Legal Support Assistant - Private Client in Cheltenham

Michelmores is the destination law firm for the ambitious, the imaginative and the distinctive. We help enterprises and individuals navigate change to find a positive future. We are a flexible, friendly and inclusive organisation with a clear focus on fresh thinking as well as growth and success. We value and nurture our people’s potential and inspiration and provide a creative, open and collaborative environment in which to develop a career and succeed.

As a firm, we strive to be more understanding, more flexible and less prescriptive about how we enable our people to succeed in their roles. Central to our culture is our nurturing, friendly and flexible environment which genuinely allows our people to grow and flourish. We’re always thinking about how we can improve what we do, moving forward, together. From day one, we encourage people to believe that there’s no such thing as a bad idea, and creativity and innovation are highly prized throughout the Firm.

Right now, we have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Legal Support Assistant (LSA) to join our ambitious Tax Trusts and Succession team in our Cheltenham office. In this role, you will provide proactive and professional support for lawyers within the Private Client group. This will include:

• Assisting lawyers with the billing process, drafting narratives and covering letters.
• Looking after credit control, ensuring bills are sent out in a timely manner and liaising with departmental Administrators to ensure all systems and processes are up to date.
• A central point of contact for clients and third parties over the phone and via email.
• Collating information for preparation of regular client updates or reports as and when required.
• Liaising with support departments to resolve problems on lawyers' behalf, taking ownership of the issue and following up where appropriate.
• Ensuring regular legal team meetings are arranged, and then actively participating in these meetings.
• Organising client events/seminars in conjunction with Marketing, attending to meet and greet clients where appropriate.
• Building and maintaining effective relationships with lawyers and clients and developing knowledge of the group's clients and their business.

Our PSS team provides our lawyers with invaluable support in servicing our clients. The team is made up of Legal Support Assistants, Management Support Assistants and Department and Office Administrators, all of whom are aligned to a particular legal group where they can build and develop their specialist knowledge. As well as assisting lawyers with administrative tasks, the PSS team gets involved in complex diary management, drafting communications on behalf of lawyers, the financial management of legal matters and the management of lawyer tasks. The team also works alongside Marketing to arrange client events and collate information for bids and tenders. The PSS team works closely together and builds strong 1-2-1 relationships with the Partners and lawyers that they regularly support.

We take a flexible, agile approach to working patterns. As a team, we agree together on the best working arrangements that will enable each of us to provide exceptional client service, collaborate and connect with colleagues, and achieve the right home/work balance. As a Firm, we are committed to supporting our people across all levels to achieve the balance they need. We are open to discussing flexible working and empowering any candidate to propose a flexible working pattern to meet their needs.

We are looking for somebody who will understand our values and thrive in our culture. The role will be based in our Cheltenham office and the ideal candidate will have:

• Recent experience in a Legal Support Assistant (LSA), PA or Secretary role within a Tax Trust and Succession team.
• Experience in diary management and the ability to multi-task.
• Experience working with financial processes.
• Experience of working to compliance and file maintenance procedures.
• Fast, accurate typing skills.
• Competence with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook etc.) and data management systems.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; effective communicator at all levels (written and verbal) and ability to build rapport.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• A commercial, pro-active and professional approach to work.
• Excellent telephone manner.
• Self-motivated, committed to working towards goals with strong enthusiasm and a desire to provide high levels of client service.
• Excellent organisational skills, demonstrable examples of multi-tasking and an ability to juggle competing and changing priorities and work under pressure.
• Ability to work independently as well as a team player, prepared to go the extra mile in supporting colleagues.
• Understanding the importance of confidentiality and use of discretion.
• Flexibility, successfully adapting to changing demands and conditions.
• Demonstrating self-confidence, initiative and being an innovative thinker.

This is a great opportunity to join a Firm which believes potential, inspiration and teamwork should be valued and nurtured. We work hard to create and sustain an open and collaborative environment. We embrace change and constantly evolve to meet our people’s diverse needs, in the same way that we help our clients to navigate and stay ahead of developments, to move forward together.

To apply please click below or if you would like to talk to someone about the role, please call Sarah McLean in our Recruitment Team.

Michelmores LLP is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We do not discriminate on grounds of race, gender, marital status, age, religion, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, disability or sexual orientation in the selection, recruitment and treatment of our staff.

As part of our recruitment policy, our candidates are subject to pre-employment screening checks. The Employee Screening Process includes DBS screening, adverse media checks, financial screening, and will also involve verification of employment history, your right to work in the UK and any relevant qualifications and memberships.

*No agencies please – any agency assistance will be via invitation only. Please note any speculative candidates submitted via agencies without invitation will not be considered as represented by that agent.