Job Description
Job Title: Legal PA
Department: Corporate, Transactional Services
Location: Dubai
Type of Contract / Hours of work: Monday to Friday, 40 Hours per week
Purpose of the role:
Services to be delivered to the business in a manner which is consistent with the increasingly competitive environment in which the Firm operates.
This role is intended to embrace a team-working approach, collaborating with lawyers and other members of Business Operations to fulfil the needs of the business. In addition to being assigned to a number of specific lawyers, it is expected that a Legal PA will work with every member of the team to ensure that overall needs are met.
Support may need to be provided to staff from more than one business unit and numbers and content of the group may change from time to time to reflect the current structure of the Firm.
Key Responsibilities:
Client Service
Your responsibility to deliver excellent service to our clients
- Building and maintaining effective relationships with both internal and external clients and their teams and developing knowledge of their business
- Actively contributing to client service initiatives in the group, including attending client events and seminars where required
- Developing and maintaining core sector understanding to support delivery of optimum client service
Planning & Organisation
How you use your organisational skills to ensure the lawyers you work with have the information they need on a daily basis
- Liaising regularly (at least on a weekly basis and daily where appropriate) with lawyers to identify work commitments and prioritising your workload accordingly
- Proactively identify areas of responsibility and tasks you can take ownership of
- Diary management for lawyers including arranging meetings and appointments, both internally and externally, ensuring the Outlook diary is up to date and holds all the necessary information in relation to the appointment including taking responsibility for booking travel, meeting rooms and arranging for necessary equipment and refreshments
- Proactive advance monitoring of lawyers diaries, reminding them of diary commitments and taking responsibility for the provision of all supporting paperwork and necessary information for each meeting
- Liaising with the travel company to make travel and accommodation arrangements keeping lawyers advised of any changes in scheduling and proactively ensuring they have an accurate and up to date itinerary and all the relevant travel details are in the Outlook diary
- Liaising with Business Operations to resolve problems on lawyers behalf and taking ownership of the issue, following up where appropriate
- Delegation of appropriate work types/requests to all available support services in order to promote optimum efficiency
Managing Communications
How you assist lawyers in their communications with colleagues and clients
- Taking ownership of answering lawyers telephone calls when they are unavailable, taking accurate messages and passing them on promptly, trying to assist and answer any non-legal queries if possible and ensuring the caller receives a satisfactory response
- Screening, prioritising and dealing with lawyers incoming e-mails, post and voicemail when lawyers are out of the office, acknowledging receipt and responding where able and appropriate
- Management and co-ordination of lawyers e-mails
- Preparing presentation slides and materials for internal/external meetings and events
- Drafting short letters, memos or notes (non-legal content) in a literate and professional manner
Document & File Management
How you ensure that the documentation we produce is of the highest quality and our files are accurate and up to date
- Proactively ensuring that Document Services is utilised effectively
- Managing production of documents (produced in-house and externally), co-ordinating changes made including taking responsibility for the consistency of those documents (e.g. formatting, numbering, CompareDocs etc).
- Coordinating typing of audio files, drafting correspondence, producing documents/letters/e-mails and memos
- Opening client files, including completing conflict searches and money laundering checks in conjunction with lawyers, preparation of client engagement letters, collating all the relevant information required and maintaining client files on a day to day basis, including delegation of filing where required
- Ensuring documents are filed on iManage with correct file and matter details so that they can be located easily
- Undertaking regular reviews of files and papers for lawyers, checking account balances and liaising with lawyers to ensure that all files which are not current are archived and deeds are put in storage
Business Development/Relationship Management
How you can contribute to developing the Firm's business and maintaining excellent relationships with our clients and potential clients
- Inputting uniform practice group credentials into the Credentials Database in a timely manner
- Organising events in conjunction with Business Development including logging responses into InterAction and attending events to meet and greet clients where necessary
- Undertaking research on clients, potential clients and new business initiatives or opportunities, including putting together briefing packs as and when required
- Collating information for preparation of regular client updates or reports as and when required, including subscribing to relevant alerts in InterAction and maintenance of general client information
- Assisting lawyers with follow-ups to business development meetings, for example drafting thank you emails, diarising reminders or arranging follow-up meetings
- Collating information for preparation of bids, tenders, proposal documents, team sheets and client briefing documents and preparing the first draft of documentation where appropriate, including keeping lawyers CVs up to date
- Maintaining up to date contact details in InterAction for all lawyers contacts, prompting lawyers to complete an InterAction report following meetings or completing the report on their behalf
- Knowledge and ensure timely provision of key business development materials for the lawyers and their practice area including liaising with lawyers and BD to ensure that relevant social media accounts (LinkedIn etc.) and the Pinsent Masons Web presence is kept regularly updated with business specific materials
Billing, Financial & Project Management
How you can assist lawyers in managing their matters/projects and utilise our systems to the maximum benefit
- Attending internal client or project meetings to take notes and assisting with action points if required
- Assisting lawyers with the billing process, agreeing in advance dates for billing, delegating requisition of pre-bills and following up on the same, drafting narratives and covering letters (if required) and coordinate with the lawyers for sign off
- Utilising Aderant to assist lawyers with financial queries and subscribing to relevant alerts in order to provide information to lawyers
- Developing good knowledge of the Firm's accounts procedures, coordination of cheque requisitions, TT and BACS authorisations and processing client monies and ensuring all supporting paperwork is completed promptly and accurately with partner authorisation
- Assisting lawyers with client account balances to ensure all funds are returned after a matter is completed
PA/TA Team member
How you act as a Team member to other PAs and TAs
- Attending monthly PA Team meetings to support other team members when needed
- Cover for other PA during holidays within a fixed holiday rota
- Coordinate and delegate tasks to TAs where appropriate, utilising all the resources the firm provides
Person specification:
We are seeking a highly motivated and detail-oriented individual who relishes the opportunity to work in a successful and growing team. The ideal candidate will be extremely proactive, particularly in relation to diary management, meeting planning and travel arrangements, anticipating needs to contribute to the smooth operations of the team. The candidate will excel in client interaction.
The candidate will have a flexible and adaptable approach, be reliable with a strong work ethic. The candidate must remain calm under pressure, communicate effectively with peers, and meet tight deadlines. They should be capable of executing and distributing workload efficiently and actively participating as a team member. The role requires an experienced PA who is extremely organized, able to juggle priorities, and work independently while maintaining absolute confidentiality and professionalism. Strong communication skills are a must.
