Owen Reed is looking to recruit a forward-thinking and professional Legal Support Assistant to join a top firm in Manchester, Birmingham, or Bristol.

The Team

Working as a team to act as a point of contact for fee earners and the completion of their work, the role with undertake all aspects of the Legal Support Assistant role, and where appropriate, manage the workflow by utilising Administrative Assistants and Document Production, retaining ownership and accountability of all tasks through to completion. Provide a high quality, comprehensive workflow management and organisational service to fee earners in the group and exceptional client service.

Key Responsibilities

Client Relationship Management

• Manage the production of documents and check returned work produced by the Document Production team/speech recognition for accuracy/formatting before it is passed to the relevant lawyer.
• Taking and making client related calls, dealing with and handling message taking as appropriate.
• Manage Interaction and ensure new prospects, clients and contacts, activities and business development informationare added.
• Responsible for keeping up to date with client specific protocols and processes, implementing, providing guidance and training to others where necessary and ongoing monitoring.

Administrative

• Responsible for files to be opened and closed and supervise general filing requirements and record keeping and production of engagement letters ensuring compliant at all times.
• Monitor and manage key dates for clients and ensure compliance procedures are up to date on all files and matters.
• Support fee earners in business development activities including the involvement in preparation of pitches and presentations, scheduling meetings e.g. tenders, directories, internal clients.
• Manage diaries, ensuring they are up-to date, anticipating requirements e.g. associated travel /accommodation bookings, meeting rooms, drafting itineraries, preparing agendas, preparing and circulating papers.
• Produce and maintain Excel spreadsheets as required.
• First point of contact for the team, dealing with queries and acting on initiative to provide exceptional client service, promoting and developing ownership within the teams.
• Arrange for the preparation and collation of internal sector newsletters and briefings.
• Arrange photocopying, printing, organising couriers, sending out letters, faxes etc.
• Receiving instructions via digital dictation for tasks and acting upon the same.

Communication

• Key point of contact for fee earners and clients to maintain relationships and ensure a high level of support is always provided by the team.
• Monitor post and/or emails and dealing with as appropriate ensuring all client related correspondence is passed onto an appropriate fee earner and actioned as necessary; proactively responding to and drafting responses on behalf of others, prioritising emails, collating necessary paperwork and e-filing.
• Liaising with and providing support to their immediate colleagues in the department, and where practical, other legal and support departments as requested by the Hub Leader.
• Answering phone calls for other members of the team when they are away from their desk and participating in a lunch time telephone rota within the Practice Assistant team.
• Minute taking, following up designated actions to ensure completion ahead of the next meeting.
• Liaising with and taking direction from your Legal Support Manager.
• Liaise with the Legal Support Manager over any planned absences, arranging cover as necessary and communicating this to the relevant fee earners.

Financial

• Assisting fee earners with billing related tasks.
• Reviewing and updating time allocation and disbursements ensuring appropriate matter allocation.
• Request cheques, bank transfers, and paying in money received, as appropriate.
• Supporting the co-ordination of the WIP process.
• Dealing with matter related finance administration to include APRs, BACs, TTs.
• Processing expenses.

Processing

• Responsible for managing priorities and workloads to ensure deadlines are met. Liaising with Hub Leader/Legal Support Managers where challenges arise.
• Responsible for managing the creation and maintenance of data rooms and client information in accordance with case milestone.
• Responsible for ensuring client and matter data is maintained and updated within appropriate systems, raising requests with the BAU team as appropriate.
• Online applications e.g. Companies House, Land Registry, Searchflow, CRU forms.
• Undertaking searches and completion of requisite forms and submission.
• Ensuring compliance with firm wide/department policies and procedures

Customer Service

• Arranging and attending team meetings.
• Liaising with fee earners, Hub Leader and Legal Support Managers to take instruction and liaise on work requirements.
• Consistently and appropriately update service users on progress where appropriate.
• Regularly offer assistance wherever possible.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Advanced knowledge of document management/case management systems.
• An effective communicator with an excellent customer and client service approach;striving to provide exceptional service at all times.
• Proven experience of managing client facing tasks and priorities, with a hands-on, practical approach.
• Effective at investigating issues and seeing a problem through to conclusion.
• Conscientious, taking personal responsibility for own work and accountability for its delivery and quality.
• Excellent team player, sharing in team goals to provide excellent quality and efficiency of service, with a willingness to take on new responsibilities and challenges.
• Positive can-do attitude with the ability to adapt to change.
• Confidential and discreet but able to redirect information when appropriate to ensure areas of concern are resolved effectively.
• Well organised and methodical with excellent attention to detail, ensuring accuracy in all client communications and deliverables.

Technical Skills

• Experience of working in a legal or professional services environment.
• An aptitude for managing multiple priorities, producing documents and client communications of the highest standard.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office.