Litigation Competition Secretary

London
Up to £36,000
28 Jun 2017
26 Jul 2017
Legal Secretary
Permanent
Full Time

Our client has one of the largest and most comprehensive Dispute Resolution offerings in London; over half of the Firm's lawyers are litigators. From a core of Fraud litigators they have built a team that covers most major areas of the Dispute Resolution world including: Business Crime, Tax, Competition and Anti-Trust, International Arbitration, Intellectual Property and Fraud Defence. Each dispute requires a bespoke solution, sometimes aggressive, sometimes measured. We fight our client’s corner: we take ownership of our client's dispute so that we can resolve it as effectively as possible. We fiercely guard our clients' interests.
 
Responsibilities/Duties
• To provide all aspects of general administrative support including, but not limited to, diary management, travel planning, expenses, maintenance of calendars and contact lists, management of client files and folders, filing, photocopying, arranging couriers and updating contacts on Interaction.
• Proactive and advance monitoring of fee earner diaries, reminding fee earners of diary commitments and taking responsibility for ensuring that they have all supporting paperwork and information for each meeting or appointment.
• Plan, coordinate, schedule internal/external meetings and conference calls (UK and overseas).
• Dealing with telephone enquiries, managing client enquiries/requests for meetings and taking accurate messages and passing them on promptly or trying to assist and responding on behalf of the fee-earner, if appropriate.
• Overseeing and prioritising incoming email, post and voicemail when fee earners are out of the office, acknowledging receipt and responding on behalf of the fee-earner, if appropriate.
• Dealing with all internal and external clients in a timely, professional and courteous manner.
• Prepare and type, proofread and amend documents, either from dictation, general instruction or by personal drafting. Documents will include letters, reports, attendance notes, memos, faxes, and emails, ensuring that all copies (electronic and paper) are retained and filed accurately.
• Preparing presentation slides and materials for internal/external meetings and seminars in the Firm's house style.
• Create files and manage the filing system for fee earners (paper and electronic) by ensuring all relevant documents are sorted and accurately filed regularly. When required, the management of closed files, ensuring, these are effectively archived.
• Assist with maintaining routine billing records, prepare billing guides and assist with the monthly billing process.
• Opening and closing of files including completing conflict checks, preparation of client engagement letters, collating all the relevant information required and updating client files regularly.
• Checking accounts system for monies on account and whether bills have been paid.
• Liaising with support departments to resolve problems on fee-earner's behalf, taking ownership of the issue and following up where appropriate.
• Proactively managing all tasks related to administrative support using initiative and common sense ensuring a responsive stance on all matters.
• Providing support for ad-hoc project work.
• Providing assistance to other Partners and fee earners during the absence of other secretaries/PPAs in the team, as and when required.

Skills/Experience
• Strong PA/secretarial skills;
• A positive "can do" attitude;
• A willingness to take on additional tasks and assist others when required;
• Ability to work with people of all levels of the business and handle all responsibilities with a high level of diplomacy and professionalism;
• Excellent organisational and communication skills;
• Excellent attention to detail;
• An ability to work under pressure, prioritise, multitask and balance various work requests;
• A self-starter with a team focussed approach;
• MS Office package knowledge is required specifically PowerPoint, Excel & Word.