Secretary – Commercial Property – Taunton or Bristol

Vacancy details

We are looking to recruit an experienced legal secretary to support our busy partners and other lawyers in our well-regarded Commercial Property team. The role can be based in either our Bristol or Taunton office.

Role: Secretary
Location: Bristol or Taunton
Hours: Full Time
Term: Permanent
Vacancy Reference: 1271-BBL

Who we are

You’ll be joining a national law firm that enjoys a strong reputation, made possible by our exceptional people – each chosen for their industry knowledge and passion for their field. We want to help you to reach your full potential, love the work you do and deliver the best results for your clients. It’s our goal to make you feel great about working with us, and we work hard to cultivate a culture that makes it easy for you to stay with us for many years.

We work flexibly and you’ll be empowered to work where you do your best work, balancing your individual needs with the need for us to engage as teams and deliver excellent client service.

Most of our people choose to work in a hybrid fashion, working from home and attending our offices on occasion. Our offices are in Bristol, Birmingham, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton, and Taunton.

Day to day, you’ll be successful in this role by:

Reporting to the team coordinator, you will be joining five experienced secretaries who provide proactive support to our Taunton & Bristol teams.

You will provide high quality and professional support to our lawyers. The role will require excellent organisational skills, diary management and over time we would expect you to gain a good knowledge of our clients and the work we carry out.

Your regular duties will include:

• Monitoring and managing email traffic for a central inbox covering Bristol and Taunton Fee Earners.
• Liaising with secretaries across the CP division to provide cover when necessary for other office locations.
• Producing documents.
• Undertaking audio typing.
• Drafting simple letters and emails.
• Opening and closing and archiving client files.
• Undertaking anti-money laundering checks and collecting onboarding documentation to assist with new client file opening.
• Running conflict checks.
• Submitting expenses claims.
• Managing HighQ sites and completing monthly reports for various clients.
• Submitting commercial searches.
• Setting up and managing Docusign Envelopes for completion of documents.
• Filing SDLT and Land Registry Applications, keeping track of any requisition and ensuring deadlines are met.
• Ensuring documents and e-filing are stored correctly including dealing with incoming post electronically from our central postal hub.
• Arranging payments in and out and transfers between accounts.
• The first point of contact for clients and intermediaries and have regular communication with them (taking messages, assisting with routine queries, arranging meetings etc.). so you should demonstrate professionalism, diplomacy and sensitivity in all your communications.

You may also be involved in other administrative/secretarial activities as required, including helping your colleagues during busy periods, and to cover absences in the team.

Due to the nature of the work our preference would be that you spend most of your time in the office.

It is an integral part of this role that you comply with information security and all firm policies and procedures.

This role is right for you if:

You have previous experience of working within a legal environment, however if you have at least 12 months’ experience of working within a busy PA role and have a genuine interest in working within the legal sector, we would very much like to hear from you.

This role will suit you if you like to prioritise your own workload, work closely to deadlines, and if you can, work with minimum supervision and under pressure. You will need to demonstrate from experience that you are exceptionally organised and pro-active, that you have a flexible ‘can-do’ attitude, and that you have the skills to work closely with various stakeholders and have direct contact with clients.

You will have excellent spelling and grammar and, ideally, experience of audio typing. You will be proficient with the usual Microsoft packages, including Excel and PowerPoint and be comfortable with learning new databases and other software packages.

You should be able to demonstrate a solid level of academic achievement, with a minimum of 6 GCSE passes at grade C or above (or equivalent), including English and Maths.

We expect you to be someone who takes pride in your work and in providing a first class support service to your fee earners, anticipating their needs in advance wherever possible, and paying meticulous attention to detail in all of your work.

Finally, we are looking for someone who can demonstrate initiative and problem-solving skills and a willingness to learn and develop, which will help you thrive in this role.

What we can offer you:

A career at Clarke Willmott will feel different to other law firms. We thrive on our individual differences and diversity because as a team, we are united by our shared values and mutual respect. Working with us you will feel empowered, valued and free to be yourself in a safe and supportive environment.

Our mission is to help you realise your full potential whilst maintaining a positive work-life balance. We provide a comprehensive learning and development programme and a range of wellbeing initiatives to support your career journey.

There’s no doubt we expect the best from our people and even the occasional extra mile. In return, your dedication and commitment to the continued success of the firm will be rewarded with a comprehensive range of flexible benefits.

Listen to what a few members of our team have to say about what life here at Clarke Willmott is really like, to see if it’s the right fit for you.

Apply

If you would like to apply for this vacancy, please send us your CV and covering letter using the form below.

(If you have any difficulties with the form, you can email your application to us at careers@clarkewillmott.com)

As a firm we are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. Our recruitment privacy notice details how information is collected, processed and how long it is retained for.