Commercial Disputes Team Administrator

The firm

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy. Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 40% of our partnership.

The department

Birketts is recruiting for an ambitious, driven and forward-thinking Administrator to join our growing CLDR Team on a full time, permanent basis.

Our CLDR Team works with its clients to avoid disputes but where a dispute does arise, we have the skill, expertise and experience to achieve a positive resolution as swiftly as possible. Our specialist team of over 30 lawyers act for a broad range of clients from individual business owners to listed companies and multi-nationals.

Our lawyers routinely conduct litigation in the High Court and the Court of Appeal as well as engage in commercial arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Our opponents are typically major London and international law firms. We have strong links with proven junior and leading counsel in leading London commercial chambers.

Purpose of job

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Administrator to join our successful and growing CLDR team in Norwich. We are seeking someone who will work as a member of our existing team of secretaries and administrators (who are based in our other offices) to support the lawyers in all aspects of their work. We are looking for the right person for this role, and all applicants will be considered on their individual merits, regardless of their prior experience - we are as happy to work with someone at the start of their career as we are someone with decades of experience; what matters to us is your ability to work effectively and efficiently as part of a team, supporting others and being supported by them.

Accountabilities

The requirements of the role include:

• Completing conflict checks
• File opening/closing
• Drafting Client Care Letters
• Managing Anti-Money Laundering checks
• Processing payments
• Dealing with incoming payments
• Assisting the team with billing
• Assisting with the Team with the recovery of outstanding invoices
• Managing key dates and Court dates
• Distributing post
• Fielding new enquiries
• Preparing/formatting correspondence and accompanying documents
• Preparing PDF bundles (including paginating, bookmarking and hyperlinking)
• Photocopying and scanning
• Updating internal marketing systems

Professional Skills

• Promptly clarifying instructions should they or deadlines be unclear
• Responding to internal and external telephone enquiries politely and professionally, taking accurate telephone messages, and passing them to the appropriate person
• Supporting other secretarial team members proactively and providing cover when necessary to ensure that work is completed on time and to a high standard
• Providing full support to lawyers in the full range of their activities and carrying out any other duties as reasonably requested.

General Approach

• Showing a positive approach and interest in the work of our team.
• Showing initiative when responding to queries and actively trying to solve problems.
• Supporting the lawyers to meet clients’ demands.
• Building and maintaining strong working relationships with other members of the team, including lawyers and other secretaries and administrators, and actively working in the interests of the whole firm.

The candidate

You will have the ability to contribute at an operational level, with excellent communication skills and can demonstrate general skills in:

• Strong administration experience;
• Positive, enthusiastic and professional approach;
• Strong attention to detail, high level organisational skills and reliable;
• Self-motivated with an ability to use own initiative with a desire to learn.

Equal opportunities

At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth. Alongside a flexible and inclusive work environment, we offer the following core benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays
• Long Service holiday award - 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service
• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)
• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)
• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme
• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)
• Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance
• Paid CSR Day
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave
• Subsidised gym membership
• Electric car scheme
• Agile/Hybrid Working Policy
• Dress for your Day Policy

https://www.birketts.co.uk/recognition-reward-benefits/

Birketts is a flexible business which has embraced a hybrid working model where our colleagues enjoy a mix of home and office working. We welcome applications from people looking for flexible, agile, and part-time roles and we are happy to explore your preferred working patterns as part of your application.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.