Assistant (Legal Secretary)

Department: Secretarial

Location: London

The firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world’s leading international law firms. The Firm was established in 1884 and has more than 1,000 lawyers. Headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Brussels, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., the Firm provides coordinated legal advice and transactional capability to clients around the globe.

Description/Job Summary

Providing a high level and proactive support to an allocation of partners and associates in relation to client and administrative matters ensuring that the needs of the client are met.

Responsibilities/Duties

• Acting as gatekeeper for fee earners, answering telephone calls, directing as appropriate and providing accurate information.
• Diary management for fee earners.
• Assisting with the drafting of correspondence and documents where appropriate e.g. emails, event invites and engagement letters.
• Amending, converting and formatting documents and processing mark-ups; creating and amending pitch documents in PowerPoint.
• Arranging travel for fee earner meetings and events etc. including domestic and international travel.
• Assisting with fee earner time recording.
• Arranging internal and client meetings to include room bookings and organising lunches.
• Managing fee earner expense claims.
• Supporting wider team members as and when needed.
• Any other duties required to ensure a full administrative service to fee earners.

Matter Management and Input

• Opening new matters, assisting the fee earner with conflict checks and liaising with the risk/client engagement team.
• Completing matter opening forms.
• Assisting the fee earner with implementing and monitoring Chinese walls and insider lists when required.
• Assisting with billing tasks when required.

Client

• Client interacting role, therefore, knowledge of all key clients and their assistants with regular direct communication.
• Liaising with clients to arrange meetings.
• Assisting with answering billing queries by email or over the phone.
• Arranging BD/networking events with clients.

Required Skills

• Professional and courteous manner, building and maintaining effective working relationships.
• Extensive knowledge of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook and other MS Office products is essential.
• Knowledge of document management systems.
• Fast and accurate typing with excellent attention to detail.
• Ability to prioritise workload.
• Ability to self-manage and deal with conflicting priorities from different sources.
• Excellent communication and organisational skills with the ability to communicate with staff at all levels, including Partners and clients.
• Ability to work effectively within a team as well as independently.
• Must be flexible.

Details

Salary and Benefits: Competitive

Hybrid: Monday-Thursday in office, ability to WFH on Fridays

Simpson Thacher is committed to ensuring that everyone can reach their full potential, irrespective of background, identity, or circumstance. We know that we are at our best when we bring together diverse experiences and perspectives. This is why we are focused on fostering a collegial environment which maximises collaboration, empowering every individual to thrive and succeed.