Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future. We call it: Ideas. People. Possibilities.
With offices in London, Oxford, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch. We have two things at our core: people — both ours and our clients’— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.
Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our ‘I-CUE’). We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work.
Location Note
At Lewis Silkin we are currently reviewing our flexible and agile working policies. This role will be based in our London Office, and we are unable to say at this time what the blend of office-based and home-based working there will be. |
The role is a maternity contract to provide cover for the London Secretarial Co-ordinator. The role will be responsible for the management, overseeing and development of the secretarial team in the London office. Additionally, the post holder will provide a first-class support to allocated partners and associates, acting as their ‘ambassador’ both within the firm and externally, being the first point of contact for clients and colleagues as well as being an additional point of contact for secretarial staff. Producing accurate and timely legal documentation and correspondence as required and handling administrative duties on behalf of allocated partners and associates. |
- Co-ordinate fee earners' secretarial and administrative needs across the team, making decisions on workload and delegating to other support services as appropriate.
- Maintain and review secretarial allocations in the team to ensure an even ratio across the EIR secretarial team, identifying resourcing and recruitment needs as necessary.
- Carry out the annual review process to provide feedback on the divisional secretarial staff in allocated teams, also conducting regular review meetings throughout the year to ensure the achievement of business and individual objectives.
- Supervise and develop career development plans for all members of the secretarial team, supporting and guiding new team members as well as generally mentoring secretarial staff; proactively manage absence or performance issues within the team, approving holiday and absences using the firm’s HR system as and when appropriate.
- Ensure the effective application of the firm’s secretarial service promise and that it is being adhered to by both secretaries and fee earners.
- Be proactive in building effective working relationships and in designing and implementing ways to improve processes and ways of working to contribute to the continual improvement of the secretarial support.
- Hold regular meetings with the secretaries to keep them informed of Divisional/Firm plans including endorsing attendance of the team at the firm’s Lunch and Learns/other training opportunities.
- Build and maintain relationships with Office Managers in EIR and Co-ordinator’s in CMI and have regular meetings with them and assist with covering other EIR Office Managers/Co-ordinators whenever necessary.
- Schedule internal and external meetings and maintain diaries of any other allocated fee earners, ensuring that all arrangements are in place and any required materials and documentation are prepared in good time.
- Act as the first point of contact for the firm’s clients, dealing with them efficiently and professionally and helping to resolve queries or issues wherever possible.
- Build sufficient knowledge of the firm’s strategy, legal service and products, as well as the relevant files and matters to be able to support allocated partners and associates to assist clients when they are unavailable or out of the office.
- Ensure sensitivity and confidentiality when dealing with clients, colleagues and private matters on behalf of allocated fee earners.
- Co-ordinate billing/credit control and accounting matters relating to clients of allocated fee earners, including drafting bill requests, bill narratives, and chasing clients for payment of unpaid bills - delegating and liaising with the EIR billing and central Finance teams as required.
- Assist in the production of materials for EIR management meetings as required from time to time.
- Assist with marketing activities as required including liaising with the Marketing team and assisting with the preparation for seminars and other events as required.
- Take an active part in developing own role and working to provide increasing support for allocated partners and associates – ensuring suitable training is undertaken.
- Assist with workload of secretarial colleagues as required.
- Involvement in firm-wide projects as required.
- Any other duties in line with level and nature of the role.
Candidate specification:
The successful candidate will be experienced at working at a high secretarial level and have a good understanding of how a law firm operates. They must 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, being confident in their own judgement. 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.
- An executive legal PA will usually have at least five years’ legal secretarial experience (ideally within the relevant area of law) with at least three years being at a senior level.
- Previous experience of supervising the work of others or co-ordinating a team.
- Excellent typing skills (at least 70 wpm audio/copy typing) as well as accurate numeracy skills.
- Good eye for detail; a high level of accuracy is essential.
- Excellent organisational and administration skills; must be highly organised and able to organise others.
- Ability to manage a heavy workload and support a number of people.
- Ability to work to tight deadlines in a pressurised environment.
- A confident and natural communicator; able to communicate at all levels.
- Ability to be proactive and to work on own initiative without guidance but seeking help if necessary; confidence to use own judgement in relation to current duties, client needs, etc.
- Ability to motivate and train other members of the secretarial team.
- Team player and enthusiastic; flexible and willing to take on extra responsibilities to support allocated partners and associates and divisional or firm objectives.
- Highly professional in conduct and appearance at all times.
IT skills required:
- Proficient IT skills - Office 2007, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Sharepoint, PDF Docs, Word Compare (Deltaview), document management systems and practice management systems, although full in house training will be provided.
Educational and professional qualifications required:
- Good grammatical English - at least to GCSE standard or equivalent.
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At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to finding the right person for this role and are open to discussing flexible working patterns and office location. |