Job Title: Business Operations Coordinator
Overview
The Practice Assistant role is a temporary position responsible for providing secretarial, administrative, and ad hoc project support to partners and lawyers. The ideal candidate will be proactive in improving working processes, anticipating needs, and taking action accordingly.
Duties and Responsibilities
* Provide high-quality workflow management and organizational services to principals in the group/firm as required.
* Undertake all aspects of the Practice Assistant role as required.
* Take an active interest in and obtain a thorough understanding of all aspects of client requirements.
* Provide excellent service to clients.
* Demonstrate flexibility in supporting principals and fellow team members.
* Proactively contribute to the group/Firm's success by actively seeking to improve working processes, anticipate needs of clients and colleagues, and take action accordingly.
Administrative Support
* Manage diaries, ensuring they are up-to-date.
* Arrange meetings, book conference rooms, refreshments, check rooms prior to meetings, etc., and liaise with other attendees, both internal and external.
* Arrange for travel bookings and related details to be made.
* Arrange photocopying, printing, organizing couriers, incoming and outgoing mail, faxes, etc.
* Arrange for files to be opened and closed, supervise general filing requirements, and record keeping.
* Use effective systems to ensure that both short- and long-term tasks are completed within required timescales.
* Support lawyers in marketing activities, including involvement in preparation of pitches and presentations.
* Establish and maintain effective and accurate filing systems (hard copy and electronic).
Communication
* Take internal and external telephone queries, responding as appropriate, and/or ensuring that all messages are passed on in a timely manner.
* Monitor post and/or e-mails and deal with as appropriate, ensuring that all client-related correspondence is passed on to an appropriate fee earner and actioned as necessary.
* Liaise with business support departments on behalf of lawyers as required.
* Liaise with the department's Team Leader over any planned absences, arranging cover as necessary, and communicating this to the relevant fee earners.
* Client relationship management.
* Become an active part in the care of clients and be wholly familiar with contacts/clients.
* Enter, maintain, and update client details and relevant information on the firm's contacts system.
* Deal with basic client queries and general administration.
* Aarrange client meetings.
Document Management
* Manage the production of documents and check returned work produced by the Document Production team before it is passed to the relevant lawyer and undertake basic/minor amendments where appropriate.
* Type urgent/short/confidential correspondence and emails.
* Produce and maintain Excel spreadsheets as required.
* Undertake all document production tasks to the highest standards and to agreed deadlines using appropriate software and all available resources.
Financial Management
* Assist lawyers in ensuring their time is recorded properly and entered onto the system on a daily basis.
* Assist lawyers in the billing and credit control process by liaising with the lawyer and accounts and to produce standard financial/time reports through the system.
* Billing and Expense Processing, handle expenses in our system.
Team Player
In addition to providing support to the fee-earners to whom they report, a Practice Assistant will also provide assistance to their immediate colleagues in the department and, where practical, other departments. Team duties will therefore include:
* Assisting others in the department whenever there is spare capacity or it is evident that a colleague needs assistance with their workload.
* Picking up telephone calls for other members of the department when they are away from their desk.
* Participating in a lunchtime telephone rota within the Practice Assistant team.
* Assisting other members of the department, both proactively and at the request of the Team Leader.
* Working effectively with other legal and support departments as required.
* Any other duties as reasonably requested by the Lawyers or Team Leader, or a person of an appropriate seniority.
Qualifications
A Practice Assistant has a responsibility to ensure that their skill set is up to date, and they are familiar with the firm's departments, key personnel, clients, internal systems, and procedures. This will ensure that the Practice Assistant is able to carry out his or her role effectively.
* Bachelor's/College Degree or equivalent.
* Relevant work experience is necessary.
* Excellent written and oral communication skills.
* Excellent customer service skills.
* Show excellent attention to detail.
* Proficient Microsoft Applications (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
* Ensure all restricted information, matters, issues, and personal effects are treated with utmost confidentiality.
* Ability to exercise good judgment in a variety of situations, with strong written and verbal communication, administrative, time management, and organizational skills.
* Flexible and can adapt to change in workflow requests.
* Resilient and self-confident.
* Foster good relationships with other members of the team and across the Firm.
* Fluency in French or Dutch, and English.
Location and Reporting
This position is based in Brussels and reports to the Office Operations Manager. It is a temporary position on a replacement contract (under Belgian employment rules).