Legal Secretary

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 500 lawyers and legal professionals based in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: property, corporate services, litigation and private client advisory.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do.  RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 5th best law firm to work at in 2024.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 40% of our partnership.

The team currently comprises over 50 specialist lawyers, including seven partners, making us one of the largest Private Client Advisory teams in the East of England. We have the strength and depth of expertise to ensure we deliver the service you would expect in respect of technical quality, practical approach and timeliness of advice. We act as trusted advisers to individuals, families, trustees, family or owner-run businesses and trust companies both in the UK and internationally. We place particular priority on continuity and fostering close long-term relationships with contacts and clients in order to provide practical advice and commercial solutions on a very wide variety of tax, trust and estate planning situations that arise.

You will work in the Private Client team to provide professional, pro-active, high level secretarial support on a broad range of issues relating to estates and private property, tax and planning. You will work with an allocated fee earner or group of fee earners as well as supporting the wider fee earning team.

The team covers:

• Will drafting
• Succession planning
• Tax efficient lifetime giving
• Disputed Wills
• Creation administration and termination of trusts
• Advice to Trustees and Beneficiaries
• Trust Taxation
• Offshore trusts
• Lasting Powers of Attorney
• Administration of Estates

Technical ability

• To produce and amend documents with speed and accuracy
• To format, paginate, number and present documents in Birketts LLP house style
• To proof read all work, checking for spelling and grammar
• To be a user of key software packages and take responsibility for any training needs to improve relevant skills needed to meet the needs of the business
• To proactively work with the fee earners to ensure relevant documentation is produced to meet clients’ expectations and deadlines
• Use of Isokon for the administration of estates would be a benefit

Administrative skills:

Manage diaries of allocated fee earners in Microsoft Outlook to include:

• Familiarity with the creation and management of datarooms and file management processes
• Making appointments
• Arranging meetings/conferences
• Sending and responding to invites
• Process expense claims, payment requisition forms, returned advances
• To process all forms including new client form, new matter form, money laundering form, training course booking forms etc.
• To ensure that all electronic filing and paper based filing is up to date and maintained at regular intervals
• To prepare narratives and bills and keep billing files up to date
• To carry out photocopying and scanning as required

Professional Skills:

• To immediately clarify instructions from fee earners should they be unclear or if deadlines are not made explicit
• To respond to internal and external telephone enquiries politely and professionally and take accurate telephone messages (name /number /company), passing them on to the relevant fee earners etc.
• To proactively support other members of the secretarial team and to provide cover as and when necessary to ensure that work is completed to a high standard and meets the required deadlines
• To provide full support to fee earners in the full range of activities that are performed and to carry out any other duties as reasonably requested

General Approach:

• To show a positive approach and interest in the work that your fee earners are undertaking
• Show initiative when responding to queries and actively try to seek solutions to problems
• To support your fee earners when clients are demanding the work product to be delivered
• To support and build working relationships with your own fee earners as well as other members of the team and to actively work for the interests of the whole team
• To support and build working relationships with your colleagues in the secretarial team and to actively get involved in working activities within the team

You will have the ability to contribute at an operational level, with excellent communication skills and can demonstrate general skills in:

• Strong administration experience
• Positive, enthusiastic and professional approach
• Strong attention to detail, high level organisational skills and reliable
• Self-motivated with an ability to use own initiative with a desire to learn
• A desire to share new processes to support the wider team

Skills

• Strong typing speed of at least 50 wpm
• Excellent spelling and punctuation
• Excellent written and verbal communications
• Ability to use discretion
• Excellent IT skills, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Positive and enthusiastic approach to team work
• Good telephone manner
• Adaptable and flexible
• Self-motivated, ability to use initiative and provide pro-active support to fee-earners
• Ability to pay attention to detail and check own work
• Reliable and well organised
• Ability to remain calm and work under pressure to meet strict deadlines
• Commitment to ongoing learning and development

We are committed to recruiting individuals on merits of suitability for each role, on the basis of qualifications and experience. All applications are treated fairly and equally regardless of sexual orientation, race, disability, religious beliefs and any other protected characteristic, ensuring that there are equal opportunities at all stages of the recruitment process.

Benefits 

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share / Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance   - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid ESG day (Environmental, Social and Governance)
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Eye Care Voucher
• Agile Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy