Legal PA - Commercial & IP

Legal PA - Commercial & IP 

The Legal PA will spend their time providing a PA, secretarial service to the partners and fee-earners of the Commercial & IP team.  The role requires the Legal PA to be a self-starter and able to manage their time and workload effectively for the people they support.  The role has a mixture of PA, secretarial and administration content and many tasks will be presented via our digital dictation system as well as directly face-to-face.  This is a fantastic opportunity for a self-starter who has a background in trademarks and/or litigation and is looking for the opportunity to develop their legal knowledge and to learn new skills within a very supportive and dynamic team.  This is a fantastic opportunity for a self-starter who has a background in trademarks and/or litigation and is looking for the opportunity to develop their legal knowledge and to learn new skills within a very supportive and dynamic team.  The onus is on the Legal PA to ensure all work is presented accurately and to a very high standard.  A good team worker is essential.  The Legal PA will be required to provide cover for other secretaries when they are out of the office and when work volumes in the department are high.  Similarly, they should organise their work in such a way the other team members can cover for them when they are out of the office.  The Legal PA will be the main point of contact for enquiries relating to the partners and fee-earners within the team/department and must present themselves in a mature and efficient manner.  Should other departments require assistance, the Legal PA is expected to offer support wherever possible.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES/TASKS
• Produce and work with correspondence and documentation, using a variety of packages to include Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Mail merge;
• Extensive diary management to include arranging meetings/video conferences and conference calls in multiple time zones and booking meeting rooms and conference facilities;
• Preparing agendas and circulating supporting documentation;
• Collating papers and relevant documents, ahead of the partner attending conferences/meetings;
• Managing the client billing;
• Organising extensive travel itineraries and visas;
• Regularly checking and dealing with emails especially when the Partners/Fee Earners are travelling;
• Screening telephone calls and assisting/delegating, as appropriate;
• Dealing with all expenses;
• Dealing with all matters associated with the inception of new clients to include completing: conflict checks/business intake forms/money laundering procedures/opening new clients/matters on our Elite system;
• Using content management systems to maintain and update websites and internal databases;
• Organising client and internal Webinars;
• Organising and storing paperwork, documents and computer-based information;
• Photocopying, printing and scanning;
• Supporting and assisting the secretaries in the team (to include holiday cover);
• When capacity allows, assisting with workloads from other London office teams.

TECHNICAL SKILLS/QUALIFICATIONS
• Positive 'can do' attitude who is looking to learn and develop new skills;
• The ability to work calmly under pressure;
• The ability to prioritise workload;
• The ability to work without supervision and a self-starter, to include seeing/anticipating problems and dealing with them;
• Excellent organisational and administration experience;
• Pro-active in meeting the needs of the department;
• Excellent interpersonal/communication skills - professional telephone technique is essential;
• The ability to communicate with a number of departments and people of varying seniority;
• Team worker;
• The drive to focus clearly on a number of interrelated tasks and ensure all deadlines are met;
• Flexibility;
• Takes pride in work and will check to ensure it is of the highest quality;
• Methodical with attention to detail;
• Ability to deliver instructions clearly and concisely;
• Proactive and willing to take ownership.
Experience • Minimum of 5 years proven experience working in a legal environment;
• Trademarks and/or litigation experience;
• Able to give examples of experience of working on own initiative, being proactive and working unsupervised and often working to tight deadlines;
• Proven experience of being a team player in addition to working alone.
Technical Skills • Excellent keyboard skills (minimum of 50 wpm audio) are essential;
• High GCSE grades/A levels in Maths and English;
• Strong IT skills (Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook) particularly with formatting abilities.
Other requirements • Portrays a positive and professional image towards the client and in relation to the firm;
• Smart appearance.

For more information please contact Lauren Quarrington