Legal Secretary
Job Introduction
We are currently recruiting for a Legal Secretary to provide an excellent standard of secretarial support to fee earners across the specified practice
Hours: Monday to Friday 9.00-17.00
The Legal Secretary's role is to provide secretarial support across the Construction and Engineering team in Newcastle.
Our Newcastle Construction and Engineering team advises property owners, consultants, house-builders and contractors on all matters related to the construction of buildings and engineering projects – whether negotiating and drafting the contract or resolving disputes arising from it.
The team is particularly experienced in the deployment of alternative dispute resolution techniques, including mediation and arbitration.
Role Responsibility
- Proactively manage diaries
- Liaise and build relationships as appropriate with clients and their support staff
- Book client and internal meetings including conference calls
- Prepare correspondence and documents from digital dictation and copy typing
- Answer and make telephone calls
- Manage the case management system
- Prepare document bundles for fee earners
- Open and close files
- File, archive, photocopy, scan and fax documents as and when required
- Ensure that client contact information is kept up to date
- Assist with the booking of travel arrangements
- Liaise with counsel and other legal representatives
- Proactively assist with ad-hoc business development and communications activities e.g. client events, contact reports, delegate packs etc.
- Effective prioritisation of tasks whilst managing a full workload
- Assist with incoming billing, cash collection and accounts queries
- Preparation of expenses for fee earners
- Effectively work with fee earners and secretarial team members
- Handle confidential information in line with the firm’s data security protocols
- Help maintain a clean office and clear desk.
The Ideal Candidate
• Qualified to a minimum of 5 GCSEs (including a grade C in English and Maths) or equivalent
• A secretarial NVQ / Diploma or equivalent would be beneficial but is not essential
• Previous experience within a legal environment is essential ideally within a Construction and Engineering team is preferred as is a minimum typing speed of 65 WPM
• Must have good IT skills, particularly in Microsoft packages
• An excellent eye for detail with a concern for quality and accuracy
• A focused client service approach
• Team orientated and collaborative with a flexible, can do attitude
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely orally and in writing
• Demonstrable ability to multitask and prioritise a full workload under pressure and the ability to work independently.
About the Company
We are a leading international legal business with over 2,400 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We have 11 offices in the UK as well as offices in Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Singapore, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Miami. We also have associations/alliances with firms in Northern Ireland, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Brazil, Peru, Central America, Argentina, the USA, Australia and Germany.
We are known for our market-leading presence in sectors such as Insurance, Health and Real Estate. This is complemented by a fast-growing Business Advisory capability. We represent a wide range of clients, ranging from household names to government departments and NHS bodies. We act for the majority of the top 30 insurance and financial services companies operating in the UK. We are the asset management lawyers for the UK’s largest shopping centres and act for 9 of the UK’s top 10 housebuilders.
We have an impressive legal pedigree, with 155 Chambers UK 2019 practice area and individual lawyer rankings, including 30 rankings at 'Band 1' level. In Legal 500 UK, 2018, the firm received top tier ranking for 32 of its practice areas and 59 practice areas in the top two tiers. In March 2018, we were named as one of Legal Week's Best Legal Advisors for the third year running, achieving category-leading satisfaction scores for our commercial approach, service delivery, quality of legal advice, communication & responsiveness and overall relationships.
Our vision is to be leading business advisers, recognised for our insight and our outstanding commitment to clients, and for being the place where talented people want to work. For further details on our work and our culture, please visit www.dacbeachcroft.com.
DAC Beachcroft is an equal opportunities employer and we welcome applications from every sector of the community. We also welcome direct applications. If this opportunity sounds of interest to you, please make an application and submit your CV. Your application will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.
DAC Beachcroft