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About the role:

Gowling WLG is home to one of the world's strongest multi-disciplinary Real Estate legal teams. We're committed to providing our clients timely, practical advice to help them meet the demands of customers, partners, regulators and investors.

As a Senior Personal Assistant you will be supporting fee earners within our Real Estate Group's Housing Development and Regeneration team. You will provide fee earners with the administrative support needed to provide seamless legal services to our clients.

Client relationship management

• Take an active part in the care of clients and be wholly familiar with contacts/clients. Specifically a requirement to take ownership of the administrative aspects of the firm’s client care programmes. Demonstrate a positive and responsive approach to dealing with client queries and ensure efficient delivery of the administration related to client matters in the absence of fee earner.
• Take responsibility for ensuring that progress of work is known and shared with others where necessary.
• Be aware of any service level agreements in place, especially regarding response times etc and ensure that fee earners are aware of them. Alert partners and fee earners to any potential issues, keeping track of progress, and using own initiative to highlight items for resolution.
• In conjunction with Business Development, take ownership of the administrative organisational aspects of UK and international client seminars and events attending where appropriate.
• Enter and update client details and relevant information onto Interaction and circulate contact sheets as required.
• Demonstrate a good knowledge of research tools and information relating to client prospects.

Administrative

• Manage diaries, ensuring they are up to date and reminding fee earners of meetings on a daily basis.
• Arrange meetings, book conference rooms, refreshments, check rooms prior to meetings and liaise with other attendees, both internal and external.
• Coordinate travel arrangements in the UK and internationally, book and confirm reservations and deal with related details/papers/itineraries.
• Arrange photocopying, printing, organising couriers, sending out of letters, etc.
• Arrange for files to be opened and closed, supervise general filing, e-filing, scanning requirements and record keeping.
• Use effective systems to ensure that both short and long term tasks are completed within required timescales.
• Support lawyers in marketing activities including involvement in preparation of pitches and presentations.
• Good working knowledge of procedures relating to the team.

Communication

• Take internal and external telephone queries, responding as appropriate and/or ensuring that all messages are passed on in a timely manner. Ensure that all client related correspondence is passed on to appropriate fee earner and follow up to ensure that matters are dealt with proactively if the relevant person is out of the office.
• Manage outbound correspondence with supporting documentation.
• Liaise with the Practice Operations Manager over any planned absences, arranging cover as necessary and communicating this to the relevant fee earners.

Document production

• Coordinate correspondence, attachments, documents, reports, presentations, etc. produced by the DPC team before they are passed to the relevant fee earner for approval/sign off and undertake basic/minor amendments where appropriate.
• Type short correspondence and emails when required.
• Produce and maintain Excel spreadsheets as required.

Financial

• Coordinate the billing process and assist fee earners in the billing and credit control process by liaising with the fee earner and accounts and to produce financial/time reports through the system. Be aware of any service level agreements or arrangements with clients requiring bespoke billing information.
• Be competent in the delivery of more complex client reporting as and when required.
• Liaise with finance and cash functions as appropriate.

Team duties

• Assist others across the Team and the wider Group whenever there is spare capacity.
• Work effectively with other legal and support departments as required.
• Seek out opportunities to pass on knowledge to colleagues and actively involved in the training and development of PAs in the Team/Group.
• Any other reasonable duties delegated by any Partner, Senior Manager of the firm, Practice Operations Manager or Practice Co-Ordinator.

About you:

The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience of supporting within a Personal Assistant / Legal Secretarial capacity previously.
• Experience of working within Property / Real Estate areas previously.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, research tools and other systems implemented by the firm.
• Flexible, proactive and dependable with a results orientated approach.
• Able to remain calm under pressure, work to tight deadlines and prioritise workload.
• Confident in taking the initiative.

What We Can Offer You:

The opportunity to work for a firm which has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK and has been ranked by Great Place to Work® for 22 consecutive years.

Excellent benefits, including:

• A hybrid approach to office and remote working, with up to 50% remote working available.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy up to a week's extra annual leave
• Free private medical insurance, and the option to add family members
• A generous pension allowance
• Life assurance covering four times your annual salary
• The chance of a three-month sabbatical every five years
• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave schemes
• A range of health and wellbeing programmes
• State of the art offices, in the heart of Birmingham City Centre, with an onsite restaurant
• Opportunities to flourish in your role through training and personal development

Come and join Gowling WLG, the Official Legal Advisors of the B2022 Commonwealth Games.

Many of our people work flexibly in some way. If you would like to explore your own flexible working arrangements with us, we are happy to discuss this during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunities:

Gowling WLG is committed both to promoting equality and diversity in the firm and to Equal Opportunities in employment. The firm believes in equality of opportunity regardless of race or racial group (including colour, nationality, ethnicity and national origins), religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity. This also includes any incidents of perceptive or associative discrimination and harassment.

At Gowling WLG we seek to attract and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures, to create an exciting and rewarding place to work. Our aim is to fulfil everyone's potential and together to achieve personal and business goals.

Any offers we make will be conditional subject to clearance by the SRA, evidence of eligibility to work in the UK and DBS clearance.

If you have any queries in relation to this position or would like to see a full job description please contact Jess Swingler ( [email protected] )

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