Departmental Assistant

Lewis Silkin works with leading businesses to protect and enhance their most important assets - their ideas, their people, their brand and their future. We call it: Ideas. People. Possibilities.

With offices in London, Oxford, Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast, Dublin and Hong Kong, we are recognised by clients and industry alike as being distinct for our unique culture, market-leading practice areas, sector focused approach and for providing solutions to complex, multijurisdictional business challenges, with a pragmatic and human touch. We have two things at our core: people — both ours and our clients’— and a focus on creative, tech and innovative businesses.

Our culture is encapsulated by an ethos of bravery and kindness, guided by our values of Integrity, Clarity, Unity and Excellence (our ‘I-CUE’). We aim to provide a supportive environment for our people, clients and wider community and embrace diversity & inclusion, ensuring people are able to bring their full selves to work.

The EIR Division is one of the leading employment law practices in the UK and consistently top ranked by independent legal directories, we have more recognised experts in employment than any other UK firm.  With over 150 lawyers, Lewis Silkin’s employment and immigration team offers an unrivalled service supporting clients, including many of the world’s leading businesses, on their HR, employment and immigration law needs domestically and internationally.

The work of the team as a whole is a mix of contentious and non-contentious matters, for a wide range of clients.  The lawyers undertake a significant amount of business development and knowledge-sharing including giving seminars, training the team and creating content for various channels and publications.  There is a significant international element to the Division’s work, largely on account of its membership of the Ius Laboris international alliance of employment lawyers.

The Role

The jobholder will be part of the EIR secretarial team and provide administrative support and assistance to the EIR division at all levels, including secretaries, Associates and Partners on a day-to-day basis as required. 

Key Responsibilities

• General administrative tasks, including but not limited to: opening and distributing post, photocopying, printing and scanning and liaising with Post Room when needed to arrange couriers and other delivery methods as required;
• Archiving files with the use of the Elite management system and FileTrack;
• Opening new clients/matters and drafting retainers;
• Arranging for disbursements, when received from third parties, to be put onto the system, ensuring they are put on to the relevant matter;
• Assisting with other financial forms and processes as and when needed (i.e. receipt forms, immediate payment forms etc);
• Processing expenses;
• Assisting with the maintaining of the firm’s CRM system as required;
• Maintaining and ordering new stationery when required;
• Meeting and greeting clients when required and assisting clients with any admin requests (i.e. copying, printing etc);
• When required, assisting the other Departmental Assistant(s)/secretaries and if necessary, providing holiday cover;.
• Providing general assistance to secretaries, Associates and Partners as requested.

Candidate profile:

This is a challenging role offering actual experience working in a legal environment. The successful candidate must have excellent communication skills, with stakeholders at all levels, and enjoy working in a team environment. They must be highly organised; have a flexible nature and a co-operative and willing attitude.

Specialist experience:

• Previous demonstrable experience of office/administrative work.

Abilities and desired qualities:

• Typing skills (40 wpm);
• Good eye for detail;
• Excellent organisational skills and the ability to effectively prioritise workload as needed;
• Ability to communicate at all levels;
• Ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
• Professional in conduct;
• Punctual at all times and the flexibility to work overtime when required.

IT skills required:

• Experience or knowledge of Word/Excel, document management systems and Outlook would be beneficial, although not essential as full training will be provided.

Educational and professional qualifications required:

• Good grammatical English - at least to GCSE standard or equivalent.

At Lewis Silkin our ethos is simple. We strive to do the best for our clients, our people and the communities in which we operate. We recognise that an inclusive workplace allows for all kinds of ideas and thoughts, a variety of points of view that can trigger discussions or deliver innovative results, and a wide range of versatile skills and expertise. We are proud of the diversity within Lewis Silkin and of our culture that allows people to be themselves at work, ensuring we provide the best possible service to our clients. We are committed to finding the right person for this role and are open to discussing flexible working patterns and office location.