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Job Description

Job Title : Legal PA

Department : RAS- Construction, Advisory & Disputes

Location : Manchester

Type of Contract / Hours of work : Full-Time, 9:30am - 5:30pm (minimum 3 days working in the office)

Purpose of the role:

Provide proactive and professional Legal PA support to allocated group.

Services to be delivered to the business in a manner which is consistent with the increasingly competitive environment in which the Firm operates.

This role is intended to embrace a team-working approach, collaborating with lawyers and other members of Business Operations to fulfil the needs of the business. In addition to being assigned to a number of specific lawyers, it is expected that a Legal PA will work with every member of the team to ensure that overall needs are met.

Support may need to be provided to staff from more than one business unit and numbers and content of the group may change from time to time to reflect the current structure of the Firm.

Key Responsibilities:

Client Service

Your responsibility to deliver excellent service to our clients

• Building and maintaining effective relationships with both internal and external clients and their teams and developing knowledge of their business
• Actively contributing to client service initiatives in the group, including attending client events and seminars where required
• Developing and maintaining core sector understanding to support delivery of optimum client service

Planning & Organisation

How you use your organisational skills to ensure the lawyers you work with have the information they need on a daily basis

• Liaising regularly (at least on a weekly basis) with lawyers to identify work commitments and prioritising your workload accordingly
• Proactively identify areas of responsibility and tasks you can take ownership of
• Diary management for lawyers including arranging meetings and appointments, both internally and externally, ensuring the Outlook diary is up to date and holds all the necessary information in relation to the appointment including taking responsibility for booking travel, meeting rooms and arranging for necessary equipment and refreshments
• Proactive advance monitoring of lawyers' diaries, reminding them of diary commitments and taking responsibility for the provision of all supporting paperwork and necessary information for each meeting
• Liaising with the travel company to make travel and accommodation arrangements (UK and international), keeping lawyers advised of any changes in scheduling and ensuring they have an accurate and up to date itinerary and all the relevant travel details are in the Outlook diary
• Liaising with Business Operations to resolve problems on lawyers' behalf and taking ownership of the issue, following up where appropriate
• Delegation of appropriate work types/requests to all available support services in order to promote optimum efficiency

Managing Communications

How you assist lawyers in their communications with colleagues and clients

• Taking ownership of answering lawyers' telephone calls when they are unavailable, taking accurate messages and passing them on promptly, trying to assist and answer any non-legal queries if possible and ensuring the caller receives a satisfactory response
• Screening, prioritising and dealing with lawyers' incoming e-mails, post and voicemail when lawyers are out of the office, acknowledging receipt and responding where able and appropriate
• Management and co-ordination of lawyers' e-mails
• Preparing presentation slides and materials for internal/external meetings and events
• Drafting short letters, memos or notes (non-legal content) in a literate and professional manner

Document & File Management

How you ensure that the documentation we produce is of the highest quality and our files are accurate and up to date

• Proactively ensuring that the Exigent transcription service and Document Production service is utilised effectively
• Managing production of documents (produced in-house and externally), co-ordinating changes made including taking responsibility for the consistency of those documents (e.g. formatting, numbering, CompareDocs etc).
• Coordinating typing of audio files, drafting correspondence, producing documents/letters/e-mails and memos
• Opening client files, including completing conflict searches and money laundering checks in conjunction with lawyers, preparation of client engagement letters, collating all the relevant information required and maintaining client files on a day to day basis, including delegation of filing where required
• Ensuring documents are filed on FileSite with correct file and matter details so that they can be located easily
• Undertaking regular reviews of files and papers for lawyers, checking account balances and liaising with lawyers to ensure that all files which are not current are archived and deeds are put in storage

Business Development/Relationship Management

How you can contribute to developing the Firm's business and maintaining excellent relationships with our clients and potential clients

• Inputting uniform practice group credentials into the Credentials Database in a timely manner
• Organising events in conjunction with Business Development including logging responses into InterAction and attending events to meet and greet clients where necessary
• Undertaking research on clients, potential clients and new business initiatives or opportunities, including putting together briefing packs as and when required
• Collating information for preparation of regular client updates or reports as and when required, including subscribing to relevant alerts in InterAction and maintenance of general client information
• Assisting lawyers with follow-ups to business development meetings, for example drafting thank you letters, diarising reminders or arranging follow-up meetings
• Collating information for preparation of bids, tenders, proposal documents, team sheets and client briefing documents and preparing the first draft of documentation where appropriate, including keeping lawyers' CVs up to date
• Maintaining up to date contact details in InterAction for all lawyers' contacts, prompting lawyers to complete an InterAction report following meetings or completing the report on their behalf
• Knowledge of key business development materials for the practice area

Billing, Financial & Project Management

How you can assist lawyers in managing their matters/projects and utilise our systems to the maximum benefit

• Attending internal client or project meetings to take notes and assisting with action points if required
• Support lawyers with the production and maintenance of plans using our pricing and project management tools
• Assisting lawyers with the billing process, agreeing in advance dates for billing, delegating requisition of pre-bills, drafting narratives and covering letters and putting paperwork in front of lawyer for sign off
• Utilising Aderant to assist lawyers with financial queries and subscribing to relevant alerts in order to provide information to lawyers
• Developing good knowledge of the Firm's accounts procedures, coordination of cheque requisitions, TT and BACS authorisations and processing client monies and ensuring all supporting paperwork is completed promptly and accurately with partner authorisation
• Assisting lawyers with client account balances to ensure all funds are returned after a matter is completed

Person specification: The ideal candidate will have a flexible and adaptable approach to work, they will be reliable and hardworking, remain calm when working under pressure, must have the ability to work to tight deadlines, distribute workload and be an active team member. The nature of the role also requires a self-starter who is extremely organised with the ability to juggle priorities and work on their own initiative, recognising the need for absolute confidentiality and professionalism. Strong communication skills are essential.