Fox Williams offers a unique opportunity to advance your career in a personable, progressive and entrepreneurial environment. Our people and culture are important to us and central to everything we do. We continually strive to create and maintain a friendly and supportive environment for our staff. You will quickly get to know everyone from the Senior Partner to the most junior staff. Whilst we are recognised for our strong culture and investing in our people, we are equally well known for our high profile matters, quality of our work and solving our clients’ most complex legal issues. |
The Legal Assistant will support the daily administrative functions of our legal practices.
This is an exciting opportunity to thrive in a client-facing and highly administrative role within a firm dedicated to being an industry leader and committed to the professional growth of its people.
Summary of Role
The Legal Assistant will have overall responsibility for the management of the Partners’ day-to-day-practices (including dealing with clients) and provide administrative support to the Associates. This entails acting as workflow manager for other support services including delegating and supervising the completion of work performed by the Administrative Assistant team.
The Legal Assistant will take an active interest in and obtain a thorough understanding of all aspects of client requirements to provide exceptional service levels to both the lawyers and clients. |
In line with policies and procedures, key responsibilities include:
Managing the Administration of the Practice
- Assume overall responsibility for the management of the administration of the practices of the Partners for whom the Legal Assistant works.
- Manage and monitor diaries, ensuring they are up to date, arranging meetings with clients and key stakeholders, liaise with other attendees, and reminding lawyers of meetings etc. on a daily basis, and making associated travel arrangements.
- Monitor emails / ensure that all client related correspondence is passed on to an appropriate lawyer if the relevant person is out the office.
- Responding promptly to client and other emails relating to the administration of the practice.
- Client / matter administration including client onboarding; AML process (including effective liaison with the Compliance team) and creation of client engagement agreements; arrange for files to be closed, supervise general filing requirements and record keeping.
- Develop and implement effective systems to ensure that both short and long term tasks are completed within required timescales, delegating where appropriate to the administration team.
- Support lawyers in marketing activities including involvement in preparation of pitches and presentations.
- Arrange for the completion of photocopying, printing, organising couriers, sending out letters/emails etc.
- Organise meetings, book conference rooms, arrange refreshments, check room setups prior to meetings, and coordinate with attendees, both internal and external.
Client Relationship Management
- The primary point of contact with clients in relation to onboarding and billing.
- Communicating with clients and counterparties in relation to diary management, administrative queries, and associated matters.
- Become an active part in the care of clients, including understanding the clients’ needs and playing a key role in delivering a great client service.
- Overseeing maintenance of relevant client information on the firm’s CMS and supporting with related business development activities.
Financial
- Gain knowledge of the firm’s billing and accounts system to provide effective support to Partners and Associates.
- Proactively undertake the billing process by liaising with the lawyer and accounts, producing draft and finalised bills, support the lawyers throughout the billing process, send bills to clients and assist with queries on bills.
- Produce standard financial/time reports through the system using all resources available at present to support the lawyers in their financial management of the practice.
- Support lawyers and credit control with effective financial hygiene (including overseeing the processing of disbursements, write offs and money on account).
- Request bank transfers and processing funds received, as appropriate.
- Overseeing processing of expenses.
- Proactively assist lawyers in ensuring their time is recorded correctly and entered onto the system on a daily basis.
Travel
- Adhere to the travel policy, manage the approval process and obtain necessary codes.
- Coordinate travel arrangements, including flights, hotels, and related details, through Fox Williams' designated travel supplier.
- Create detailed itineraries.
- Requesting currency from Accounts in a timely manner.
- Manage arrangements for lawyers’ attendance at international and local conferences.
- Completion of trip report following lawyers’ return.
Business Development
- Maintain and update client information to ensure information is accurate and current. Ensuring the contact receives all relevant newsletters from the Marketing team concerning articles and events etc.
- Coordinate and organise business development activities such as lunches and dinners.
- Ensure all business development activities, are recorded in the CRM system.
- Generate contact reports.
- Tracking and managing referrals received by the firm.
Communication
- Take internal and external telephone queries, responding as appropriate and ensuring that all messages are passed on in a timely manner.
- Monitor post and/or emails, dealing with as appropriate and ensure that all client related correspondence is passed on to an appropriate lawyer if the relevant person is out the office.
- Liaise with business support departments to ensure effective provision of support to lawyers and great service to clients.
- Liaise with the Legal Support Manager over any planned absences and communicating this to relevant lawyers.
Document Production
- Creating documents/letters/correspondence (e.g. to clients, opposition, Counsel and Court/Tribunal).
- Check correspondence, attachments, documents, reports, presentations etc. produced by the Administrative Assistant team before they are passed to the relevant lawyer and undertake basic/minor amendments were appropriate.
- Type urgent/confidential correspondence and emails.
- Produce and maintain Excel spreadsheets as required.
- Assisting with the creation of PowerPoint presentations.
Other Duties and Responsibilities
In addition to providing support to the lawyers to whom they report, a Legal Assistant will also provide assistance to their immediate colleagues in the department and, where practical, other departments.
Team duties will therefore include:
- Assisting others in the department whenever there is spare capacity or it is evident that a colleague needs assistance with their workload.
- Dealing with internal / external calls as appropriate.
- Assisting other members of the department, both proactively and at the request of the Legal Support Manager.
- Working effectively with other legal and support departments as required.
- Any other duties as reasonably requested by lawyers or the Legal Support Manager or a person of an appropriate seniority.
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Personal Attributes and Skills
A Legal Assistant has responsibility for keeping their skill set current and maintaining familiarity with the firm's departments, key personnel, clients, internal systems, and procedures. This knowledge enables the Legal Assistant to perform their role effectively and, where appropriate, discuss any training requirements with the Legal Support Manager. The firm will provide regular and appropriate training to ensure that Legal Assistants keep their skills up to date.
In addition to this, they should have/be:
- Demonstrable proactivity to seek out ways to improve our service to the Lawyers and help administer accurate Legal Assistant support.
- Accurate typing speed of at least 60 words per minute.
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, research tools and other systems implemented by the firm to be able to utilise their time as efficiently as possible.
- Excellent telephone manner and competent knowledge of telephone system.
- Excellent communication, organisational and team skills.
- Excellent attention to detail.
- Flexible, dependable and able to take the initiative.
- Able to remain calm under pressure and work to tight deadlines.
- Conscientious, approachable and enthusiastic.
- Able to quickly build confidence, respect and trust with others.
- Have a positive attitude to daily tasks and have a solution focused working method.
- Trustworthy, discrete and able to handle sensitive situations respecting confidentiality.
- Good team player also able to understand and live the core values of the firm.
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