Company Secretarial Assistant

A leading UK law firm with a network of offices from the South Coast to Scotland, working together as one national team. An innovative practice and the first top 100 law firm to achieve “Gold Standard” Investors in People, our values and culture are not just words on our website but are the heartbeat of the firm. The lack of barriers between departments, a real lack of hierarchy, zero tolerance for arrogance and pomposity makes Shoosmiths a fantastic place to work.

The Company Secretarial Team is part of Shoosmiths LLP which is one of the UK’s largest national law firms offering the back up of 189 Partners and more than 1100 staff across 11 offices in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Company Secretarial Team requires a person to work full time within the growing company secretarial team based in Milton Keynes.  With this recruitment, the team will be four people but a fifth team member is also planned within the next 12 months.

This person would be responsible for carrying out company secretarial tasks, predominantly for private companies.

The ideal candidate will either:

- be a part-qualified company secretary with practical experience of company secretarial work, or

- have a law degree, with good knowledge of the Companies Act and with significant practical experience of company secretarial work.

Experience in using Blueprint software (Blueprint Oneworld) is highly desirable. Experience in using GEMS software may be useful.

Incorporations:

Incorporating companies (limited by shares and by guarantee), property management companies and LLPs – more than 150 electronic incorporations a year.
Preparing both hard copy and electronic statutory books to be supplied to internal legal staff and external clients.

Company secretarial:

Providing excellent company secretarial services to a wide range of clients, from single companies to large groups of well-known companies.
Assisting with the maintenance of the statutory records and documents of our 330+ client companies, managing the relationships with shareholders and providing input into corporate restructurings.  This will include audits and updates of the records of group companies for clients.
Advising on registers of people with significant control (“PSC registers”).
Using the Blueprint database on a daily basis.
Electronic filing (via Blueprint) and web filing of documents at Companies House.
Drafting a wide range of board and shareholder resolutions including resignations, appointments, share allotments, name changes and company dissolutions.
Preparing dormant company accounts.
Dealing with administrative tasks relating to company secretarial matters.
Dealing with daily post forwarding for our registered office service clients.

Property management companies:

Providing excellent company secretarial services to property management companies and property developer clients.
Dealing with handovers of residents’ management companies to residents.

Billing:

Assisting the team director with billing and management tasks.

Technical skills:

Ideally will be experienced in using Blueprint.  Experience in using the GEMS database will be useful but not essential.
Good IT skills.  Able to use Word and Excel.
Innovative and able to find the most efficient ways to carry out tasks.
Able to manage several tasks at the same time in a busy and often pressurised environment.

Personal skills:

Able to work independently on company secretarial tasks.
Organised and precise.
Open minded about developing and adopting new ways of team working.
Good sense of responsibility and ability to “own” a task until it is completed.
Self-confident.
Common sense.
Highly responsive to clients.
Able to anticipate emerging issues and able to study and master complicated issues.
Demonstrates initiative and really thinks issues through. 
Good communicator who is professional but friendly.  Able to communicate with demanding internal legal advisers and external clients.
Enjoys working in a small team.

Shoosmiths is a committed Equal Opportunities employer promoting equality of opportunity. 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.