Trainee Executive Assistant - Real Estate

The role

The firm’s Executive Support Services team (ESS) is responsible for co-ordinating and organising administrative support to all areas of the business including lawyers and the business services teams.  Reporting to the local office Executive Services Manager or Team Leader, this Trainee Executive Assistant role is based within the Real Estate National Service Line and works closely with other roles including Executive Assistants, Document Production Specialists and Administration Assistants.  This role is responsible for the lead support to at least two assigned lawyers and the expectation and training provision is intended to provide the skills and experience needed to be promoted to an Executive Assistant with more lawyer responsibility.

The person

This is a busy and challenging role and to be successful, your background will probably include:

• recent office administration experience

• a secretarial/administration qualification

• experience of providing administration support eg diary management, arranging travel

• a good understanding of Microsoft Office systems, Word and Outlook

• experience with technology and inputting data

In addition, the role requires someone who:

• is able to work as part of a team and establish good working relationships at all levels

• has good planning and organisation skills

• is flexible and willing to work additional hours on occasion as the role demands

• remains calm under pressure

• will provide outstanding support and client service at all times

• is confident in setting and prioritising their own work agenda whilst having the skills to delegate to others

• has good written and verbal communication skills

• has excellent attention to detail

• is willing to take on new responsibilities and challenges

The activities

Key activities that you will undertake to support your lawyers will include:

• Ensuring that all client/matter information is kept up to date and is accurate throughout the life of the matter

• Drafting various correspondence and documents (including occasionally copy typing of short documents when it is not appropriate to send them to the document production team)

• Progressing instructions from clients as required

• Creating and updating court bundles, using the firm’s IT systems; ShareFile and Collaborate

• Delegating tasks as appropriate to other roles within the ESS team.  For example, documents and digital dictation is delegated to Document Production Specialists and scanning and photocopying, including relabelling is delegated to the Administration Assistants.  You will also quality check the returned work for the lawyers

• Having regular catch-up sessions with your lawyers to ensure you are up to date with their matters and know the expected short term workload

• Being aware of agreed deadlines and working with your lawyers to manage these

• Co-ordinating internal meetings including room booking, catering, parking etc

• Managing emails including monitoring lawyer and colleague inboxes

• Arranging conference calls including webinars/Teams calls

• Co-ordinating inter-office or working from home arrangements including travel, desk and equipment bookings

• Assisting your lawyers to complete any missing timesheets

• Attending team meetings

• Adding court dates/reminders to diaries and in the IT system MatterSphere

• Updating the firm’s intranet as required

• Assisting / supervising Administration Assistants with specific tasks when required

• Supporting marketing and BD events including processing feedback forms from seminars

As this role becomes more experienced, it is anticipated that the following tasks will be undertaken

Covering all finance processes including:

• Billing matters including printing billing guides, preparing breakdowns/WIP notes and despatching with covering correspondence

• Anti-Money Laundering compliance including conflict checks, dealing with queries, matter risk assessments and liaising with Central Inception and clients for ID

• Assisting with and co-ordinating rate review letters

• Checking estimates and collating bills including adding and chasing counsel or expert fee notes

• Dealing with client cost queries including client status reports/updating MatterSphere

• Dealing with finance queries including aged debt, liaising with lawyer/ Finance over queries including write offs

• Updating I4G

• Finance forms including FREDs, reports, POs/purchasing requests, processing expenses etc

• Liaising with lawyers to update fee estimates, outstanding billing task list and managing annual rate review letter process

• Financial housekeeping catch ups with lawyer

Other:

• Client/matter creation through MatterSphere and updating tasks, alerts, estimating tool etc

• Managing new client enquiries including NSL specific helplines, website, phone calls etc and logging referral sources

• Engrossments including delegation to DPS and proof reading

• Bundle, ShareFile & Collaborate creation

• Depending on NSL working towards learning bespoke packages eg Companies House, Land Registry, Searchflow.

Pre-employment screening

Please note that, in the event that we make an offer of employment, we will conduct pre-employment screening that includes checks relating to your professional and academic qualifications, references from previous employers, your eligibility to work in the UK and any disciplinary history recorded with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). You will also be required to complete a self-declaration to access your character and suitability.

Disclosure and barring service check

This post is also subject to a satisfactory response from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to check for any previous criminal convictions/cautions.

The Mills & Reeve Executive Support Services (ESS) career structure

We have a firm wide ESS career structure and published career progression frameworks for each of the ESS roles of which there are five career levels.  For the purposes of the framework, this role is at an assistant level and the role profile that details the outcomes and activities expected of an assistant across the firm is included with this job description.  Further information on the firm’s ESS career structure is available from the HR team.