This is an exciting opportunity to join our highly regarded Private Wealth Disputes Team as a Personal Assistant, providing high-level support to Partners and Fee Earners within a dynamic and market-leading practice.
The successful candidate will provide proactive, high-quality personal assistance, administrative and operational support to Partners and Fee Earners across the Firm. The role is designed to deliver a flexible, tailored and responsive service, combining traditional secretarial support with broader PA-style duties and regular client interaction, where appropriate. The role moves beyond process-driven administration and requires strong organisational skills, confidence in dealing with clients, effective delegation, and the ability to support fee earners in managing their matters, time and priorities efficiently.
This role plays a key part in enabling the smooth and effective running of their legal practice through a collaborative, needs-led approach. While the precise mix of responsibilities may vary depending on the Partners and Fee Earners supported and the nature of the practice area, the role is focused on delivering consistent, business-focused support aligned to the firm's operating model, rather than personal or lifestyle assistance.
The PA will be supporting a Partner, a Consultant, 4 Senior Associates and an Associate in the Private Wealth Disputes team.
Key Responsibilities
PA & Fee Earner Support
- Provide proactive PA-style support to Partners and Fee Earners to enable the smooth running of their legal practice.
- Manage and prioritise workloads effectively using BigHand, Outlook and related systems, ensuring tasks are completed accurately and within agreed timeframes.
- Provide diary management support where appropriate, coordinating meetings, deadlines and key dates, and proactively supporting effective scheduling and diary integrity in line with individual Partner and Fee Earner preferences.
- Build effective working relationships with fee earners to deliver a personalised and flexible support service.
Client & Matter Support - Act as a point of contact for clients on an ad-hoc basis where required, handling routine communications confidently and professionally and escalating matters where appropriate.
- Assist with the preparation and amendment of legal documentation on a limited basis, ensuring accuracy and presentation and adherence to firm templates, liaising with the Document Centre where appropriate.
- Support quality control processes and ensure matter documentation is accurate, complete and compliant.
- Oversee matter lifecycle administration, including file maintenance and closure in line with firm procedures.
Finance & Billing Support
- Oversee the production of draft invoices and narratives to agreed monthly deadlines.
- Process finance administration in line with firm protocols, including supporting fee earners and partners with completing payments, transfers, receipts, write-offs, disbursements and WIP updates.
- Process Partner and Fee Earner expense claims in accordance with firm policy.
- Liaise with Finance and Revenue Control teams to support billing accuracy, cash collection and firm targets, while proactively assisting fee earners and partners with their expenses claims.
Systems, Documents & Data Management - Use iManage, HighQ and data rooms at a high level, supporting matter management, document organisation and secure information sharing.
- Manage electronic filing and document storage in accordance with firm naming, saving and iManage protocols, ensuring compliance and supporting audit and regulatory requirements.
- Promote good document management practices by ensuring Partners and Fee Earners are kept informed of applicable saving and filing standards, helping to minimise the risk of breaches.
- Use Bundledocs and DocuSign accurately when required.
Download, save and maintain documents from external platforms into iManage as requested. - Support data room organisation and document version control to ensure clarity, consistency and compliance across matters.
Administrative & Operational Support
- Coordinate training bookings, including liaising with training providers, arranging payment, updating diaries and coordinating associated travel in collaboration with the Business Development team and the firm’s external travel provider, as well as assisting partners and fee earners with a range of Business Development activities.
- Arrange internal and external meetings, conferences and events as requested.
- Screen incoming calls and support enquiry handling for Partners and Fee Earners in collaboration with Reception, using Microsoft Teams (audio and video) where appropriate to provide a professional and responsive experience for clients and colleagues.
Team Support & Collaboration - Delegate tasks appropriately to Legal Administrators within the support structure, providing clear instructions and oversight as needed.
- Provide broader team support during periods of absence or high workload, including both in-office and remote support where appropriate.
- Share know-how and best practice across the Legal PA and Legal Admin community, contributing to continuous improvement of working practices.
- Update guidance materials and working practices documentation where appropriate.
- Work in collaboration with the Systems Trainer to help ensure Legal Administrators receive appropriate systems training and ongoing support relevant to their role.
Person Specification
The ideal candidate will possess most of the following attributes:
- Strong academics, particularly English and Maths.
- A minimum of three years demonstrable experience as a Personal Assistant with at least a minimum of 6 months’ experience working within a Private Wealth Disputes team.
- Excellent IT skills and familiarity with the commonly used applications for document management and dictation.
- Meticulous attention to detail and be able to demonstrate experiences of working as a team.
- Excellent time management and organisational skills.
You will be a confident communicator with a positive work ethic and the ability to build credible relationships with clients both internal and external. We are looking for an individual who presents themselves with professionalism and polish, who will inspire the confidence of clients and colleagues.
