SPA - Global Regulatory, International Trade

Keen to become part of a truly global, collaborative team of professionals? Your journey begins here. Job title Senior PA Department Global Regulatory - International Trade Office location London office. Reports to Head of Secretarial Services. Working hours 35 hours per week, 9:30am to 5:30pm, with additional hours possibly required. We are happy to consider agile and flexible working patterns. Our approach to hybrid working allows for up to 40% of time working from home and 60% working in the office. Please contact a member of the recruitment team to discuss further.

Role Description

Delivering a professional secretarial, organisational and administrative service, including supporting client billing. The role requires a proactive and responsible individual with a proven track record of independently managing their workload, demonstrating initiative, and delivering comprehensive, client-focused solutions in a dynamic and evolving environment for an allocation of lawyers within a legal group.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Organisational Skills - Take ownership of tasks from start to finish, ensuring delivery of high quality work on time and to expectations. Organise and prioritise workload, maintaining a level headed approach in a dynamic environment, and communicate regularly with fee earners to provide status updates. Plan for and deliver high quality, accurate work whilst managing deadlines, responding to change and competing priorities.
• Diary, Meeting and Mailbox Management - Support inbox management and proactively manage conflicting demands, scheduling challenges and provide solutions. Proactive diary management, including arranging meetings, conferences, lunches and other appointments using business knowledge. Organise travel in accordance with the Global Travel Policy, providing detailed itineraries to fee earners. Take accurate and detailed telephone messages.
• Client Interaction & Relationship Building - Build an understanding of the fee earners' work, get to know their clients and build relationships with them and the client PAs. Initiate regular communication with allocated fee earners to understand priorities and support requirements. Take ownership of client enquiries, resolving or escalating as appropriate, and build a network of strong working relationships both internally and externally.
• Business Development & Commercial Awareness - Demonstrate active interest in the firm's clients, business needs and commitment to responsible business. Assist partners and fee earners with BD responsibilities, including pitches and updating CVs and credentials.
• Billing and Financial Administration - Work independently to a high standard in billing cycles, with an understanding of client preferences and firm systems. Support the client billing process using 3E: prepare and generate bills, maintain accurate records of expenses, disbursements and fees, liaise with the billing department to track payments, and respond to internal and external requests for supporting documentation.
• Team Contribution - Support wider team and department administration tasks to manage workload peaks and troughs when capacity allows. Provide cover for others in the wider team as requested and support team admin across other practice areas where necessary.
• Collaboration and Communication - Actively contribute to a collaborative team environment by sourcing, sharing, and exchanging knowledge while supporting new colleagues. Proactively communicate with line manager on workload issues, capacity and hybrid working arrangements.
• Learning and Adaptability - Take responsibility for own continued learning, undertake recommended training, keep up to date with and comply with firm policies. Learn and maintain strong knowledge in own practice area.
• Documentation and Filing - Produce long, complex and accurate documents; remain up to date with HL house style and apply correctly to documents. Manuscript amends, audio dictation and document comparisons, proofread own work. Utilise the firm's document support services effectively, taking ultimate ownership of tasks and ensuring consistency and quality. Maintain accurate filing systems, including e filing, in accordance with archiving protocols.

Person Specification

• Excellent interpersonal skills with an ability to interact with people at all levels.
• Self motivated individual with a proactive approach.
• Keen to take ownership and think quickly to solve administrative challenges.
• Client orientated focus - internally and externally.
• Willing to learn, resilient and adaptable when faced with change, maintaining strong performance under challenging conditions.
• Flexibility with overtime.

Skills and Experience

• Previous legal PA experience, preferably within International Trade.
• Excellent secretarial skills, fast and accurate typing.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong document production skills.
• Strong billing experience, including e billing, preferably 3E.
• Excellent organisational and administrative ability.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• A working knowledge of French (desirable).

Professional/Technical Skills

• Accurate typing at minimum 60 wpm.
• Advanced knowledge of MS Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Experience of 3E and billing processes.

Qualifications and Training

• Minimum 5 GCSEs or equivalent at grade 4 or above, including English and Mathematics.

AGILE WORKING STATEMENT

Our goal is to embed flexibility across our business by giving everyone the opportunity to work in an agile way, whether as a regular pattern or on an ad hoc basis and we will be happy to discuss this further.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYMENT STATEMENT

It is the policy of Hogan Lovells Cadawlader to provide equal opportunities for all employees in relation to recruitment, training and promotion. Decisions in these areas will be made only by reference to the requirements of the job and shall not be influenced by any consideration of age, disability, ethnic origin, gender identity, religion, sex or sexual orientation.