Legal PA - Funds - AJ Chambers : Job Details

An exciting role has arisen within a Top City Law firm for a PA to join the leading international funds practice.

You will be expected to provide high quality, comprehensive personal assistant/secretarial support to lawyers in the department.

Key Responsibilities

• Extensive and proactive diary management. Gaining an understanding of the week from the perspective of the lawyers - 'horizon scanning' to pre-empt conflicts and anticipate needs.
• Work to ensure unique and individual support needs are understood for each lawyer.
• Ensure regular communication is made to convey and share any workload pressures with other PAs.
• Pre-empt needs for enhanced or specific support at times when individuals might be under additional pressure.
• Field and screen communications (email), ensuring exceptional client service is considered at all times.
• Act as a 'gatekeeper' for work whilst identifying where to delegate tasks that should be sent to the Document Production ('DP') team or the Central Admin Team Team Administrators.
• Ensure 'quality control' forms part of regular workflow patterns, whereby any work that is delegated to another team is thoroughly checked before it is returned.
• Complete appropriate/necessary DP tasks to the highest standards and ensuring house style requirements are met.
• Prepare PowerPoint presentations with minimal input, delivering slides that are clear, in line with branding.
• Take the initiative of overseeing ad-hoc administrative projects for the lawyers, for example, archiving, confidential shredding, photocopying, organising filing systems.
• Liaise with relevant parties to arrange meetings; booking internal rooms; ensuring the appropriate room setups are in place; and that refreshments are booked and confirmed.
• Liaise with and co-ordinate meeting attendees, both internal and external, ensuring all parties have the relevant information ahead of time.
• Proactively prepare and collate papers ahead of meetings.
• Co-ordinate travel arrangements ensuring efficient use of time and expenditure including booking taxis and accommodation, completing visa applications, arranging currency, creating itineraries, and compiling expense forms as appropriate.
• Support lawyers in marketing activities including involvement in the preparation of pitch documents and presentations.
• Use of effective systems to ensure that both urgent and non-urgent tasks are progressed and delivered within the required timescales.
• Assist other members of the department/Firm as required; and
• Develop a general awareness of business issues and challenges within which the lawyers operate to instill trust and confidence in the PA team.

Client Relations

• Be client focused and understand the expectations of internal and external clients.
• Where necessary, pass on full and accurate messages in a timely manner and take appropriate action to ensure the needs of both internal and external clients are met
• Act in a professional and courteous manner when dealing with clients (including internal clients), potential clients and third parties.
• Assist in arranging internal and external events.
• Capture and manage contact and client relationship data in the Firm’s CRM system (InterAction), maintaining any existing information.
• Interrogate and report on data in the CRM system.
• Become an active part in the care of clients and look for opportunities to build relationships with client contacts and PAs where appropriate; and
• Deal with basic client queries and general administration.

Administration

• Proactively deal with incoming and outgoing mail.
• Action emails and manage inbox as required by the Partner and forward/action as necessary.
• Establish and maintain effective and accurate filing systems (electronic);
• Be capable of operating all the functions of the photocopiers and scanners including clearing jams, replenishing paper and replacing toner.
• Managing lawyer expenses; and
• General ad-hoc administration duties

Communication

• Demonstrate rapport, empathy, and professionalism when communicating and use these skills to build and maintain collaborative working relationships with all colleagues, clients and stakeholders of the Firm;
• Utilise your internal and external networks to help you to solve problems and devise effective solutions;
• Ensure that all client related correspondence is passed on to an appropriate lawyer and actioned as necessary;
• Liaise with the business support departments on behalf of the lawyers as required;
• Liaise with the department’s Team Leader/PA Manager over any planned absences, arranging cover as necessary and communicating this to the relevant lawyers; and
• Communicate and work as a team to cover busy periods and absence.

Documents

• Oversee all document production work, either through delegation and quality control, or through completing a task that falls within the PA remit of responsibility; and
• Provide support with marketing and pitch documents.

Billing and File Opening

• Assist lawyers with time recording where possible, entering absences onto Intapp Time;
• Assist lawyers with billing and credit control by liaising with Central Finance and preparing bill narratives and draft cost details;
• Provide assistance with file opening and conflict checks; and
• Request bank transfers, pay money in/out, as appropriate.

Education/Qualifications

• Minimum 5 GCSEs/O'Levels or equivalent at grade A-C including English and Maths.
• Secretarial qualification and/or MOS certification (desirable).

Skills and Experience

• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Prior experience of working in a fast-paced corporate environment.
• Efficient organisation skills, with a high degree of accuracy to prioritise an often conflicting workload