Team Assistant

The Role

We have a vacancy for a Team Assistant to join our Human Resources and Employment team.

The position is part-time and will ideally be based in our Colchester office with some travel to Chelmsford and Basildon. Subject to work commitments, there will be the opportunity for some working from home, if desired, in line with the Firm’s working from home guidelines however the position would be based on site to begin with. 

Duties and Responsibilities:

 Organisational Support

• Awareness of Fee Earners’ workloads to plan ahead, with minimal supervision

• Organise daily routine to ensure correspondence, documents and instructions dictated or given by Fee Earners are completed accurately and on time.

• Deal with and provide cover for incoming calls, internal and external, distribute and action as appropriate.

• Retain up to date knowledge of Fee Earners’ matters; provide Clients with realistic expectations of a Fee Earners availability.

• Email management

• Ensure queries are dealt with in the first instance.

• Arrange travel and any other activities on behalf of others

Client Relationship and Business Development

• Provide a first-rate service to Clients, both internal and external; presenting a positive image of the Birkett Long at all times.

• Take appropriate and detailed information from enquiries, relay messages as soon as possible to the relevant persons.

 Document Production

• Create high quality typed work with accuracy and at a high speed; format in accordance with house style.

• Deal efficiently with track changes and creation of comparison documents.

• Adopt a proactive approach to working with Fee Earners to maintain regular file management.

Financial Risk Management

• Application and knowledge of the Firm’s procedures in billing, AML and Debt Management.

• Process money in and out;

• Prepare AML documentation; obtain relevant documentation from Clients in a timely manner, as required by Fee Earners.

The Candidate

We are looking for a self-motivated and enthusiastic applicant to join the team and hit the ground running to contribute towards delivering proactive legal support to our Fee Earning team. 

Previous secretarial and administration experience is essential, ideally gained within a legal commercial/corporate role.  Experience of working within an employment law background would be advantageous.

This is an ideal opportunity to enhance your secretarial skills and to gain a more technical knowledge of this area of law.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Excellent timekeeping and communication skills, both verbal and written;

• Strong typing skills;

• A professional approach to work;

• A positive, friendly and helpful approach to being a team player;

• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to prioritise;

• Strong attention to detail;

• The ability to work as part of a team as well as on their own;

• IT literacy skills, proficient in the use of Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Outlook);

• The ability to be proactive and think ahead to ensure efficient working;

• The ability to sense check the instructions or dictation provided to assist in ensuring they are correct/ make sense.

Please note that this position is not suitable for graduates looking to progress into a career in law.