Legal Secretary - Commercial Real Estate SIPPS in Ipswich

About Us

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.

Our Next Level Law Proposition

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face. Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 5th best law firm to work at in 2024. With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 40% of our partnership.

The Team You Will Join

Our nationally recognised property team includes our specialist and dedicated SIPP/SSAS (self‑invested personal pension/small‑administered schemes) Property Team which deals with all elements of commercial property transactions involving SIPPs and SSASs to include acquisitions, disposals, leases, asset management work and mortgages. We are the largest bespoke SIPP/SSAS property legal team in the country and we act for many of the country's leading SIPP and SSAS providers.

The Work You Will Be Doing

To work as part of a secretarial team to provide professional, pro‑active, high level secretarial support to an allocated fee earner, or group of fee earners and to the wider fee earning team.

What We Are Looking For

• Strong administration experience
• Positive, enthusiastic and professional approach to all work
• Reliable
• Strong attention to detail and high level organisational skills
• Self‑motivated with an ability to use own initiative and a desire to learn
• A desire to share new processes to support the wider team

Inclusivity and Culture

At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
• Long Service holiday award – 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% employee)
• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme
• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance – 4 × salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid CSR Day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Agile/Hybrid Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy

Flexible Working

Birketts is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. We welcome applications from people looking for flexible, agile, and part‑time roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application.

Role Notes

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.

Skills

• Strong typing speed of at least 50 wpm
• Excellent spelling and punctuation
• Excellent written and verbal communications
• Ability to use discretion
• Excellent IT skills, including Outlook, Word, PowerPoint and Excel
• Positive and enthusiastic approach to teamwork
• Good telephone manner
• Adaptable and flexible
• Self‑motivated, ability to use initiative and provide pro‑active support to fee‑earners
• Ability to pay attention to detail and check own work
• Reliable and well organised
• Ability to remain calm and work under pressure to meet strict deadlines
• Commitment to ongoing learning and development

Accountabilities

• To produce and amend documents with speed and accuracy.
• To format, paginate, number and present documents in Birketts LLP house style.
• To proof read all work, checking for spelling and grammar.
• To be a user of key software packages and take responsibility for any training needs to improve relevant skills needed to meet the needs of the business.
• To proactively work with the fee earners to ensure relevant documentation is produced to meet clients’ expectations and deadlines.

Administrative Skills

• Manage diaries of fee earners in Microsoft Outlook
• To scan and save incoming and outgoing post
• Familiarity with the creation and management of data‑rooms and file management processes
• To add and amend data on Intapp, including contact details intermediaries, and referrals into and out of the team
• To open new clients and to open and close matters and carry out conflict checks where appropriate
• To complete the client engagement process, including preparing letters of engagement and sending Thirdfort invitations
• Making appointments
• Arranging meetings/conferences
• Sending and responding to invites
• To arrange payments
• To ensure that all electronic filing and paper based filing is up to date and maintained at regular intervals
• To keep team spreadsheets up to date
• To carry out photocopying and scanning as required

Professional Skills

• To respond to internal and external telephone enquiries politely and professionally and take accurate telephone messages (name/number/company), passing them on to the relevant fee earners etc.
• To proactively support other members of the secretarial team and to provide cover as and when necessary to ensure that work is completed to a high standard and meets the required deadlines.
• To provide full support to fee earners in the full range of activities that are performed and to carry out any other duties as reasonably requested.