Personal Assistant
Job Title: Personal Assistant
Salary: £23,000.00 - £25,000.00 dependent upon legal experience
Department: Corporate Finance
Hours of work: Full-time position Monday to Friday (inclusive) 9.00am – 5.00pm with one hour for lunch
Job Purpose
To provide a high level of secretarial and administration support to your principle and team, enabling team members to work to optimum efficiency.
Personal Assistants are expected to work with minimum supervision, and to be proactive in identifying areas for improvement, working with fee earners to introduce new systems and innovative ways of working.
Minimum Criteria to Apply for the Role
In order to apply for this role, your CV must reflect that you have been educated to A’level standard or equivalent and you must have experience of working as a Personal Assistant for a minimum of 12 months.
Experience of working in a law firm is preferred, but not essential.
Corporate Finance Work - Summary
The work of the Corporate Finance Departments consists of:
- Dealing with both residential and commercial conveyancing matters for both Limited Companies and individuals
- Dealing with legal charges, mortgages, bridging loans and other financial arrangements between lenders and borrowers
- Acting on behalf of lenders to secure fixed charges as well as Debentures
- Acting for Guarantors and providing Independent Legal Advice.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
This role of Personal Assistant is based in the Corporate Finance department. However, you may be asked at any time to work in one department only or in a variety of different departments within the Company, depending upon Company requirements.
As a Personal Assistant, you will:
Act as first point of contact with people from both inside and outside the organisation. Your role is to control access to your line manager and the fee earners within the department and to deal proactively with enquires to enable team members to operate at optimum efficiency.
You are expected to use a high degree of self-management and initiative and you may be required to undertake certain elements of fee earning work under supervision. You will therefore have excellent organisational skills, time management capabilities and ability to prioritise work.
You will prepare correspondence and documents as directed. In addition, you will be expected to use your own initiative to prepare general updates to clients as and when needed and to proactively prepare documentation needed for the file, e.g. Land Registry documents;
- You will use online portals such as LMS, Lender Exchange and H M Land Registry to obtain and upload documentation.
- You will be confident in using emails, word, excel and other such software and case management systems.
- You will request conveyancing searches under instruction, following procedures and training provided.
- You will screen telephone calls, seeking to directly handle enquiries when appropriate in the first instance and ensuring accuracy of any messages/information taken or given;
- You will monitor, devise and maintain excellent office systems to ensure that all team members are working in the same way and in a streamlined, client focused manner;
- Open new files on the case manager system, ensuring full compliance is met before the fee earner works on the file and ensuring files are kept in a neat and tidy order;
- Close files, complying with the Company’s file closure procedures and liaising with accounts to ensure that the ledgers are cleared;
- Review accounts ledgers and prepare invoices to be approved by the fee earner, ensuring costs are maximised and all disbursements have been claimed and paid out;
- Accurately time-record and prepare own file notes of actions taken on case and time spent;
- Organise and maintain internal diaries and make appointments;
- Liaise with clients, experts, 3rd parties and colleagues;
- Administer filing which will include daily filing and opening, closing, storage and retrieval of client files;
- Undertake photocopying/scanning;
- Cover Reception and Postal duties if required to do so;
- Provide guidance, support and cover to colleagues when required to do so,
- Meet and greet visitors at all levels of seniority;
- Undertake training as requested;
- Train colleagues/new starters in system use and/or Company procedures and processes;
- Ensure the confidentiality of the Company and Client Documentation at all times;
- Have the Ability and enthusiasm for proactively supporting marketing initiatives, including attending Company functions/net-working events/team-building events.
Closing date is Monday 20th October 2025. CV’s are to be sent to mleary@hodgkinsons.co.uk