Legal Secretary

at  WATSON FARLEY WILLIAMS LLP

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE – ESSENTIAL

• Minimum five (5) years of work experience as a Secretary, with experience working in a law firm an advantage.
• Excellent knowledge and expert user in computer software programmes, especially in: i) MS Office suite including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel; and ii) accounting/billing systems as well as CRM databases and document management systems.
• Clear and professional in both written and verbal communication.
• A clear and professional approach in both written and verbal communication, with the ability to communicate with partners, colleagues at all levels.
• Highly organised, able to demonstrate the ability to prioritise multiple tasks, whilst maintaining a high level of support and attention to detail.

PERSONAL SKILLS/ATTRIBUTES

• Enthusiastic, can-do, positive approach to tasks in often competing situations.
• A willingness to assist others outside of usual/day-to-day tasks, displaying strong levels of initiative and flexibility.
• Remaining calm and focussed under pressure, delegating and requesting assistance when necessary.
• Trustworthy, able to maintain tact, diplomacy, and confidentiality.
• Friendly, co-operative and able to work well in a team environment.
• A team player who works in a flexible manner to assist the group, collaborating with others in sharing work and knowledge.
• Listening carefully to instructions and questioning intelligently to ensure all the information required to undertake a task has been gained.
• Able to take personal responsibility, ownership and behave responsibly.
• Willingness to broaden skills to meet evolving requirements.

Technical and organisational skills

• Managing the end-to-end billing process, ensuring bills are prepared and sent in a timely manner. This includes: i) working with nominated partners/fee earners to initiate end of month or mid-month billing processing; ii) preparation of narratives and drafting first bills with covering correspondence for partner approval; iii) maintaining accurate billing/contact details; iv) liaising with the accounts team with any billing related enquires; v) support with debt recovery as required, including resolving queries and dealing with outstanding fees.
• Proactively ensuring Carpe Diem is updated for all allocated fee earners, particularly for holiday or sickness absence. Keeping relevant colleagues informed of fee earners whereabouts as necessary.
• All aspects of document production including copying, scanning, typing, formatting documents, drafting bible indexes, creating correspondence, pitches and presentations for client meetings and business development events.
• Delegating complex and lengthy documents to the firm’s Document Production Team, ensuring requirements and timescales are clearly set out. Coordinating the opening of new client matters and assisting with Anti-Money Laundering processes, undertaking as much research as possible and liaising with the Compliance team for queries before passing over to the Partner for approval.
• Entering and ensuring proper filing management of client data/ information into the firm’s software programmes including InterAction, Outlook and iManage.
• Management and delegation of client filing, with regular update of client relationship management systems (Interaction), archiving historic files or closed matters

THE ROLE

Working proactively within our highly collaborative team, the Secretary will provide administrative and secretarial support to assigned Partners and fee earners, as well as ad hoc assistance to other colleagues as required. Our legal secretaries are committed to ensuring quality and timely support to the business, and this role requires an enthusiastic and team-oriented person, with the ability to multi-task while maintaining a very high level of support and attention to detail.

KEY ACTIVITIES/ RESPONSIBILITIES

Client Service

• Managing and maintaining diary planning and coordination for allocated fee earners, including: i) setting appointments and coordinating internal and external client meetings; ii) identifying and resolving potential challenges and clashes; iii) ensuring arrangements are made for equipment, venue and resources and that fee earners have all necessary paperwork; iv) monitoring of mailboxes whilst fee earners are absent/out of office to ensure clients and legal work are attended to.
• Travel management, booking transport, hotels, client meetings and producing detailed itineraries.
• Coordinate and support on business development and client liaison activities/initiatives for fee earners, including: i) updating database information (using InterAction); ii) assisting with marketing initiatives and events (including occasional support at events e.g. registration desk).
• Proactively handle all aspects of expense claims on behalf of nominated fee earners.
• Liaising with the firm’s clients in a confident and professional manner, building strong working relationships with clients and contacts.
• Dealing professionally and promptly with client (internal and external) telephone calls and communications, including calls diverted to the team.
• Creating, uploading and general maintenance of client sites and extranets.

Technical and organisational skills

• Managing the end-to-end billing process, ensuring bills are prepared and sent in a timely manner. This includes: i) working with nominated partners/fee earners to initiate end of month or mid-month billing processing; ii) preparation of narratives and drafting first bills with covering correspondence for partner approval; iii) maintaining accurate billing/contact details; iv) liaising with the accounts team with any billing related enquires; v) support with debt recovery as required, including resolving queries and dealing with outstanding fees.
• Proactively ensuring Carpe Diem is updated for all allocated fee earners, particularly for holiday or sickness absence. Keeping relevant colleagues informed of fee earners whereabouts as necessary.
• All aspects of document production including copying, scanning, typing, formatting documents, drafting bible indexes, creating correspondence, pitches and presentations for client meetings and business development events.
• Delegating complex and lengthy documents to the firm’s Document Production Team, ensuring requirements and timescales are clearly set out. Coordinating the opening of new client matters and assisting with Anti-Money Laundering processes, undertaking as much research as possible and liaising with the Compliance team for queries before passing over to the Partner for approval.
• Entering and ensuring proper filing management of client data/ information into the firm’s software programmes including InterAction, Outlook and iManage.
• Management and delegation of client filing, with regular update of client relationship management systems (Interaction), archiving historic files or closed matters.

Personal effectiveness and teamworking

• Working closely within the team to provide general support to the group across rotas or core hours, including assisting during periods of high demand or helping other practice areas when required.
• Support office-wide projects where applicable.
• Act as a secretarial liaison between offices when working within practice groups across the region.