Legal PA - Corporate, Employment

The role

Due to an internal promotion, we are looking for a PA to join our friendly and supportive Employment team on a permanent basis, providing first class professional PA support to a number of fee earners. This role will support the Employment fee earners, including the Partners and/or the Head of Employment, to provide high-quality legal services to a very interesting client base.

We handle the full range of contentious and non-contentious employment issues. Our clients include recognised names both nationally and internationally, particularly in the Financial Services, Energy, Media, Retail & Leisure and professional services sectors.

The Employment team consists of two Partners, two Consultants and two Legal Directors who are supported by a team of Associates and a Solicitor.

The Legal PA will be an integral part of a busy department and will work principally for named fee-earners, but also as part of the EA/PA team. We're looking for an experienced Legal PA that can prioritise and delegate effectively, with good communication, organisational skills and the ability to work well and calmly under pressure in a fast paced role. 

Role responsibility

• Proactively manage and maintain fee earner diaries, making appointments and co-ordinating internal meetings and external client meetings including the booking of meeting rooms, video conference facilities, refreshments, restaurants, taxis etc, ensuring fee earner keep to schedule and that all necessary materials are to hand.
• Making travel arrangements, producing detailed itineraries and ensuring expenses claimed are completed.
• Management of fee earners' inboxes when they are out of the office and monitoring and responding  to post/emails, prioritising correspondence to enable  fee earners to focus on urgent matters and using initiative to route emails to the appropriate individuals for swift response and action; wherever possible, responding to and filing emails into iManage.
• Communicate with clients to support our client relationships and be able to deal with client queries.
• Respond and deal with external or internal telephone calls and queries in a professional manner, taking clear and concise detailed messages, and liaising with Employment Tribunal offices and Counsel's clerks as required.
• Attend meetings to take minutes, including recording relevant action points and working with fee earners to action these.
• Assist with client on-boarding including drafting engagement letters, and obtaining KYC and monies on account.
• Manage the workflow to our Document Production Centre ensuring dictations and documents are submitted and returned in a timely manner.
• Document amendments, comparisons and proof reading all work to ensure consistent accuracy and high standard.
• Typing and drafting where appropriate.  For example, able to independently and accurately draft detailed emails/letters/presentations applying own knowledge of the matter and by sourcing ongoing information.
• Take responsibility for and leads on departmental and firm initiatives, including on BD and other internal initiatives, as requested by fee earners.
• Preparation of account forms e.g. Chaps payments.
• Coordinate the end-to-end billing process and Elite 3E financial reporting; assisting fee earners by liaising with the billing team, producing the relevant documentation and reports, and prompting fee earners to complete all necessary paperwork etc.  Assisting with debt management.
• Working with the BD team and fee earners to assist with pitch preparation, management of BD mailings, and coordinating responses and BD events.
• Bundling – both electronic and hardcopy (copying; compiling; preparing an index; paginating).
• Small volume photocopying and scanning, file opening and closure, collating and indexing legal documentation.
• Ensuring any paper/electronic filing and archiving required are kept up to date.
• Undertaking research using the internet, databases etc.
• Maintaining the stationery supplies and ensuring the areas are kept tidy.
• Support to other EAs and PAs where required, especially during any absence.

About you

Ideally you will have:

• Experience in a deadline-driven, high performing legal team, ideally Employment Team, within a private practice.
• Experience of working with and knowing how to deal with difficult and often sensitive situations in a professional manner.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft packages such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Excellent diary management, organisational and time management skills.
• Flexible and adaptable.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Client service orientated approach.
• Leads by example and is seen as a role model.
• Displays discretion when dealing with sensitive information.
• Proactive, flexible and self-motivated.
• A strong team player.
• Experience with BigHand, Elite 3E, iManage and Docusign would be advantageous.

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• 25 days annual holiday
• Permanent Health Insurance
• Life Assurance
• Interest free Season Ticket Loan
• Private Healthcare
• Pension Scheme
• Staff Introductory Scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme

About us

We are a London based, full-service law firm, specialising in providing straightforward advice to entrepreneurial businesses and individuals on domestic and international matters.

We have grown substantially in recent years, including two mergers and an office move. We’ve also matured in terms of our approach to providing advice to our clients, seeking to simplify and improve the experience of working with a modern, independent law firm.

We’re proud of our journey. Without losing sight of where we’ve come from, we are focused on where we’re going. We are evolving and growing every day. And just like our clients, we are ambitious and moving forward. Many of our clients are entrepreneurial, ambitious enterprises who are often privately or family owned, or private equity backed. We are one of the only London based law firms with a large private wealth offering alongside significant business law capability.

The firm also advises major corporates on particular specialist legal matters who find our straightforward approach a compelling alternative to larger, less personal firms.