited as a two tick employer for many years - Disability Confident broadens and develops that original commitment, and demonstrates we have adopted a proactive approach to employing disabled people and developing their abilities.
As part of our accreditation, we commit to interviewing any applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for each vacancy. In some circumstances we may only be able to interview those that best meet the essential criteria due to the volume of applications received.
Further information on the Disability Confident scheme is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to and usable by everyone. If you have a disability or long-term condition and would like to receive information in a different way, or need us to make any adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please get in touch with the Talent Acquisition team on [email protected]. We can consider your needs and requirements, and how we can assist you to apply for our roles. For example we can provide a copy of our application via email so that you can complete it using your own accessibility software.
Our approach to our people is underpinned by our approach to diversity, inclusion and well-being. Our ambition is to build a diverse and ambitious workforce that reflects all backgrounds and talents, and a workplace that is supportive and inclusive, recognises and nurtures talent, and has a strong sense of community between colleagues.
This means that everyone who either applies to or works for the firm is treated equally, whatever their gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.
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