This position of a Legal PA in our Secretarial & Business Support department is an essential role within our Professional Services industry, requiring a candidate to lead the team in our Aberdeen or Inverness locations.
Client Details
This company, a notable figure in the professional services industry, boasts a workforce of over 700 employees. They are recognised for delivering a diverse range of services that cater to various sectors. With offices located in key areas including Edinburgh, their reach is both national and international.
Description
*Diary management - makes and amends appointments, arranges meeting rooms, tracks responses and organises refreshments if required.
*Responsible for taking new client queries (including relevant details of the background to the query).
*Anticipate requirements for meetings i.e. organise papers, produce itinerary, directions, backgrounds/profile information.
*Proactive e-mail management - ensures documentation copied to client folder (as required), flags important emails and ensure dealt with, checking lawyer inbox when out of office/in meetings and actions important/urgent emails where appropriate
*Scan mail save to the document management system (’DMS’) in the relevant folder, organise and prepare necessary responses for lawyers and paralegals.
*Prioritise and manage multiple projects and follow through on issues in a timely manner.
*Responsible for maintaining practice area organisation during times of holidays/absences for lawyers and paralegals- checking for important mail/voicemail/emails and responding if necessary or passing to another lawyer or paralegal.
*Responsible for ensuring all BigHand and non-BigHand work is complete within required timescales for lawyers and paralegals
*Responsible for inputting data into case management system.
*Maintain intimate knowledge of current affairs in office and able to deal with clients and third parties on a day-to-day basis via e-mail, phone or in person, ensuring that accurate messages are communicated and dealt with professionally and proactively.
*Update contacts and distribution lists in Outlook.
*Proficient in the preparation of Excel spreadsheets.
*Responsible for drafting letters of engagement.
*Organises expense claim forms and collate necessary receipts.
*Pay invoices in compliance with office internal procedures. Follow up process with relevant practice area through to completion ensuring completing appropriate cash form as required.
*Assist with billing, attend team/billing meetings, prepare bill and narratives for lawyers to sign off on and send to appropriate biller for finalising.
*Organise transfer of time from lawyer’s suspense account to relevant matter number.
*Assist with case management.
*Assist in collating trust bibles.
*Assist in populating and updating internal systems and databases to enable information to be pulled from these databases when necessary.
*Responsible for sharing appropriate documents within the team - ensuring that all presentations are listed on a central database and all templates are available to all members of /practice area
*Undertaking some specialist duties e.g., finance, marketing/business development.
*Complete mail merges when required.
*Implementing standardised system in respect of saving documents saved to DMS.
*File documents in appropriate location both electronically and in hard copy, and organises opening and closing of files and papers when necessary.
*Sourcing travel and accommodation, organising all aspects of travel and anticipating important information and documents that fee earners may need whilst travelling, i.e., timetables, distances, etc.
*Minute taking where appropriate.
*If required type and amend all client correspondence and legal documents (often confidential) to a high standard in compliance with Brodies preferred document styling.
Profile
*Should have knowledge and experience of working within a busy Personal and Family team
*This position is demanding so the successful candidate should be used to working under pressure, often with tight deadlines
*Excellent communication skills and confident in dealing with people at all levels
*A strong team player - willing to go beyond regular duties and help out where needed
*Presents a professional image to clients and other external organisations at all times
*Seeks out opportunities to provide a more efficient and proactive service to lawyers and paralegals
*The successful candidate will be required to be flexible regarding working hours as from time to time it will be necessary to complete work during lunchtime or work on a different timetable - 8:00-16:00 or 10:00-18:00
*Working practices and executive assistant allocations within the practice group will change from time to time and the successful candidate should have an open and flexible attitude to change and a willingness to train within other legal practice areas (CPD)
*Organises and prioritises time effectively
*Uses initiative and able to work independently
*Self-motivated
*Commercial and profit focussed
Job Offer
*Up to £32,000 with excellent benefits