Secretarial Services Manager in England

The Secretarial Services Manager is responsible for leading, developing, and optimising the firm’s practice and administrative support function across the Employment, Immigration, Reward and Data & Privacy Legal Practice Groups (LPGs).

About the role

The Secretarial Services Manager will plan, direct, and oversee the activities required to provide best-in-class support. Any reference to “function” below includes the collection of PA, Practice Support and embedded Billing roles. Please note we are flexible on the location of this role, however you’ll need to be within a commutable distance of one of our UK offices.

Core responsibilities include:

• Strategy and Culture
  • Create a vision for the team to deliver best in class practice support to Partners, Associates and external clients.
  • Translate the vision into meaningful actions that drive a high-performance culture with a focus on client service.
  • Ensure the team supports the firm’s strategic goals and lives and breathes its values (kindness and bravery).
  • Externally focussed and networked to understand market changes and trends that may present opportunities for positive change and improvement in service levels.
• People Leadership and Development
  • Work with the locally orientated co‑ordinators to create a leadership group for the function that shares knowledge and manages the team fairly, consistently and effectively.
  • Lead the team to foster a culture of accountability, ownership, inclusivity and continuous improvement, recognise excellence and address performance issues promptly and fairly.
  • Provide pastoral support as required to team members.
  • Recruit, onboard, train all team members, create clear role and behavioural expectations, conduct performance reviews and implement coaching, mentoring and skills development programmes.
  • Work with the HR team to develop retention strategies including team meetings, team learning sessions and social activities.
  • Promote a culture of training, development and learning so that the team are appropriately equipped to perform effectively in their roles.
  • Lead and support the team through any changes in the required service model and in the drive to deliver continuous improvement.
  • Communicate effectively and regularly with the team.
• Continuous Improvement, Quality Assurance and Change Management
  • Identify opportunities for service improvement and implement changes, in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, with pace.
  • Undertake periodic reviews of the service to assess what is working well and what could be improved.
  • Develop action plans for improvement.
  • Support organisational change initiatives and lead the function through our ongoing evolution and growth always aligning with the firm values.
  • Implement and actively manage quality control processes in collaboration with the Risk & Compliance team, ensuring client confidentiality and wider compliance with firm policies, UK GDPR, information governance standards (including ISO 27001 where applicable), and SRA requirements.
  • Work with the locally orientated co‑ordinators to oversee proper matter inception and file closure processes, manage incident reporting and corrective actions, and support regulatory or client audits as required.
  • Partner with IT to optimise the use of AI, productivity tools, templates, digital dictation, e‑signatures, driving a continuous improvement agenda.
  • Ensure the team is trained and developed to leverage these tools.
  • Help to find solutions or unblock a problem if/when it arises calmly, confidently and in a timely manner.
• Business Partnering and Stakeholder Engagement
  • Know the internal clients (Partners and Associates) and consult them on their needs from the function.
  • Anticipate issues before they become problems and put appropriate solutions in place.
  • When a new office opens, think proactively and strategically about their needs and work closely with the Head of Office to ensure their needs are met (as far as is reasonably practicable).
  • Keep up to date with internal developments in the practice areas and translate any developments into actions for the function.
  • Encourage all team members to know their Partners and Associates and their working styles so that the service can be tailored appropriately.
  • Work closely with the Heads of Finance, Risk & Compliance and other relevant business services leads, where collaboration is required, to ensure a smooth and seamless operation.
• Operations, Service Delivery and Resource Management
  • Develop and manage a service model that responds to the evolving needs of our business and our clients.
  • Oversee workflow and confidentiality protocols, and ensure high-quality document production (including precedents, complex formatting, styles, track changes, and PDF/e‑bundling), diary management for fee earners, travel co‑ordination, expenses, billing and e‑Billing support, and client correspondence.
  • Work with the locally orientated co‑ordinators to maintain coverage schedules, oversee the allocation of work as well as manage priorities to meet deadlines across the LPGs.
  • Implement and monitor service levels through appropriate metrics and reporting.
  • Leverage workflow systems, ticketing tools, and document management platforms (e.g. NetDocuments) to ensure the delivery of an excellent service, allocate work and track productivity.
  • Review and refine once implemented.
  • Work with the locally orientated co‑ordinators to forecast demand, plan staffing levels, and co‑ordinate coverage for absences and peak workloads across UK offices.
  • Oversee training requests, track overtime, and drive cost‑effective operations without compromising quality.
• General
  • Undertakes to keep matters confidential as required in all aspects of the role.
  • Frequent travel to all offices across England, Scotland and Wales.
  • Undertake any other reasonable duties in line with the level and nature of the role.

About You

You will have a professional manner, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, and have previous experience working within an office. You’ll have a flexible nature and will enjoy working within a fast‑paced team and will be highly organised. You’ll also possess strong numeracy and attention to detail skills, which will be key within this role. We are looking for someone who is passionate about being a team player and who is keen to support others.

Our ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• A degree, or equivalent experience, in business administration, operations management, or a related field.
• The role requires substantial experience (typically 7+ years) of administrative leadership within a UK professional services environment — ideally a professional or financial services firm.
• Prior experience managing multi‑site teams is strongly preferred, including exposure to regulated environments and client confidentiality obligations.

Experience and Qualifications

• Leadership and Interpersonal Skills
  • The successful candidate will have proven ability to lead, motivate, and develop teams; strong communication and stakeholder management skills; and a track record of building trust with senior professionals.
  • Proven experience in leading teams and engaging stakeholders through periods of change, effectively managing stakeholders, communicating clearly and supporting successful adoption of new ways of working.
  • Confident in prioritisation, problem‑solving and decision‑making in a fast‑paced environment, with impeccable attention to detail, discretion, and judgement.
  • Exceptional communication and customer service skills.
  • Adept at thinking strategically and acting operationally.
  • Role models positivity, creativity and proactivity.
• Technical and Professional Skills
  • The successful candidate will have good knowledge of MS Office (advanced Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and document management systems.
  • A keen interest and willingness to incorporate new technologies, including AI, into the service model and relevant ways of working.
  • Experience with legal practice tools is advantageous, including matter intake (e.g. Intapp), time recording and billing (e.g. Elite 3E, Intapp Time).
  • Strong familiarity with formatting complex legal documents, styles, numbering, and PDF/e‑bundling is essential.
  • The individual must be adept at implementing data‑driven improvements.

At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to supporting candidates throughout the recruitment process by supporting anyone who requires adjustments, in order to ensure they have the opportunity to perform at their best. All applicants will be considered equally and fairly. If you’d like to request any adjustments throughout the recruitment process, or would like to discuss flexible working patterns, please email the recruitment team in confidence.