Secretary

Farrer & Co is synonymous with the highest quality legal advice and service.

We advise individuals, families, businesses, financial services, educational and not-for-profit organisations on every aspect of the law, wherever the need arises. From our offices in London we work with trusted professionals around the world to deliver a seamless international service.

Our clients present us with complex and varied challenges. Whether that's a complicated family trust issue, a multinational corporate transaction, or an emerging threat to their reputation, they need clear thinkers who can advise on the best solutions, fast thinkers when speed is of the essence and agile thinkers who can produce a fresh approach to get the job done. That's why they choose us.

Our clients value our in-depth knowledge, technical excellence and diversity of disciplines. But what really binds our long-standing relationships with them is our approach: pragmatic, plain speaking and always steadfast in our values, which we hold dear. Values which mean we gain our clients' trust, always strive to do the right thing, and aim for the best results for them.

Superb client service sits at the heart of everything we do. We are modern lawyers with timeless values.

Our Safeguarding Unit guides and advises organisations either working or coming into contact with children or adults with care and support needs.  For us, that means schools and academies, nurseries and day care, higher education charities, museums and visitor attractions and local government, the media and entertainment industries, sports clubs and organisations.

Over the years we have worked with many leading professionals in the area of safeguarding, from PR professionals to psychologists, from school inspectors to social workers, from the Metropolitan Police to the FBI. 

We help our clients with, amongst other things, policy and procedure implementation; safeguarding and child protection audits, investigations and reviews; handling current and historic child protection concerns and with crisis management.

The candidate for this role may also have exposure to employment law work so experience in this area is preferred but not essential.  The Employment Team works with a wide range of clients which include, on the employer side, media and publishing companies, manufacturers, investment banks, sports governing bodies and national museums as well as higher education institutions and independent schools.

We are looking for an extremely organised and proactive secretary to provide a high level of professional support to their allocated Fee Earners as well as other members of the Department. The candidate will be experienced in their specialist area but will be expected to be flexible to cover the broader remit of the Department. They will be highly motivated, display outstanding attention to detail and have the ability to multitask with ease.  It is essential that they are a strong team player with a positive, up-beat approach and excellent communication skills.  An interest in safeguarding/child protection work is preferred but not essential.

Organisational Support

• Effective and proactive diary management, and awareness of Fee Earners' workloads to plan ahead, with minimal supervision
• Event management, to include assisting with the planning of internal events and dealing with a rolling programme of small to large scale events (currently being hosted as webinars via Zoom whilst social distancing measures remain in place), and keeping the team events calendar up to date
• Preparation of PowerPoint presentations for seminars and events
• Has a good knowledge of all systems/processes used within the Department
• Organisation of and attendance at monthly Safeguarding Unit meetings (currently being hosted via Microsoft Teams whilst social distancing measures remain in place) taking minutes and producing action points to circulate to the team

Client Relationship and Business Development

• Provides excellent service to clients, both internal and external, in a timely and professional manner, presenting a positive image of the Firm at all times
• Acts as a first point of contact for Fee Earners
• Provides assistance in the delivery of marketing communications, and records all business development meetings in InterAction
• Recognises, respects and honours client confidentiality at all times

Document Production

• Creates typed work of a high quality, formatting in accordance with house style, at high speed, with accuracy and following internal guidelines
• Makes effective use of the Document Management System
• Creates new documents from the Firm’s templates, using contact data from InterAction where appropriate
• Proof-reads all documents for spelling, grammar and sense, querying wording where appropriate

File Management

• Adopts a pro-active approach and works with Fee Earners effectively, to maintain regular file management, to ensure all files are up to date, closed and archived, as appropriate
• Keeps accurate records of all files sent to off-site storage via Records

Financial Risk Management

• Prepares bills, as required by Fee Earners using Aderant system
• Prepares AML documentation and obtains relevant documentation from clients in a timely manner, as required by Fee Earners
• Carries out pre-engagement searches and correctly identifies the work type

IT Skills/Systems

• Maintains a high level of proficiency in core IT applications including the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook)
• Previous experience using Zoom would be beneficial, but not essential

• Has excellent timekeeping and prioritises work effectively
• Is flexible, reliable, co-operative and has a professional approach to work
• Works as a positive, friendly and helpful team player
• Communicates in a positive and constructive manner
• Interacts in good faith and demonstrates effective listening

• Qualified to GCSE standard, grade C (or equivalent) at Mathematics and English essential
• Previous secretarial experience in a law firm essential

• The hours of work for this opportunity are 9:30am to 5:30pm but it is essential to be committed, flexible and prepared to work beyond the normal office hours when necessary and in response to client demand.