Bevan Brittan is a UK-Top 100
commercial law firm providing a comprehensive range of legal
services from offices in Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds and London.
The firm advises businesses across
construction, energy & resource management, higher education and
financial services, complementing the firm's market leadership
within housing, local government and health and social care.
We currently employ over 500 staff, including over 80 Partners, and
our award-winning teams provide construction, commercial, corporate,
property, regulatory, employment and litigation (commercial and
clinical negligence) legal advice.
Bevan Brittan is named among 'The
Times Best Law Firms 2022' and has recently either won or been
shortlisted for a number of presitigous awards including 'Property
Law Firm of the Year' at the Insider Yorkshire Property Industry
Awards 2021 and Finalist for 'Law Firm of the Year: Large' category
at the Yorkshire Legal Awards 2021.
Bevan Brittan is an equal
opportunities employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds.
Learn from the best
Bevan Brittan has strong
recognition in the independent legal directories - Chambers &
Partners and Legal 500. In both guides we are consistently ranked in
the top tier for our practices across the UK, with multiple
individuals recognised as leading lawyers.
"By far Bevan Brittan is the most flexible, pragmatic,
skilled and reliable legal firm I have worked with."- Chambers
UK, 2022
Rise to the Challenge
A vacancy has arisen for a
Personal Assistant within the Social Housing Property Department.
On joining the team, you would
undertake a variety of work providing the lawyers, including
property lawyers with the administrative support they need to
provide seamless legal services to clients and help them maximise
the amount of time they are able to spend on fee-earning tasks. The
PA will become involved in all aspects of the management and
execution of their allocated Lawyers' day to day workload by
providing exceptional and proactive administrative support. The PA
will act as workflow manager for other support services including
delegating and supervising the completion of document production,
file management and copying/scanning work. The PA will take an
active interest in and obtain a thorough understanding of all
aspects of client requirements to provide exceptional service levels
to both the lawyers and clients.
Key responsibilities
In line with policies and
procedures, key responsibilities include:
Administrative:
Manage diaries, ensuring they
are up to date and reminding lawyers of meetings etc on a daily basis.
Arrange meetings, book
conference rooms, refreshments, check rooms prior to meetings etc.
and liaise with other attendees, both internal and external.
Organise travel arrangements,
book and confirm reservations and deal with related details.
Arrange or, where necessary,
conduct photocopying, printing, organising couriers, sending out
of letters, faxes etc.
Arrange for files to be opened
and closed, supervise general filing requirements and record keeping.
Use effective systems to ensure
that both short and long term tasks are completed within required timescales.
Support lawyers in marketing
activities including involvement in preparation of pitches and presentations.
Liaising with Business
Development and Marketing regarding arrangements for events and
producing marketing material.
Communication:
Take internal and external
telephone queries, responding as appropriate and/or ensuring that
all messages are passed on in a timely manner.
Monitor post and/or e-mails and
dealing with as appropriate and ensure that all client related
correspondence is passed on to an appropriate fee earner if the
relevant person is out of the office.
Liaise with business support
departments on behalf of lawyers as required.
Client relationship management:
Reporting to external clients on
a weekly and monthly basis
Assist in resolving client queries
Become an active part in the
care of clients and be wholly familiar with contacts/clients.
Enter, maintain and update
client details and relevant information on the firm's contacts system.
Deal with basic client queries
and general administration.
Arrange client meetings.
Projects and teamwork:
Engaging in projects with fee
earners from time to time.
Contributing to ongoing service
improvement initiatives.
Playing a key administrative role.
Organising work and
participating in the day to day work of the team.
Financial:
Assist lawyers in the billing
and credit control process by liaising with the lawyer and
accounts and to produce standard financial/time reports through
the system.
Request cheques, bank transfers
and paying in money received, as appropriate
Find out how far you can go
The person must have a good
working knowledge of Land Registry, property searches and Scheduling
of Deeds, ensuring that their skill set is up to date and they are
familiar with the firm's departments, key personnel, clients,
internal systems and procedures. This will ensure that the PA is
able to carry out his or her role effectively and, where
appropriate, discuss any training requirements with the Team Leader.
Preferred skill set requirements:
Excellent telephone manner and
competent knowledge of telephone system.
Excellent communication,
organisational and team skills.
Excellent attention to detail.
Flexible and dependable, able to
take the initiative.
Able to remain calm under
pressure and work to tight deadlines.
Conscientious, approachable and enthusiastic.
Able to quickly build
confidence, respect and trust with others.
Have a positive approach to
daily tasks and have a solutions focussed working method.
Work-life Balance
We offer a substantial benefits
package to all employees, which includes 25 days holiday (plus the
option to buy up to an additional 5 days), a generous pension scheme
and private medical insurance through Vitality (including
"phone a GP service", discounted gym membership and
'Vitality' Partner discounts).
All of our people are entitled to
a biannual private health assessment through Nuffield Health and are
included in the group life assurance scheme. We also have an
Employee Assistance Programme (free telephone support and
counselling service) and a cycle scheme (Save Tax & NI on a bike
for cycling to work).
Due to COVID-19, many of our roles
are currently home-based until it is safe to return to our modern
office spaces. Our core operating hours are 9am - 5:15pm Monday to
Friday OR The hours are 36.25 per week, working shifts between 08:00
and 18:00 Monday to Friday, however we are open to considering
requests to work more flexibly.
Responsible Business
To us, being a responsible
business is second nature; a core part of Bevan Brittan's identity,
running through our culture and embodied by the clients we serve.
Bevan Brittan seeks to play an
active role within its local office communities. Through regular
fundraising events, support for local initiatives and annual charity
donations at Christmas, we have established a culture of giving
within the firm. This has laid the foundations for our Responsible
Business strategy.
In December 2020 we donated a
total of £40,000 to our four regional office charities, with each
charity receiving £10,000 towards the causes colleagues support
throughout the year. The donations went towards providing vital
services after a particularly challenging year. Our current selected
charity in Leeds is Maggie's.
We want to demonstrate our
commitment to these causes through action rather than words;
colleagues from across the firm are already heavily involved, living
and breathing the four pillars of our Responsible Business strategy:
Community Engagement
Diversity & Inclusion
Wellbeing
Environmental Sustainability
Collectively, these four pillars
ensure we look after our colleagues' wellbeing; offer an environment
in which all can progress on merit, regardless of personal
circumstances or background; give something back to the communities
in which we work; and protect the environment.
Some recent initiatives include:
Strava running club: a virtual
firm-wide running club on Strava, with regular challenges to keep
us all motivated to stay active.
Live Cook Along for Black
History Month: We hosted a live virtual 'Cook Along' to share the
connective power of food and community.
UK Disability History Month: We
supported the event with informative pieces and real life stories,
reflecting our commitment to supporting those of our colleagues
who have a disability or who care for someone with a disability.
Each lawyer has the opportunity
to undertake pro bono legal work for local charities and
not-for-profit organisations. This has seen colleagues support the
Great Western Air Ambulance Charity (Bristol), St Werburgh's City
Farm (Bristol) and Moseley Road Swimming Baths (Birmingham).
