Estates 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.

Estates Management is the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities. This encompasses multi-disciplinary activities within the built environment and the management of their impact upon people and the workplace. Effective estates management, combining resources and activities, is vital to the success of any organisation. At a corporate level, it contributes to the delivery of strategic and operational objectives. On a day-to day level, effective estates management provides a safe and efficient working environment, which is essential to the performance of any business – whatever its size and scope.  Responsibilities of this team include property strategy, space management and communications infrastructure to building maintenance, administration and contract management.

An opportunity has arisen for an Estates Assistant to join our Birmingham office on a part time basis.  The role is within our Estate Management Team (Post & Reprographics) and the normal hours of work are to be agreed

The successful candidate will be working within the Estates Management team to provide a comprehensive and quality service to our clients, both internal and external.  Providing a support service to others in the team where required and to cover any shift pattern absences within the rest of the team where necessary.  All members of the team are required to have the capability of picking up all critical duties such as dealing with outgoing post, delivering deeds & files etc. 

Primary responsibility will focus on the reprographic tasks and where required all other Post & Estates duties on a day to day basis.  These will include but is not limited to the following:-

• Photocopying
• Printing
• Scanning
• Large Format printing/scanning/copying
• Plan reduction & folding
• Saving to appropriate areas
• Preparing CD/DVD Interactive Bibles
• Copying/Transferring data from folders to CD
• Produce & record the reprographics statistics for submission to the team leader on completion of all tasks carried out
• Dealing with and preparation of outgoing postal services
• Hand Deliveries
• Arranging Courier assignments
• Distribution of paper and stationery supplies on a regular basis
• Preparation of Deeds & Files for archiving
• Delivery of deeds and files
• Sending Faxes using existing internal processes
• Dealing with equipment/furniture breakdowns/repairs as required
• Day to day tasks as required by Team Leader/Estates Manager

You will need the following skills and experience:-

• IT literate with experience of using Word, Excel and the internet
• Good written, numeracy and oral communication skills
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Ability to prioritise, be organised and efficient
• Flexibility
• Capability to adapt to change, new practices and to cope under pressure but, with the ability to recognise when to seek assistance
• Able to integrate within a team and to work on your own initiative
• Friendly and helpful approach

Background checks

Due to the nature of the work undertaken, confirmation of employment will be subject to a variety of checks which will be carried out once an offer of employment is accepted.  These checks will include employment references covering the last 5 years, proof of ID, proof of address covering the last 5 years, Personnel Vetting credit search (which will only highlight insolvency or County Court Judgments - should any adverse data show on the Personnel Vetting search then any offer of employment made will be withdrawn).Terrorism Check (against data supplied by the Bank of England) and a DBS check previously known as a Criminal Records check.

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.