Personal Assistant in Leeds

About us

Successful businesses rely on a unique set of ideas and people. We help our clients protect and develop those vital assets, unlocking possibilities for future success. From iconic brands and leading multinationals to pioneering start-ups, we are proud to work with a huge range of inspiring clients, helping them to turn their ideas into reality and get the best from - and for - their people. Our people are not only exceptional at what they do, they also enjoy doing it and consistently give their best to a firm they’re proud to be part of. This stems from our firm culture and our ethos of bravery and kindness. That ethos runs through everything we do, from our approach to recruitment, business practices, and DEI activities to the day-to-day environment in our office and our relationships with clients.

About the team

Consistently top-ranked amongst our peers for over two decades, we advise UK and multinational clients of all sizes, with most of our Partners independently rated as leaders in the field. Not only do we have the largest employment team in the UK, we have truly global reach as members of Ius Laboris, the world’s leading employment law alliance, and with our Asia Pacific base in Hong Kong and our Dublin offices. We help clients realise the potential in their people and navigate their strategic HR and legal issues, with dedicated specialists in all areas of employment law and a track record of leading precedent setting cases on issues of the day.

About the role

The Personal Assistant provides high-quality secretarial and organisational support to fee earners, helping them to manage day-to-day activity efficiently and deliver a responsive service to clients. The role supports effective diary, inbox, matter and client administration, while working collaboratively with Executive Assistants, Team Assistants and central teams to ensure tasks are completed accurately and on time.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide reliable day-to-day PA support to fee earners, including diary management, inbox support, call handling, meeting arrangements and travel coordination.
• Develop a good understanding of the fee earners supported, including their clients, matters, priorities and preferred ways of working.
• Act as a professional point of contact for clients and internal stakeholders, handling queries appropriately and escalating where required.
• Support matter administration, including opening and closing matters, maintaining records, coordinating documents and assisting with compliance-related tasks.
• Assist with the preparation, formatting and coordination of documents, correspondence, presentations and meeting materials.
• Work closely with EAs, TAs, fee earners and Finance to support billing administration, time recording, expenses and client chasing as directed.
• Coordinate client meetings and events, including room bookings, refreshments, visitor arrangements and follow-up actions.
• Follow tasks through to completion, keeping fee earners and stakeholders updated and escalating issues in a timely way.
• Work collaboratively with EAs, Team Assistants and central teams to ensure support is joined up, efficient and consistent.
• Contribute to continuous improvement by identifying opportunities to simplify processes, improve service quality and reduce unnecessary fee-earner involvement.

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, who is keen to support others.

Our ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• Proactive approach with strong organisational skills and attention to priorities.
• Excellent attention to detail - a high level of accuracy is essential for document preparation and record-keeping.
• Ability to support multiple fee earners with competing priorities, keeping stakeholders updated throughout.
• Ability to follow tasks through to completion and work to tight deadlines in a busy environment.
• Professional communicator able to handle queries appropriately and escalate where required.
• Commitment to delivering responsive, high-quality support to fee earners and clients.
• Team player who works collaboratively with EAs, Team Assistants and central teams to ensure joined-up support.
• Experience in billing administration and financial management.
• Strong IT skills - Office 365, Word, Elite, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, DocsCorp PDF Docs, Word Compare (DocsCorp CompareDocs), Document Management System (Netdocs), Interaction, Chrome River, although full in-house training will be provided.

Additional information

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 (recruitment@lewissilkin.com).