Secretary – 6-month fixed-term contract

Job Purpose

To provide comprehensive secretarial support to fee earners within the team located in the Birmingham office, and provide wider support to the team when required, as well as to help meet client expectations in line with the department’s objectives.

The Team

The Housing Management & Property Litigation team is one of the largest in England & Wales, and acts for over 100 Registered Providers (RPs) advising on all aspects of housing management and property litigation advice. We also act for private organisations, land owners, developers, investors, charities, and local authorities.

We believe that effective housing management is key to our clients’ performance as social landlords and housing providers.

Duties and Responsibilities

This is not an exhaustive list and from time to time it may be necessary to vary these to meet the department and business needs.

• Audio and copy typing and document processing;
• Formatting documents and any other relevant documentation as directed;
• File openings;
• Organising and maintaining tidy and accurate files both in hard copy and electronically;
• Producing invoices and dealing with any queries that may arise once invoices are issued;
• Produce frequent summaries of account ledgers and ensure that all balances are tidied or cleared wherever possible then archiving files as appropriate;
• Diary management for the fee earner(s);
• Prepare comprehensive travel itineraries and book transport and accommodation as required;
• Receiving phone calls from clients; routing them or taking messages as appropriate;
• General administrative support for the department e.g., filing, photocopying;
• Manage workload capacity and provide regular updates to the Secretary Coordinator;
• To provide cover and support to the other secretaries within the team as and when required. Flexibility is important as there can be considerable fluctuations in the amount of work produced by fee earners.

Person Specification

Attributes and Skills Required:

• A minimum of three years’ experience within a legal secretary position;
• A high attention to detail to produce work / documentation which is consistently of a high standard;
• A typing speed of +60wpm, together with relevant legal secretarial experience;
• Experienced in both audio and copy typing;
• An advanced knowledge of Word applications such as auto – numbering, bookmarks, and track changes;
• Ability to organise and paginate large documents using Word/PDF format;
• Competent with MS PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Internet applications;
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal;
• Ability to prioritise workload to increase efficiency for the team;
• Shows initiative and is self-motivated;
• Able to convey clear and concise information to clients and external organisations, which will not compromise the practice or the firm.