Legal PA - Real Estate, Banking & Real Estate Finance

This is an excellent opportunity to join the Real Estate team, providing high-quality Legal PA support to fee earners within the Banking, Real Estate Finance and related practice areas. The Legal PA will be an integral part of a busy and collaborative team, supporting a specific allocation of fee earners while also contributing to shared PA responsibilities across the group. The role requires an experienced and proactive Legal PA who can manage competing priorities effectively, use initiative, and deliver consistently high standards of support. Excellent organisational, communication and relationship-building skills are essential.

Role responsibility

• Core Legal PA Support
  • Provide comprehensive Legal PA support to allocated fee earners within the Banking and Real Estate Finance teams.
  • Manage fee earners’ inboxes, monitoring, prioritising and responding to correspondence where appropriate, and ensuring emails are accurately filed in iManage.
  • Liaise with fee earners to regularly review priorities and ensure workflow is managed effectively.
• Client and Matter Management
  • Support client onboarding processes, including opening new clients and matters in line with compliance requirements, obtaining KYC documentation, requesting monies on account, and preparing engagement letters and initial correspondence.
  • Communicate directly with clients and third parties by email and telephone in a professional and timely manner, responding to queries and taking clear, accurate messages.
  • Coordinate file closures, including resolving outstanding account balances and ensuring compliance with internal procedures.
• Document Production and Systems
  • Produce and amend documents using the BigHand digital dictation system, including copy typing, document comparison, track changes and proofreading to a high standard.
  • Manage workflow to and from the Document Production Centre (DPC), ensuring turnaround times are met.
  • Upload, download and manage documents within data rooms and iManage, including use of large file transfer systems and Adobe PDF tools.
  • Prepare and manage DocuSign envelopes as required.
• Property and Search Administration
  • Carry out property-related searches using external applications e.g land charges, winding-up searches, obtain official copy entries (OCEs) via Land Registry, CourtChex Online, Search Acumen and TM Group.
• Diary, Meetings and Travel
  • Proactively manage fee earner diaries, scheduling internal and external meetings.
  • Coordinate meeting logistics including room bookings, video conferencing, refreshments and materials.
  • Arrange travel and accommodation through the firm’s travel provider where required.
• Financial and Billing Support
  • Prepare finance and account documentation, including proformas, CHAPS requests and related forms.
  • Coordinate the end-to-end billing process, support Elite 3E financial reporting, submit expenses and cross-reference data with the CRM system.
  • Investigate and assist with resolving residual balances on client and office accounts.
• Business Development and Team Support
  • Support fee earners and the Business Development team with BD activities, including mailings, events and client initiatives.
  • Coordinate the collation, archiving and distribution of deeds.
  • Provide cover and support to other PAs and EAs during periods of absence.
  • Undertake ad-hoc duties as reasonably required to support the wider team.

About you

• Proven experience in a high-performing professional services environment.
• Previous experience supporting Banking, Real Estate Finance and/or Property matters.
• Strong typing skills (approximately 75 wpm+) with a high level of accuracy.
• Demonstrable experience using BigHand digital dictation.
• Ability to produce accurate, well-presented documents with excellent attention to detail.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities calmly and effectively.
• Proactive, adaptable and solution-focused approach, with confidence to use initiative.
• Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.
• Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office and legal systems including Elite 3E, iManage, DocuSign, TitanFile, Litera Compare, Chrome River and CRM platforms (e.g. OnePlace).
• Experience conducting property-related searches via Land Registry, CourtChex Online, Search Acumen and TM Group.

EEO and recruitment

We are an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and identities, and we’re committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and accessible to all. We understand that every candidate’s needs are different. If there’s anything we can do to make your application journey more comfortable— whether for interviews, assessments, or onboarding—please let us know. We’ll work with you to remove any barriers and ensure our recruitment process is comfortable for you.

Contact our recruitment team at recruitment@howardkennedy.com to discuss any support you might need.

Agency Introductions

Please note that we are not accepting applications via agencies for this role at this time. Before sharing any named candidate CVs, please contact your recruitment representative. If any named CVs are sent from agencies without approval from our recruitment team, they will not be deemed valid introductions, and no agency fee will be paid.