POSITION Legal Secretary/Personal Assistant (PA)– Dispute Resolution / Notary Public Team

LOCATION Town Gate, 38 London Street, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 7NY

SALARY Competitive salary dependent upon experience and ability and performance related bonus.

HOW TO APPLY Covering letter and CV to Faye McMahon, Operations and Finance Manager: [email protected]

Phillips Law is a leading Legal 500 law firm based in Basingstoke and is going through an exciting period of growth. We were awarded the Law Society Medium Law Firm of the Year in 2021, Hampshire Law Society Firm of the Year and Lawyer of the Year in 2022, Professional Services Firm of the Year in 2023 and Business of the Year and Winner of Winners at Basingstoke Inspire Awards 2023. We are a law firm that prides ourselves on standing in our client’s shoes and providing an excellent service to our clients.

Phillips has a strong and loyal client base with a substantial amount of work coming in from repeat clients and their referrals. We are a key member of the local business community and strive to be the market leader in the region. Phillips has culture of continuous growth and development, not only in terms of the expertise and the services we offer, but also in our engagement with the local community.

Role Overview and Dimensions

Your role calls for flexibility and versatility as you will work for Fee Earners both in our Dispute Resolution Team, as well as Fee Earners responsible for Notary Public Activity. This will be work that support fee earnings, administration as well as providing Personal Assistant (PA) duties to a Senior Partner. The people you support will be a mix of the more traditional paper-based approach, and so an ability to catalogue and work with paper files; as well as a more modern approach of working with electronic files will be needed.

The team currently comprises a Senior Partner, Consultant(s), Legal Director and Solicitor. Its an exciting time, as the team grows and the Senior Partner also undertakes significant business development work outside of the office environment and so this role also includes diary management, including appointment booking, expenses submissions, hotel and meeting bookings, other travel items and possibly some associated personal arrangements.

Experience requirements

• Experience gained as a Legal Secretary or Legal Assistant would be essential. Experience of working in a dispute resolution (litigation) or Commercial Property would be an advantage but not essential.
• Personal Assistance (PA) for senior employees, and a preparedness to administer, diary manage. Highly organised, with considerable life experience.
• Ideally more than 3 years legal sector experience.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Diary management.
• Collecting payments at reception with a card machine.
• Liaising with clients, booking them in and confirming that they will bring in specific documents. On occasion collecting payment from visitors at reception on a card machine.
• Assisting with file opening and closing process, including issuing engagement papers alongside general administration.
• Drafting documents and correspondence with strong digital dictation skills.
• Assisting fee earners with business development and working with marketing department.
• Preparing invoices, completion statements, financial statements and assisting with billing and payment process.
• Ordering official copies and property searches, filling in Stamp Duty Land Tax returns and submitting Land Registry applications.
• Managing Senior Partner(s) with Business development bookings, diary management as well as expenses submissions, or booking of travel.

Skills and Behaviours

• Strong administrative skills with a continued willingness to learn and a sense of curiosity.
• Able to work with and organise paper files, but also versatile in being able to work increasingly with scanned imagine and electronic files.
• Always able to maintain confidentiality including the internal confidentiality of senior people.
• Highly organised and able to prioritise own workload and highly adaptable.
• Fast and accurate typing skills of circa 60 wpm with digital dictation experience.
• Solid IT skills – MS Office particularly Word and to some extent Excel, Case Management Systems and Outlook.
• The ability to remain calm and professional when under pressure, with a clear client focus.
• Be a keen team player and be prepared to muck in with assisting other teams where required.
• Strong communication skills and ability to build and maintain long-term professional relationships.

Phillips Law – Benefits, Incentives and Local Initiatives

Phillips offers a performance related bonus, a company pension scheme, a group life assurance scheme, a day off for your birthday, hybrid working, and a cycle to work scheme. In addition, there are regular social events, a running and walking club, weekly fruit and free entry into the Basingstoke half marathon on which we are headline sponsors. Our people are allocated up to one day per annum to support local charitable events and initiatives.

We are an equal opportunities employer committed to equality and diversity within the workplace.