Practice Manager - Property and Development

at  Russell Kennedy Lawyers

We have a fantastic opportunity for an experienced Practice Manager to join our Property and Development team in our Melbourne office. The purpose of the role is to manage the delivery of legal support services within the practice group and to continually improve the quality of legal support services for the Property and Development Practice (P&D) Group.
The successful candidate will have a minimum of three - four years supervisory experience within a property and development team in a mid to large size firm.

SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE

• Wide knowledge of the Property and Development practice.
• Excellent organisational skills.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Attention to detail.

Professional/Technical Skills:

• Advanced knowledge of MS Word for Windows, knowledge of PowerPoint and internet web skills.
• Filesite and CaseFlow knowledge or equivalent system knowledge is essential.
• Experience with PEXA essential.
• Excellent literacy.

Our Firm and Culture
Russell Kennedy is a commercial law firm with more than 320 people in Melbourne and Sydney. We are committed to providing exceptional legal strategies and solutions to our clients, guided by market-leading expertise across our key sectors of focus.
As part of our team, you’ll receive hands-on experience, quality mentoring and access to valuable learning opportunities. We encourage a professional and committed work ethic, while recognising the importance of an enjoyable working environment and balanced lifestyle. We believe we have a culture where individuals of all backgrounds and abilities feel included and confident in bringing their whole selves to work, and where your talents are fostered, empowering you to contribute to the success of the firm.
Russell Kennedy is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is certified as a WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality, as well as being certified as a gold employer in the Australian Workplace Equality Index for employers with 500 or less employees. We respect and celebrate the things that make each of us different. The firm supports and promotes a range of initiatives to create an environment that is characterised by equal access and respected participation of all groups and individuals. There is a particular focus and emphasis on gender equality, inclusion of First Nations peoples, accessibility for people with disability, LGBTIQ+ inclusion, and cultural diversity. Russell Kennedy is recognised by Australian Disability Network as a Disability Confident Recruiter employer.
Russell Kennedy is committed to attracting and retaining the best talent available. We acknowledge the importance of work-life balance, all current and prospective employees have access to flexible work options and workplace adjustments including alternate accessible formats, where required. If you require an adjustment during the recruitment process please contact Carla Viglino on 03 9609 6770.

Legal Support Management

• Manage the legal support team to ensure legal support services are maintained and operating efficiently.
• Monitor legal support workloads and allocate resources appropriately.
• Manage legal support rosters, including office attendance (in accordance with Firm direction) and overtime approvals.
• Coordinate support to cover for legal support staff leave.
• Conduct regular legal support group meetings.
• Recruitment of legal support staff, with relevant principal.
• Conduct probationary reviews for legal support staff, to include feedback obtained from principals and lawyers.
• Monitor the performance of legal support staff and where appropriate implement strategies to address areas of improvement (in conjunction with the relevant principal and support from P&C).
• Assist with overflow work from Legal Support team.

P&D Practice Group

• Act as the first point of contact for Property and Development queries.
• Manage leave and flexible working applications for all team members (for final approval by PG Leader) and communication of leave arrangements with team members.
• Assist PG Leader with management of fee earners including probationary reviews, performance management, recruitment and development.
• Identify learning and development training requirements of all team members and coordinate the provision of appropriate training with the Learning & Development team. Coordinate internal lunch and learn sessions.
• Ensure the successful onboarding and training of all new team members.
• Liaise with Caseflow developers and IT team to maintain the relevant Caseflow, eContract systems and precedents.
• PEXA, Duties Online and SPEAR administration.
• Prepare invoicing and costing of files in accordance with relevant guidelines.
• Act as a role model for information security. As well as setting an example of good practice, management responsibilities

• include ensuring that employees, relevant contractors and supplier are aware of their responsibilities, and attend Information Security training were appropriate in accordance with ISO 27001, control A.6.3.

  Practice Group Liaison with Business Services

• Finance - Follow up on missing time sheets, new matter estimates (where not completed), matter estimates where actual in excess of 80% to check estimate still valid, debtor management and allocation of outstanding credit card transactions. Coordinate reallocation of matters and legal support when a team member leaves.

• Business Development – Support on resourcing for tenders, ensuring legal assistants are trained to support lawyers with credential capture.Information Technology – Be the key point of contact for resolution of identified practice group IT issues.Coordination and input into distribution lists and support for integration of new systems and technology.
• Legal Operations – Identify and develop changes to working practices to improve the efficiency of legal support services and optimise use of document production.
• Strategic Operations -– Act as the point of coordination for all major projects that impact the Practice Group, including engagement in key project stages as required, change management & communication.Meet with Director – Strategic Operations and other Practice Managers/Practice Group Administrators monthly to discuss firm wide activities and share peer insights & knowledge across the teams.
• Risk & Legal - Be the information owner for ISMS as related to the practice group.
• Office Services – Coordinate onboarding requirements for new starters and ongoing office related activities such as staff movements and implementation of relevant workplace adjustments.
• People & Culture – Act as the point of contact for all staff requirements including office locations, onboarding, supervisor allocations, induction training etc.Act as the main point of contact for all other practice group administrative tasks as required.