Legal Secretary REG Hub 2 in Newcastle upon Tyne

Department: Real Estate - Professional Support Hub

Location: Newcastle

Description: Working as a team to act as a point of contact for lawyers and ensuring the effective completion of their work, as well as undertaking a variety of secretarial tasks. The LSA manages the workflow by utilising Administrative Assistants (AA) and the Central Transcription Unit (CTU), retaining ownership and accountability of all tasks through to completion. Provide a high‑quality, comprehensive workflow management and organisational service to lawyers in the group and exceptional client service.

Key Responsibilities

• Client Relationship Management: Manage the production of documents and check returned work produced by the CTU team/speech recognition for accuracy/formatting before it is passed to the relevant lawyer. Handling client‑related calls and message taking as appropriate. Keeping up to date with client‑specific protocols and processes, implementing them, providing guidance and training to others where necessary and ongoing monitoring.
• Administrative: Open and close files, supervise general filing requirements and record‑keeping, and produce engagement letters ensuring compliance at all times. Monitor and track key dates for clients, ensuring compliance procedures are up to date on all files and matters. Support lawyers in business development activities, including preparation of pitches and presentations, scheduling meetings, tenders, internal client meetings, etc. Manage diaries, ensuring they are up to date, anticipating requirements (e.g., travel/accommodation bookings, meeting rooms), drafting itineraries, preparing agendas, and circulating papers. Produce and maintain Excel spreadsheets as required. Act as first point of contact for the team, dealing with queries and proactively providing exceptional client service, fostering ownership within the teams. Arrange internal sector newsletters and briefings. Upload documents to PDF, edit documents using the same. Arrange photocopying, printing, organize couriers, send out letters, faxes, etc. Submit documents for signature by clients via DocuSign. Receive instructions via digital dictation for tasks and act upon them.
• Communication: Key point of contact for lawyers to maintain relationships and ensure a high level of support is always provided by the team. Monitor post and emails, ensuring all client‑related correspondence is passed to an appropriate lawyer and actioned as necessary; proactively respond to and draft responses on behalf of others, prioritise emails, collate necessary paperwork and e‑file. Liaise with and provide support to immediate colleagues in the department, and where practical, other legal and support departments as requested by the HL. Answer phone calls for other team members when they are away from their desk. Liaise with the HL for direction, and coordinate planned absences, arranging cover as necessary and communicating this to the relevant lawyers.
• Financial: Assist lawyers with billing‑related tasks. Review and update time allocation and disbursements, ensuring appropriate matter allocation. Request cheques, bank transfers, and pay money received as appropriate. Support coordination of the WIP process. Handle matter‑related finance administration, including BACs, TTs, etc. Process expenses.
• Processing: Manage priorities and workloads to ensure deadlines are met; liaise with HL where challenges arise. Ensure creation and maintenance of data rooms and client information in accordance with case milestones. Maintain and update client and matter data within appropriate systems, raising requests as appropriate. Handle online applications (e.g., Companies House, Land Registry, Searchflow, forms). Undertake searches and completion of requisite forms and submissions. Ensure compliance with firm‑wide/department policies and procedures.
• Customer Service: Arrange and attend team meetings. Liaise with lawyers, PAs, HLs and Secretarial Managers to take instruction and liaise on work requirements. Consistently and appropriately update service users on progress where appropriate. Regularly offer assistance wherever possible.
• Firm wide: Understand DAC Beachcroft as an international firm and work with awareness of this structure to operate as one team/brand. Actively operate in the best interests of the firm at all times internally and externally. Operate in a regulated environment, effectively managing risk and compliance issues including data security. Work in partnership with others to manage and mitigate commercial risk.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise:

• Experience of working in a legal or professional services environment.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, producing documents and client communications of the highest standard.
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Advanced knowledge of document management/case management systems.
• Effective communicator with an excellent customer and client service approach; striving to provide exceptional service at all times.
• Customer/client service focused.
• 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.

We are happy to talk flexible working with our Flex Forward scheme. We would encourage you to talk to us about our approach to flexible working during the hiring process if you would like to explore this further.