Executive Assistant

A fantastic opportunity to join our Cambridge office as an Executive Assistant in the Employment team.

**The role**:
This role provides comprehensive Executive Assistant services to the local team. To succeed in the role, you will work closely with Team Leaders and Regional Executive Services Managers and utilise the internal resources available to you including the Document Production team, Administrative Assistants and Business Services. While you will have a degree of autonomy in how you structure your day, you will still be an integral part of the team you work in. You will be expected to be aligned with the values of the firm, have a good level of client knowledge, strong relationships across the business and, where appropriate, with clients.

**The person**:
Given the challenges of this role, it is likely that your background and experience will include having spent some time working in a professional services environment. You may additionally have experience of providing executive services level support to lawyers or similar professionals. You will be a natural organiser who thrives in a role that requires multi-tasking and working with a variety of people across the business.

The role additionally requires someone who:

- will manage multiple lawyers and delegate where appropriate using the support teams available;
- is confident in setting and prioritising their own work agenda;
- is organised and methodical in how they approach their work;
- has good written as well as verbal communication skills;
- has excellent attention to detail, communicates effectively and works well within a team;
- is confident and able to build sustainable relationships with internal and external clients; and
- is willing to take on new responsibilities and challenges, whilst remaining resilient.

**The activities**:
Business development
- Manage and attend team and project meetings, taking minutes where required, preparing meeting arrangements including booking travel (this may include overseas travel), rooms, catering, accommodation, desks, equipment and updating internal business development calendars;
- plan, arrange and attend events including liaising with business support teams and updating attendee lists or reports;
- engage in networking in order to build relationships and raise the business profile, to include use of external media platforms such as LinkedIn, etc;
- support lawyers with legal directory submissions and updating lawyer biography/CVs and sector pages; and
- assist with updates and newsletters to clients, including adding to mailing lists.

Client service
- Deliver outstanding client service by looking for improvements, speaking up and taking responsibility;
- receive verbal and written instructions and see them through to conclusion;
- work proactively and use own initiative to progress tasks;
- undertake client/matter creation and updating tasks, alerts, reserves, estimating tools and ensuring these are kept up to date and accurate throughout matter life;
- ensure compliance process is followed, including carrying out conflict checks, matter risk assessments and liaising with Central Inception team and clients for ID;
- run client financial reports;
- use our digital technology to update and manage in-house data systems such as Collaborate, Volume Control and Dialogue;
- participate in the running of helplines, websites, phone calls and logging referrals, which may include liaising with clients, counsel and other professionals;
- be a point of contact to assist with client and matter contact queries;
- initial drafting of correspondence and legal documents; and
- coordinate file reviews.

Diary management
- Coordinate diary appointments ensuring papers, itineraries and all other arrangements are in place; and
- add key dates and reminders to diaries and matter files.

Finance and billing
- Hold regular financial housekeeping meetings with lawyers, printing billing guides and preparing breakdown of costs and liaising with the finance team;
- raise draft proformas;
- help prepare and despatch client invoices with covering correspondence;
- liaise with counsel and experts regarding fee notes and outstanding bills;
- deal with general day to day client and finance queries;
- prepare finance forms including generating purchase orders;
- update internal reporting systems;
- manage standard annual rate review letters and terms of business;
- complete timesheet input for sickness/holidays/own time where appropriate; and
- manage lawyer/business support expense claims.

Managing workflow
- communicate effectively with lawyers and internal support teams, such as Business Support, Administrative Assistants and Document Production teams in order to meet required deadlines;
- provide clear instructions and review in order for high quality work to be completed;
- manage and update specific client spreadsheets; and manage multiple lawyers and delegate where appropriate using the support teams available.

**The