Secretary - Oxford, United Kingdom - Lewis Silkin LLP
Description
Term:
Permanent
Reports to:
Office Manager
Department:
Employment
Location:
Oxford
The firm
Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future
We call it:
Ideas. People. Possibilities.
With offices in London, Oxford, Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch.
We have two things at our core:
people — both ours and our clients'— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.
Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our 'I-CUE').
We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work.
The department
The EIR Division is one of the leading employment law practices in the UK and consistently top ranked by independent legal directories, we have more recognised experts in employment than any other UK firm.
With over 150 lawyers, Lewis Silkin's employment and immigration team offers an unrivalled service supporting clients, including many of the world's leading businesses, on their HR, employment and immigration law needs domestically and internationally.
The work of the team as a whole is a mix of contentious and non-contentious matters, for a wide range of clients.
The lawyers undertake a significant amount of business development and knowledge - sharing including giving seminars, training the team and creating content for various channels and publications.
There is a significant international element to the Division's work, largely on account of its membership of the Ius Laboris international alliance of employment lawyers.
Responsibilities
Key duties and responsibilities
- Be the first point of contact for clients dealing with them efficiently and appropriately
- Build a working knowledge of the legal area of expertise of partners and associates
- Ensure sensitivity and confidentiality when dealing with clients, colleagues and private matters on behalf of partners and associates across the division
- Build a strong knowledge of the firm's strategy and an understanding of how the work of partners and associates fits with this strategy
- Assist with coordinating billing/credit control and accounting matters relating to clients of partners and associates including drafting bill requests, bill narratives, and chasing clients for payment of unpaid bills as required
- Maintain partners' and associates' diaries by liaising with them to discuss forthcoming appointments and any required arrangements
- Assist with workload of secretarial colleagues as required
- Schedule internal and external meetings, ensuring that all arrangements are in place and any required materials and documentation are prepared in good time
- Assist with marketing activities as required including liaising with the Marketing team
- Assist with the preparation of tribunal bundles and lists of documents as required
- Develop a sufficient knowledge of the division's work to be able to work with any of the partners and associates in other locations, or with colleagues from the other division when necessary
- Build a sufficient knowledge of files and matters to be able to support partners and associates in assisting clients and others, as appropriate, in their absence
- Take an active part in developing own role and working to provide increasing support for partners and associates ensuring suitable training is undertaken
- Any other duties as required in line with the level or the role
Specialist experience
- Ideally will have at least three years' legal secretarial experience (ideally within a law firm, within an Employment team would be desirable however not essential)
- Excellent typing skills (at least 70 wpm audio/copy typing) as well as accurate numeracy skills
- Good eye for detail a high level of accuracy is essential
- Excellent organisational and administration skills
- Ability to manage a heavy workload and support a wide range of people
- Ability to work to tight deadlines in a pressurised environment
- A confident and natural communicator
- Ability to be proactive and to work on own initiative
- Ability to motivate and train other members of the secretarial team
- Team player and enthusiastic
IT skills required:
- Proficient IT skills
- Microsoft Office 365; Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, Sharepoint, PDF Docs, Word Compare (Deltaview), document management systems, practice management systems, client matter inception, Elite 3E (or
