Legal Secretary - EPI

Legal Secretary - EPI London

Department: Employment, Pensions and Immigration - London

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: London

Working as part of a team, you will be required to provide an excellent standard of secretarial support to the London Employment team to support allocated lawyers working alongside 5 administrative/secretarial colleagues. You will also be required to provide support across the other practice groups as and when required. Working individually and as a team to act as a point of contact for lawyers and to ensure the effective completion of their work, as well as undertaking a variety of secretarial tasks (as listed below).

Provide a high quality, comprehensive workflow management and organisational service to lawyers in the group and exceptional client service. This team is one of the leading Employment law practices in the region and is recognised as being expert advisers to many household name businesses and organisations.

The hours for this vacancy are  Monday to Friday. This role is hybrid working with the requirement of three days in the office and two working from home.

Client Relationship Management

• Responsible for keeping up to date with client specific protocols and processes, implementing, providing guidance to others where necessary and ongoing monitoring

Administrative

• Handle outgoing correspondence including electronic communications and encryption of documents using secure data transmission methods in line with client requirements
• Collate enclosures for outgoing correspondence, instructions to Counsel, experts etc using electronic bundling and encryption software
• General knowledge of case management system
• Email management – filing, saving, locating, deleting, responding where applicable and referring incoming mail to others as necessary and managing Inbox on behalf of colleagues as and when required
• Print, file, photocopy, scan and archive documents as and when required
• Ensure that client contact information is kept up to date
• Update document bundles for fee earners
• Keep case files organised and logical
• Answer and make telephone calls
• Use Outlook for extensive diary management scheduling all appointments, internal and external, client meetings, calls, seminars, training sessions and all other appointments as required by the fee earners.
• Use reminders and tasks to highlight important dates.
• Book meeting rooms, arrange lunches and book attendance at external seminars
• Assist with the planning and booking of travel arrangements
• Assist with ad-hoc business development and communications activities e.g. client contact reports, delegate packs, team sheets etc.
• Maintain a level of individual knowledge required for the role
• Occasional preparation of correspondence and documents from digital dictation
• Help maintain a clean office and clear desk
• Handle confidential information in line with the firms data security protocols
• Helping to onboard new clients requesting Company reports, Creditsafe reports etc and completing New Client Administration Forms and preparing draft engagement letters
• Preparing, updating, and formatting PowerPoint presentations, making the most of available technology and showing appropriate creativity and initiative to maximise professional impact of documentation
• Effective prioritisation of tasks within the team working with their STL to meet deadlines whilst managing a full workload
• Formatting Word documents in accordance with the firm's templates, ensuring a polished and professional final presentation.

Communication

• Key point of contact for lawyers to maintain relationships and ensure a high level of support is always provided by the team
• Monitor post and/or emails and dealing with as appropriate ensuring all client related correspondence is passed on to an appropriate lawyer and actioned as necessary; proactively responding to and drafting responses on behalf of others, prioritising emails, collating necessary paperwork and e-filing
• Liaising with and providing support to their immediate colleagues in the department, and where practical, other legal and support departments as requested by STL. Assisting others where there is spare capacity or it is evident that a colleague needs assistance with their workload
• Answering phone calls for other members of the team when they are away from their desk
• Liaison with and taking direction from your STL
• Liaise with the STL over any planned absences, arranging cover as necessary and communicating this to the relevant lawyers

Financial

• Assist lawyers in all matter financial management and disciplines
• Assisting lawyers with billing related tasks, including monthly MI reports and monthly invoice generation, supporting the co‑ordination of the WIP process and ensuring bills are sent out promptly
• Assisting with incoming billing and ensuring appropriate matter allocation
• Dealing with accounts queries and liaising with external and internal support teams to resolve issues quickly and effectively
• Assisting with cash collection,…