Office Manager

Lewis Silkin is a UK top-100 commercial law firm with offices in London, Oxford, Cardiff, Dublin and Hong Kong. The firm is recognised by clients and industries alike as being distinct: for its deep understanding, insight and advice to creative, innovative and brand-focused businesses; for its market-leading international practice in employment, immigration and reward; and for delivering pragmatic, commercial advice in a refreshingly human way.

With 60 Partners and more than 340 staff, the firm is structured around two key divisions: Employment, Immigration and Reward (EIR); and Creators, Makers and Innovators (CMI).

The EIR Division is one of the leading employment law practices in the UK, with 24 employment and immigration Partners and around 100 other specialist lawyers.

The team’s work comprises a mix of contentious and non-contentious matters for a diverse range of clients.  Our lawyers undertake a significant amount of business development, including giving seminars, producing Lewis Silkin branded publications and driving client relationships.  International advice is central to our practice and we are members of the Ius Laboris international alliance of employment lawyers.

Background & Reporting Structure

The Dublin office opened its doors during the spring of 2018 and is comprised of three Partners, one Senior Associate, one Associate, one Solicitor and a Senior Chartered Trade Mark Attorney, across both divisions.

The Office Manager will be based in the Dublin office of Lewis Silkin but will initially be required to travel to our London office for up to one week’s training and familiarisation. 

The Office Manager will be responsible for the provision of day-to-day administrative/secretarial support for the fee-earners based in the Dublin office.  Primarily the secretarial support provided by this role holder will be for the fee earners in the EIR division; but the individual, as the office manager, will be expected to provide on the ground administrative support for all those in Dublin across the firm. The post holder will be reporting to the Dublin Partners.   

Secretarial support

• Answering the telephone and greeting clients in a helpful and professional manner, dealing with queries if able and ensuring messages are taken accurately and dealt with/ passed on appropriately;

• Drafting own correspondence as appropriate and producing fast and accurate audio/copy-typing (using ’Document Direct’ as appropriate) , producing documents, letters, emails and memos;

• To be responsible for the management of fee-earners’ diaries, ensuring they are kept up-to-date at all times to prevent missed entries and meeting clashes;

• Scheduling internal and external meetings; avoiding room clashes, ensuring that all arrangements are in place and any required materials and documentation are prepared in good time.This will include setting up internal meeting-rooms and clearing up afterwards;

• Ensuring sensitivity and confidentiality when dealing with clients and colleagues when appropriate;

• Pro-actively ensuring that all administration work is completed on a timely basis, using own initiative to pre-empt matters;

• Providing litigation support assisting with the preparation of court bundles and lists of documents as required;

• Filing documents in person at court, when necessary;

• Photocopying and scanning documents;

• Creating and maintaining effective electronic and hard copy filing systems;

• Maintaining and creating Excel databases as required.

• Booking travel and accommodation for fee earners travelling abroad

General Office Support

• Ensuring stationery cupboard is well stocked at all times;

• Despatching mail, organising couriers and opening and sorting incoming mail and responding or distributing as appropriate;

• Liaising with local Dublin landlord and outsourced facilities;

• Assisting with marketing activities including liaising with Marketing team and assisting with the preparation for seminars and other events as required as well as proactively ensuring database of clients and contacts is maintained and reviewed;

• Liaising with clients on a regular basis and meeting and greeting them as and when required;

• Attending regular office manager and office meetings to share knowledge and progress tasks;

• Disseminating accurate and timely information to the office on all appropriate matters – this includes diarising office meetings, maintaining the agenda and ensuring all action points are followed up;

• Various other office support responsibilities as required.

Billing/financial responsibilities

• Billing/credit control duties, including: organising monthly billing meetings for fee earners with the Billing team in London, auto-generation of bill proformas using the firm’s online tool, collection of relevant purchase order information from fee earners/client representatives, preparing bill narratives, issuing bills to clients, liaising with the London-based Billing team as required and assisting the London-based Credit Control team with chasing Dublin office clients for payment of unpaid bills;

• Ensuring that all fee earners are aware of client billing/time recording requirements, and that same are adhered to;

• New client/matter file opening and client inception (including use of the firm’s online tool togenerate client/matter numbers, including collation of client identification and due diligence information);

• Collating invoices received from foreign law firms for sub-contracted advice, completion of Payment Request forms for these services (including Partner sign-off) and passing these to the London-based Finance team for processing;

• Collating invoices received from local Dublin suppliers for locally sourced services (cleaning, utilities etc), obtain Partner approval, completion of Payment Request forms for these services (including Partner sign-off) and passing these to the UK-based Finance team for processing;

• Liaising with the London-based Finance team re client funds received by Dublin branch, including completion of receipt forms;

• Managing the petty cash float for the office and providing the London-based Finance team with monthly expenditure summaries;

• Preparing expense claim forms for fee earners and passing these to the UK-based Finance team for processing;

• Ensuring that local partners are up to date on billing results/requirements and other occasional duties related to finance matters as required;

• Banking administration as appropriate.

IT responsibilities

General local IT support (to the extent possible), including:

• Patching in ports;

• Rebooting/switching on any servers;

• Local fixes to include - setting up PCs and troubleshooting desktop hardware, checking cables, unjamming printers etc.;

• Liaising with London-based IT team to solve day-to-day IT issues;

Person Specification

This is a challenging role offering experience of working in a first class legal environment.  The successful candidate must be enthusiastic and have a professional manner and first class communication skills.  They must be highly organised with excellent administration skills.  They will be able to demonstrate a pro-active approach to their work and be able to work on their own initiative.  They must enjoy working in an involved team environment and be keen to guide and motivate others within the team.  They will need to have a flexible nature and a co-operative and willing attitude.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• At least five years’ office experience covering key aspects of the above criteria, of which at least one year should have been spent working in a professional services environment (preferably in an international law/professional services firm);

• Confidential and diplomatic approach in dealing with clients and colleagues alike;

• Comfortable speaking over the phone in a professional manner and able to build professional working relationships;

• Reliable, trustworthy, and punctual at all times;

• Experience of working to tight deadlines, multitasking and not losing sight of priorities;

• Accurate numerical skills;

• Excellent organisational skills and strong eye for detail;

• Professional in conduct and appearance;

• Proactive and able to work on own initiative without guidance but seeking help if necessary;

• Enjoyment of client contact and involvement;

• Experience of using all office equipment (e.g. faxes, photocopiers, printers, phones, computer hardware & software, video conference equipment) and being prepared to troubleshoot where necessary, given the appropriate support from London Facilities/IT teams (although full training on our systems will be provided);

• Strong team player, with flexible, can-do attitude;

• Ability to work occasional overtime and to travel to UK on limited occasions.

IT skills required:

• Proficient IT skills - Office 365, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Skype for Business, DocsCorp PDF Docs, Word Compare (DocsCorp CompareDocs), Document Management System (Netdocs),  Client & Matter Inception (Intapp OPEN) although full in house training will be provided.

Educational and professional qualifications required:

• Good grammatical English - at least to Irish Leaving Certificate/ UK GCSE standard or equivalent.
   

Lewis Silkin is an equal opportunities employer.