Practice Assistant

Owen Reed is looking for an experienced, proactive and highly organised Practice Assistant to join the Charity & Community team of a top law firm in London.

Hybrid Working: Three to four days in the office during the first two months, reducing to two days per week afterwards.

Working Hours: 9.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., Monday to Friday. It is essential that the successful applicant is committed, flexible and prepared to work beyond normal office hours when necessary and in response to demand.

ResponsibilitiesOrganisational Support

• Effective and proactive diary management, and awareness of Fee Earners' workloads to plan ahead, with minimal supervision
• Processes relevant applications, forms or searches, with minimal supervision
• Has a good knowledge of all systems/processes used within the Department

Client Relationship and Business Development

• Provides excellent service to clients, both internal and external, in a timely and professional manner, presenting a positive image of the Firm at all times
• Acts as a first point of contact for Fee Earners
• Provides assistance in the delivery of marketing communications, and records all business development meetings in the CRM system
• Recognises, respects and honours client confidentiality at all times

Document Production

• Creates typed work of a high quality, formatting in accordance with house style, at high speed, with accuracy and following internal guidelines
• Makes effective use of the Document Management System
• Creates new documents from the Firm's templates, using contact data from the CRM system where appropriate
• Proof-reads all documents for spelling, grammar and sense, querying wording where appropriate

IT Skills and Systems

• Maintains a high level of proficiency in core IT applications including the Microsoft Office suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook)

File Management

• Adopts a pro-active approach and works with Fee Earners effectively, to maintain regular file management, to ensure all files are up to date, closed and archived, as appropriate
• Keeps accurate records of all files sent to off-site storage via Records

Financial Risk Management

• Prepares bills, as required by Fee Earners
• Prepares AML documentation and obtains relevant documentation from clients in a timely manner, as required by Fee Earners
• Carries out conflict searches and correctly identifies the work type

Skills and Experience

• Qualified to GCSE standard, grade C/level 4 (or equivalent) at Mathematics and English essential
• Previous secretarial experience in a law firm essential and previous experience working in Charity and Community would be helpful