Practice Assistant - Impact, Charities and Social Ventures
Location
London
Description
The Role
The Practice Assistant is primarily a Partner focussed role, based
within a practice area in one of the Firm's fee-earning departments.
The Practice Assistant will work with specified Partners and/or other
senior fee earners to provide proactive, timely and high quality
administrative/co-ordination support.
The Practice Assistant will need to be a self-motivated organised
individual, who will be able to manage a busy workload and take
responsibility for following tasks through to completion.
Duties and Responsibilities
Acting as a first point of contact on behalf of the fee-earners,
fielding calls, emails, correspondence and meeting requests (both
internally and from clients), responding on behalf of the
fee-earner, if appropriate.
Full proactive and advanced calendar management for assigned
fee-earners, including scheduling calls/meetings (ensuring all
supporting papers/information are available for each meeting),
looking ahead and following-up as needed to ensure best use is made
of fee-earners time).
Ensuring the fee-earners working on the case are fully prepared
for all client meetings by collating required information (and input
from others), preparing background information and notes as needed,
supporting the follow-through of action points etc.
To work with the client lead Partner and BD team to plan and
deliver the Client Care programme, including meetings, mailings and
events and to co-ordinate and share client related news searches.
To develop a strong working knowledge of the Firm's billing
systems, including processes, IT systems and specialist support
available internally, to support the fee-earners in being able to
prepare and issue timely and accurate bills to clients.
Supporting fee-earners with monitoring and addressing unpaid
bills, liaising with Credit Control as required.
To co-ordinate the WIP lists and billing on behalf of Partners,
including liaison with billing team. Pro-active monitoring of time
and bills against the estimate.
To support fee-earners in the smooth running of the client/matter
lifecycle, following documented procedures, and working closely with
internal client on-boarding and compliance specialists to ensure all
required information/documentation is obtained, issued and correctly
stored on the Firm's systems. This will involve pro-actively chasing
fee-earners and their clients for any missing information as well as
full management of client files etc.
To track and monitor client engagement with Firm-wide
communications, mailings and events and to update client Partner. To
co-ordinate smaller events, and to help prepare content and
presentations to the client. Where applicable, to manage Client
Handbook and to keep central CARE BD status report updated monthly.
Assisting fee-earners keeping their LinkedIn and Mishcon profiles
up to date.
Organising business breakfasts, dinners or smaller events and
assisting fee-earners with expenses.
Researching company/client information and biographies.
Logging referrals and contacts to interaction and management of
Interaction lists.
To oversee and monitor the MQ2 checklist for the relevant matters
and to support the fee-earning staff to ensure compliance with the
Firm's documented Mq2 (Compliance) checklist and guidelines,
particularly around subsidiaries, new matters, conflict checks,
searches etc.
Full management of travel and expenses for assigned fee-earners,
ensuring business travel is booked via the Firm's in-house provider.
This will include both routine and more complex travel arrangements,
ensuring that fee-earners are provided with full itineraries,
supporting materials and that business expenses are captured,
approved and processed for payment in line with policy.
Ensuring all documents are maintained and filed in line with the
Firm's electronic and hard copy filing protocols.
Prepare, amend and proofread documents (e.g. letters, reports,
attendance notes, memos, emails, pitches, presentations, articles
etc. ensuring these are produced to the required standards and in
line with House Style, and that they are retained and filed accurately.
If hired within the team, collaborating with Administrative
Assistants to ensure that they provide support with filing and
archiving, scanning, photocopying, updating contacts on Interaction
and arranging couriers etc.
Working closely with internal document/presentation experts for
more specialist tasks, such as the preparation of longer or more
complex documents, pitch/presentation materials etc.
Liaising with other internal departments to obtain specialist
input as needed, taking ownership of issues and following up where appropriate.
When required stepping up to cover the Division Assistant, Client
Co-Ordinator/Case Administrator or other Practice Assistants.
Skills/Experience
Previous experience gained in an administrative role supporting a
team in a similar professional services environment (ideally legal).
Strong time management skills; will need to juggle a number of
tasks at any given time, plan ahead, and have the ability to
re-prioritise and adapt to changes in requirements.
Previous experience managing calendars for multiple individuals,
with the ability to apply judgement and common sense to ensure the
best use of people's time is made, and that any potential diary
clashes are pro-actively identified and addressed.
Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to deliver work to
a consistently high standard of precision (even under pressure) in
an environment where accuracy is prized.
A flexible approach to work: able to respond positively and
willingly to changes to requirements, schedules, work required etc.
Organised and methodical, and able to operate effectively within
structured work processes, in particular, with compliance/quality
control frameworks.
Well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to work
effectively with a range of people and working styles.
A strong team player, willing to take on work for additional
fee-earners and/or help with other tasks as needed in order to meet
the needs of the business.
Able to communicate effectively, with warmth and professionalism,
to clients and colleagues both orally and in writing, including
drafting business emails/correspondence.
High levels of discretion, with the ability to deal effectively
with sensitive or confidential information.
Previous experience using bespoke in-house systems (e.g. client
contact databases, matter management systems, billing systems etc.)
with the willingness and potential.
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.
About The Mishcon de Reya Group
The Mishcon de Reya Group is
an independent international professional service business with law at
its heart, employing over 1450 people with close to 670 lawyers. It
includes the law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP and a collection of leading
consultancy businesses that complement the firm's legal services. We
have grown rapidly in recent years, showing more than 40% revenue
growth in the past five years alone.
Based in London, Cambridge, Oxford, and Singapore, with an
association with Karas So LLPin Hong
Kong, the firm services an international community of clients and
provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often
do not apply. The work we undertake is cross-border,
multi-jurisdictional and complex, spanning six core practice areas: Corporate; Dispute Resolution; Employment; Innovation; Private; and Real Estate.
In times of such far-reaching and
profound change we want to be the law firm that enables our clients
- and our own people - to shape the world's possibilities. We are
here to help our clients benefit from new economies, new geographic
centres of wealth, the new global movement of people and capital,
and the impact of new technologies and new knowledge. Through
Mishcon Future, we work to shape a better
world through innovation, creating value for clients at every stage of
the innovation life cycle and for society.
Our purpose remains rooted in our
founding values. We take pride in the diverse range of people who
make up the firm and are proactive in driving change and continuous
improvement across the spectrum of equality, diversity and inclusion.Mishcon Academy, our in-house place of learning,
development and new thinking for our people, clients and contacts
and our innovative impact strategy, including acommitment to be a net zero carbon business, also play a central strategic
role in the direction of the firm. In 2020 we launchedMishcon Purpose, a first-of-its-kind
sustainability practice providing Environmental, Social and
Governance (ESG) advice and purpose-driven insight to clients.
TheMishcon de Reya Groupcomprises standalone businessesMDR Brand Management,MDR Cyber,MDR Discover,MDRi, MDR Lab, MDR One,MDR Mayfair(in London, Singapore and Dubai)
and MDRx. Earlier this year, the
Group announced its first strategic acquisition in the alternative
legal services market, flexible legal resourcing business Flex Legal.
It also acquired a majority stake in Somos, a global group actions
management business.
We strive to create a fully
diverse and inclusive workplace where all our people are empowered
to fulfil their potential. We are proud of our agile working culture
and are always happy to talk flexible working.