Legal Secretary EPI Manchester

Department: Employment, Pensions and Immigration - North

Location: Manchester

Description: We are a leading Employment Law team serving a diverse portfolio of multinational and global clients across multiple sectors. Working as part of a team, you will provide an excellent standard of secretarial support to the Employment team and other practice groups as required. Working individually and as a team you will act as a point of contact for lawyers, ensuring the effective completion of their work and undertaking a variety of secretarial tasks. You will provide a high-quality, comprehensive workflow management and organisational service to lawyers in the group and exceptional client service.

Key Responsibilities

• Client Relationship Management
  • Keep up to date with client-specific protocols and processes, implementing, providing guidance and training to others where necessary, and ongoing monitoring.
• Administrative
  • Handle outgoing correspondence including electronic communications and encryption of documents using secure data transmission methods in line with client requirements.
  • Manage clients’ case-management system, adding outgoing correspondence and associated documentation on behalf of fee earners.
  • Collate enclosures for outgoing correspondence, instructions to Counsel, experts etc using electronic bundling and encryption software.
  • Run ad-hoc documents within the case-management system.
  • Liaise with external parties regarding enclosures, encryption, discs and secure system usage, supplying passwords where appropriate.
  • Manage email: filing, saving, locating, deleting, responding where applicable and referring incoming mail to others, managing the inbox on behalf of colleagues as needed.
  • Print, file, photocopy, scan, fax and archive documents as required.
  • Ensure client contact information is kept up to date.
  • Update document bundles for fee earners and keep case files organised and logical.
  • Assist with incoming billing and accounts queries, answering and making telephone calls, booking client meetings, and planning and booking travel arrangements.
  • Assist with ad-hoc business development and communications activities such as client contact reports and delegate packs.
  • Maintain the required level of individual knowledge for the role and occasionally prepare correspondence and documents from digital dictation.
  • Help maintain a clean office and clear desk, handling confidential information in line with the firm’s data security protocols.
• Communication
  • Act as the key point of contact for lawyers to maintain relationships and ensure high-level support is always provided by the team.
  • Monitor post and email, ensuring all client-related correspondence is passed to the appropriate lawyer and actioned as necessary; proactively respond to and draft responses on behalf of others, prioritising emails, collating necessary paperwork and e-filing.
  • Liaise with colleagues in the department and other legal and support departments as requested, supporting those with spare capacity or increased workload.
  • Answer phone calls for other team members when they are away from their desk, and liaise with and take direction from your Senior Team Leader (STL).
  • Coordinate absences, arrange cover as necessary, and communicate this to relevant lawyers.
• Financial
  • Assist lawyers with billing-related tasks and review/update time allocation and disbursements to ensure appropriate matter allocation.
  • Request cheques.