Legal Secretary

Birketts is a full service UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol Cambridge Chelmsford Ipswich London Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: property corporate services litigation and private client advisory.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 5th best law firm to work at in 2024.

With our ambition to succeed comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do with female partners comprising 40 of our partnership.

Our vibrant energetic Corporate team boasts some of the best lawyers in the region specialising in all aspects of corporate law covering a wide variety of corporate transactions including M&A private equity reorganisations company restructures and general corporate governance matters.

The team currently comprises over 60specialist qualified corporate law solicitors including 15partners making us one of the largest Corporate teams in the East of England.

The team in Ipswich consists of 11 including 4 Partners and 2 Legal Directors and who work over a broad range of corporate transactions and clients.

• Proactively working with fee earners to ensure relevant documentation is produced to meet clients expectations and deadlines;
• To amend documentation and paperwork in relation to transactions and work undertaken by the fee earners;
• To produce format and present documents in Birketts LLP house style;
• Proof read all work checking for spelling and grammar;
• Understands a variety of software packages such as Microsoft Word Outlook and Excel to produce correspondence documents and ensure relevant documentation is produced to a high standard to meet clients and fee earners expectations and deadlines;
• Manage diaries of allocated fee earners in Microsoft Outlook;
• Dealing with client and file inception through our firms client matter management database and software
• Accurately maintain and update client and other relevant contact details on our client database including AML requirements and other client onboarding information;
• Manage and maintain on behalf of allocated fee earners our client relationship management data base;
• Ensure that all electronic filing is up to date and maintained at regular intervals;
• Respond to internal and external telephone enquiries professionally;
• Provide financial administrative support ensuring compliance with legal firm wide and practice group specific policies and procedures;
• Keeping accurate and up to date records of all debt ensuring that items are followed up and escalated to the central credit control officer at the appropriate point in time and keeping the team leader up to date with any potential issyes with clients ability to settle bills;
• Carry out photocopying and scanning in accordance with the firms paperlite and clear desk policies;
• Ability to communicate with a wide variety of different people from privately owned businesses to private equity and venture capital organisations;
• Show initiative when responding to queries and actively try to seek solutions to problems;
• Assist in maintaining compliant and accurate file management and office systems;
• Proactively support other members of the secretarial team and to provide cover as and when necessary to ensure that work is completed to a high standard and meets the required deadlines;
• Clarify instructions from fee earners should they be unclear or if deadlines are not made explicit.

You will have the ability to contribute at an operational level with excellent communication skills and can demonstrate general skills in:

• Strong administration experience;
• Positive enthusiastic and professional approach;
• Ability to work independently and prioritise work streams;
• Methodical approach to work and management of fee earners and team projects;
• Strong attention to detail high level organisational skills and reliable;
• Selfmotivated with an ability to use own initiative with a desire to learn;
• 50 wpm typing speed;
• Solid understanding of key IT packages to include Outlook Word PowerPoint and Excel;
• A team player with a desire to succeed and grow;
• Excellent spelling and punctuation.

At Birketts our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success development and wellbeing of our colleagues helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment we offer the following core benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
• Long Service holiday award 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme 5 employer / 5 Employee)
• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme
• Salary sacrifice (Pensions Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid CSR Day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Agile/Hybrid Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy

is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. We welcome applications from people looking for flexible agile and parttime roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age disability sex race religion or belief gender reassignment marriage or civil partnership pregnancy or maternity or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all valuing the right mix of talent skills and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.