Legal Administrative Assistant

Legal Administrative Assistant

Location: New York

Working Hours: 9 am - 5 pm; Non-exempt

Salary Range: $60,000 - $70,000

Job Description:

Primary Objectives:

To provide secretarial and administrative support at a consistent and high standard to partners, fee-earners, and office operations in the office to meet client requirements and deadlines to deliver an exceptional client experience.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Deliver high-quality, accurate work while managing deadlines, responding to change and the competing priorities of all work.
• Coordinate and produce accurate compliant documents and correspondence (including draft engagement and billing letters). Meet required deadlines and negotiate alternate timeframes when necessary. Utilize other services as appropriate.
• Establish effective work practices with partners and fee-earners to manage the matter life cycle from file opening to closure/archival. This includes adhering to the firm's conflicts process, managing information barriers, contributing to the effective management of electronic and hard copy content and active legal project management.
• Implement effective telephone call management and other communication work practices. Ensure callers and other parties receive consistent, high-quality service and their expectations are managed. Take all steps necessary to ensure that team members are aware of partners', fee-earners', and your own movements.
• Manage internal and external appointments with appropriate meeting lead and travel times, assisting with meeting preparation and the coordination of post-meeting actions (this includes coordinating/printing documentation and organizing meeting room logistics as required).
• Coordinate detailed travel arrangements for assignments, including appropriate visa documentation and domestic and international itineraries.
• Arrange lunches, dinners, and other events as required, including reviewing venues and menu planning, and ensuring costs are maintained against budget. Booking conference rooms as needed, handling the arrival of guests.
• Manage own email. This includes timely filing of emails (including hard copy filing where necessary), filtering incoming correspondence, proactively dealing with queries and meeting invites. Deal with hard copy mail/post in the same manner.
• Ensure electronic filing is up to date and undertaken regularly. This includes saving documents as required and filing them in the relevant files promptly.
• Assist with expense claims and invoice approval forms in a timely manner; updating tracker charts where appropriate. Cross-functional communication with other offices and internal departments for follow-through.
• Assist with narrative edits of bills and with managing alternative pricing arrangements and cross-border invoicing and follow up throughout the entire process.
• Prepare OFF-SITE files for archiving and manage return and retrieval of files following firm guidelines. Maintaining records of the same.
• Treat your key relationships as 'internal clients' and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and a commitment to providing them with an exceptional experience, including being a key point of contact for the team.
• Take an interest in the office practice areas, key matters, issues, and 'hot topics; so that appropriate priority is given to queries and requests and issues are escalated where necessary.
• Serve as primary backup coverage for the reception desk and Office Services as needed. Binding and printing projects. Coordinating courier packages, FedEx, etc., outside vendors.
• Adhere to firm, office, and practice group policies and procedures, including those that are formal, informal, documented, or verbal.
• Take all necessary steps to ensure you are aware of correct procedures. Maintaining inquisitive, collaborative, and vigilant work habits, keeping abreast of changes and developing more efficient work processes. Demonstrate this in your interactions with others.
• Demonstrate enthusiasm and proactivity in the workplace, including participating in and contributing to secretarial and practice group meetings, firm initiatives, welcoming and settling in new starters, projects, focus groups, pilot groups, team-building activities, learning and development sessions, and other relevant activities.
• Take responsibility for your learning, undertake recommended training, keep up to date and comply with firm policies, adopt new or improved firm and practice group recommended work practices, and share information with others about better ways of working.
• Provide secretarial support to visitors, ensuring their needs are met.
• Be available and prepared to contribute towards working out of office hours to a reasonable extent.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Partners, fee-earners, and business services managers are satisfied with the level of administrative support they receive, and agree that the quality of support you provide meets expectations.
• Documents produced and coordinated are accurate and completed within agreed timeframes.
• Task-based work is consistently completed as requested, within agreed timeframes and is of a high standard.
• A reputation within the practice group for being an effective, proactive, helpful, and supportive team member.
• Colleagues (including all fee-earners, secretaries, and Business Services staff) are confident that they can approach you and will receive a level of assistance that is appropriate in the circumstances.
• Compliance with the firm's and practice group's policies, guidelines, and recommended ways of working.
• Assigned partner and fee-earner client contact and activity information is up to date and accurate.
• Support provided to partners and fee-earners on matter management activities has assisted to meet client and firm obligations effectively.

Qualifications, Skills & Experience:

• Associate