Client Finance Administrator

Birketts is a full service, top 100 UK law firm, operating in London, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, Norwich and the surrounding areas.

With a rich heritage spanning over 150 years we’ve built an enviable track record advising businesses, institutions and individuals in the UK and internationally.
Throughout our history our ethos has remained simple: we provide clear legal advice and value and insight to our clients.

We set out to truly understand our clients’ needs and help realise their ambitions.

We believe that through this approach and a combination of technical excellence and high quality service we can develop long-lasting partnerships and become our clients' solicitor of choice.

At Birketts, our passion is to provide and deliver high quality legal advice but we also deliver a great experience when it comes to your career too!

Birketts is currently recruiting for a Client Finance Administrator to come and join our friendly and proactive Commercial Property team on a part time basis in Norwich. Working hours will be 22.5 per week, and we can be flexible as to when these are worked (Monday to Friday), we can offer flexibility and hybrid working.

The Client Finance Administrator role provides a wide range of administrative support to the Property Partners and wider team across the firm in Norwich; including (but not limited to) processing invoices, credit control, debt management, resolving queries, keeping up to date records and compiling reports.

This is a busy and varied role with the following accountabilities:

• Providing financial administrative support, ensuring compliance with legal, firm wide and practice group specific policies and procedures
• Producing and processing invoices (including write off and invoice narratives) and issuing to clients
• Generating regular credit control reminder letters, emails and statements to clients
• Liaising with client by email, letter and telephone in a timely and professional manner regarding unpaid and outstanding debts
• Arranging aged debt meetings providing proactive assistance in order to resolve issues and speed up the payment process
• Keeping accurate and up to date records of all debt, ensuring that items are followed up and escalated to the central credit control officer at the appropriate point in time
• Keeping the team leader up to date with any potential issues with a client's ability to settle bills or general dissatisfaction.
• Resolving queries both internally and externally with regards recent and outstanding invoices
• Arranging aged debt meetings providing proactive assistance in order to resolve issues and speed up the payment process
• Keeping accurate and up to date records of all debt, ensuring that items are followed up and escalated to the central credit control officer at the appropriate point in time
• Keeping the team leader up to date with any potential issues with a client's ability to settle bills or general dissatisfaction.
• Resolving queries both internally and externally with regards recent and outstanding invoices.
• Dealing with file opening procedures to include client ID requirements, compliance with our Lexcel accreditation and risk mitigation policy
• Assisting with reconciling balances in files to assist with file closing.

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 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.

To be successful as a Client Finance Administrator we are looking for the following skills: 

• 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
• Proven experience of working in a finance / credit control capacity  
• Excellent written and verbal communications and ability to communicate effectively with a broad range of individuals
• Excellent IT skills, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Positive and enthusiastic approach to team work
• 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

One of the best things about joining Birketts is our rewards package. At Birketts we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Agile Working Policy
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share / Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Paid CSR day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Season Ticket Loan
• Subsidised gym membership
• Eye Care Voucher
• Private Healthcare - BUPA
• Life Assurance   - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Dress for your Day Policy
• Discounted legal services.

For further details about this exciting role, please email harriet-griffiths@birketts.co.uk.