Personal Assistant

Location: Leamington Spa, CV34 6BF

Contract: Full Time, Permanent

Shifts: 36.25 hours per week, Monday – Friday, 9am-5:30pm with 1 hour 15 minutes unpaid break

Work model: Hybrid – office-based Tuesday to Thursday with the option to work from home Monday and Friday, depending on business requirements (flexibility required)

Williams Lea seeks a Personal Assistant to join our team!

Williams Lea is the leading global provider of skilled, technology-enabled, business-critical support services, with long-term trusted relationships with blue-chip clients across investment banks, law firms and professional services firms. Williams Lea employees, nearly 7000 people worldwide, who provide efficient business services at client sites in often complex and highly regulated environments, from centralised Williams Lea onshore facilities, and through best cost company offshore locations.

Purpose of role

The Personal Assistant’s principal role is to provide enhanced, proactive support to a team of fee earners enabling them to operate efficiently, reducing their time spent on administrative tasks as much as possible. The Personal Assistant and their support will enable fee earners to provide seamless legal services to their clients, helping them to maximise the amount of time they are able to spend on fee earning tasks.

The support provided needs to be seamless and of a high standard. The individual is expected to use a high degree of self-management, initiative, proactiveness and can maintain a high level of confidentiality and professionalism.

The Personal Assistant will act as workflow manager for other support services. This includes delegating and supervising the completion of document production, file management and copying/scanning tasks which are primarily undertaken by other relevant business support services, e.g. Office Services / Legal Admin.

  

Key responsibilities

Providing direct to support to a number of fee earnersProactively liaising with fee earners to discuss their workloads, deadlines and any upcoming projectsProactively managing complex diaries and key dates, including co-ordinating fee earner movements and making travel arrangementsEffectively and proactively monitoring fee earner mailboxesPreparing high quality documentation such as covering letters, spreadsheets and reports as requiredOrganising internal and external meetings – arranging meeting rooms and requesting cateringMonitoring and responding to emails in a professional and timely mannerManaging external telephone calls on behalf of the teamLiaising with clients via email, telephone and in person where required and acting as a point of contact alongside the fee earners, adhering to firm’s standards for client carePromptly and accurately opening new files within the firm’s Practice Management SystemDelivering an exceptional electronic and hard copy file management service,Undertaking necessary file closure activitiesProactively taking action ahead of critical diary datesCo-ordinating the completion of high-quality document production outputEfficiently delegating tasks to the relevant support teams with adequate instructions and clear deadlines, such as photocopying, scanning, couriers, letters/faxes etc.Taking full ownership and accountability of any delegated tasks with relevant support teams or third-party providers and seeing tasks through to completionCompleting financial tasks such as billing, invoicing, payments, requesting chequesSupporting with the collection of outstanding payments from clients and/or third partiesRegularly reviewing and moving forward the team case report to ensure financials and AML / compliance requirements are in order – liaising with clients where requiredProcessing fee earner expensesManaging the production of official documents including bundles, court papers, originals and any other relevant documentsUsing third party systems, portals or websites to undertake department specific tasks – e.g. Land Registry, InfoTrack, C-E filing, Companies House, OPG – and any other relevant systems, where requiredLiaising with internal departments including finance and compliancePrioritising the workload effectively by deadline, importance and time sensitivityActively participating in all relevant trainingDemonstrating flexibility with working practices and processes in line with the business needs, especially in times of pressure or high workloadProactively seeking support from peers or team leaders where any gaps in training or knowledge arise, instilling confidence in fee earners and the service providedSupporting the wider business where required and necessary, including other members of the wider support and legal teams, both proactively and at the request of the team leadersEnsure that personal and team working areas are always kept tidy and professionalAttend both team and firm wide meetings and trainings where scheduledAny other duties within the scope and spirit of the post as required

Personal attributes

Exceptional standard of written and verbal communicationProficient multi-taskerCompetent with the Microsoft Office suite and all forms of technology Flexible and dependable, able to take initiativeAble to remain calm under pressure and work to tight deadlines and defined SOPsConscientious, approachable and enthusiasticAble to quickly build confidence, respect and trust with othersHave a positive approach to daily tasks and have a solution and service delivery focused working methodAdaptable to changeTeam playerExcellent interpersonal skillsSolutions focusedHave a high level of confidentiality and integrityExceptional attention to detail

Rewards and Benefits

We believe in supporting our employees in both their professional and personal lives. As part of our commitment to your well-being, we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including but not limited to:

Free onsite parking25 days holiday, plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part time roles)Salary sacrifice schemes, retail vouchers – including our TechScheme which can be used on a range of gadgets such as Smart TV’s, laptops and computers or household appliances.Life AssurancePrivate Medical InsuranceDental InsuranceHealth AssessmentsCycle-to-work schemeDiscounted gym membershipsReferral SchemeOn-site restaurant and café

You will also have the opportunity to work for a global employer who is dedicated to offering each and every employee an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding career with future career development prospects!

Equality and Diversity

The Company values the differences that a diverse workforce brings to the organisation and will not discriminate because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation (each of these being a “protected characteristic” in discrimination law). It will not discriminate because of any other irrelevant factor and will build a culture that values openness, fairness and transparency.

If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like to make a reasonable adjustment to enable you to make an interview please contact us at careersatWL@williamslea.com(we do not accept applications to this email address).

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