Senior Legal Secretary – Real Estate & Client Relations

We are looking for an experienced and proactive Legal Secretary to join our highly regarded Residential Estates team in our London office. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who enjoys being at the heart of a busy but small, high-performing team and who is looking for a role that goes beyond traditional secretarial support.

Alongside providing first-class administrative assistance, you will play a key role in helping the team manage client relationships, coordinate business development initiatives, support conference activity and presentations, and keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes. You will work closely with senior lawyers who advise major landed estates, developers, high-net-worth individuals, trusts and property companies on complex residential property matters, including leasehold enfranchisement, asset management and residential landlord and tenant issues.

The Residential Estates team is recognised for its expertise in complex and high-value residential property matters, particularly within prime central London. The team advises a broad range of clients including landed estates, developers, investors, trusts and private individuals on strategic and often highly sensitive matters. This role offers the opportunity to become an integral part of a close-knit and ambitious London team within one of the South East’s leading law firms.

You will provide high-level secretarial, organisational and administrative support to the partners and wider team, enabling fee earners to maximise the time they spend on client work, business development and strategic activities. The role will suit someone who is highly organised, confident managing competing priorities and comfortable building relationships with both clients and colleagues.

Alongside traditional legal secretarial responsibilities, the role will involve:

• Supporting partners with diary and inbox management
• Assisting with business development initiatives and events
• Preparing and refining PowerPoint presentations for conferences and speaking engagements
• Coordinating travel and meeting logistics
• Helping to maintain client relationships and communications
• Acting as a trusted point of contact for internal and external stakeholders

This is an excellent opportunity for someone looking for a varied and fast-paced role with genuine involvement in the wider success and growth of the team.

Key Responsibilities

• Extensive diary management including arranging meetings, calls, lunches, travel and conference attendance
• Coordinating complex schedules and liaising with internal and external stakeholders
• Managing incoming emails, post and telephone calls on behalf of fee earners when required
• Preparing, formatting and amending legal documents, correspondence and reports
• Assisting with document management, filing and matter administration
• Supporting billing, expenses and financial administration tasks
• Producing standard financial reports and maintaining relevant spreadsheets and dashboards
• Supporting meeting preparation including document collation and agenda coordination

Business Development and Marketing Support

• Assisting with the preparation of pitches, presentations and client materials
• Supporting conference and speaking engagement preparation
• Producing and refining high-quality PowerPoint presentations
• Coordinating team events, networking activities and client hospitality
• Maintaining and updating client information on the firm’s CRM system
• Helping partners stay organised around follow-ups, contacts and relationship management activities

Relationship Management

• Building strong relationships with clients and becoming a trusted point of contact
• Developing effective working relationships across the wider business
• Demonstrating excellent client care and professionalism at all times
• Supporting the collaborative culture of the London office and wider Real Estate group

About You

We are looking for someone who is proactive, personable and highly organised, with the confidence to work closely with senior stakeholders in a fast-moving environment. You will ideally have previous experience in a legal environment and enjoy working as part of a small but collaborative and ambitious team.

Skills and Experience

• Previous experience working as a Legal Secretary or PA within a client facing legal environment
• Must have experience or knowledge of the Long Leasehold Property Market.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong attention to detail and high levels of accuracy
• Confident managing diaries and coordinating busy schedules
• Experience producing professional documents and presentations
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly PowerPoint, Word and Excel
• Comfortable liaising with clients and senior stakeholders
• Proactive and solutions-focused approach
• Strong team ethic and willingness to support others
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and professionalism at all times
• Experience using BigHand and Peppermint would be advantageous but is not essential.

Why Join Cripps?

At Cripps, we put people at the heart of what we do. We are proud of our collaborative culture, ambitious growth plans and supportive working environment. We encourage our people to bring curiosity, creativity and confidence to their roles and we invest heavily in development and progression. You will be joining a respected and growing London real estate team working on high-profile and intellectually interesting matters alongside market-leading lawyers. This role offers genuine variety and responsibility, making it ideal for someone who enjoys being involved in the wider success of a team rather than purely providing administrative support.