Secretary

The role

We are hiring a Secretary to provide full secretarial and administrative services in our Johannesburg office.

This role is to provide fee earners with effective and high-quality secretarial support that appropriately meets their requirements, enabling them to focus on providing legal services to clients.

This job description is not exhaustive, and the job holder may be required to undertake additional duties from time to time as deemed necessary.

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• To provide a comprehensive PA/secretarial/admin support service, taking ownership and responsibility to ensure the work is undertaken in the most appropriate way to maximise efficiency
• Pro-actively manage and maintain fee earners’ diaries, making appointments and coordinating internal and external client meetings and ensure all work activities are scheduled effectively, including the identification and resolution of potential challenges and clashes
• Organising meetings, ensuring rooms and conference facilities, video conference facilities are booked, liaising with attendees if necessary both internal and external and making sure that hospitality is in place
• Responding and dealing with external or internal telephone calls and queries in a professional manner and taking clear and concise messages
• Organising travel arrangements through the travel desk, booking and confirmation of reservations, flights, hotels, car transfers, ordering currency and expense claims and producing detailed itineraries. Preparation of key documents including Visas, correspondence (including invitation letters), travel invoices, expense claims, and maintenance/filing of copies
• Typing, amending and re-formatting documents, ensuring that completed documents are delivered accurately and to a consistently high standard; and
• Organisation of agendas, presentations and meeting papers, including print production and timely distribution and ensuring that fee earners have all documents and adequate preparation time
• Demonstrate flexibility with working practices in line with the business needs, especially in times of pressure/ high workload
• Organise and take responsibility for file management, including closing of files, archiving and ensures that all relevant documents are filed electronically and paper-based, if required
• Demonstrate a capability for managing and understanding of the end-to-end billing process. Assisting fee earners by liaising with the other parties for the composing of the bill for instance other offices globally, following the relevant procedures and prompting fee earners to complete all necessary time recording, or to enter such time recording on their behalf
• Creating bills, disbursements, creating/amending narratives as well as requesting credit notes, inter-office bills, including liaising with international offices
• Carry out client matter opening, client reporting and client balances
• Complete financial reports where required, from internal systems highlighting outstanding monies to be billed and updating particular client financial schedules where necessary
• Manage group and fee earner contacts to ensure they are up to date
• Provide administrative support to fee earners with conflict searches and audit requests
• Assist on ad-hoc projects as and when required, for example managing bundles, indexing documents.

ABOUT YOU

• Previous experience as a Secretary / PA, in a legal services environment is essential
• Experience in FICA or compliance preferable
• Very strong ‘people skill’, demonstrating the ability to work alongside different types of character
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise work calmly and effectively in often demanding situations
• Strong teamwork ethos
• Client service orientated approach
• Excellent problem solving skills and ability to use initiative
• Adopts a ‘can do’ approach demonstrating a collaborative working style
• Excellent communication skills at all levels
• Demonstrates accountability and professionalism
• Has a good working knowledge of own practice group and awareness of key business issues
• Demonstrates a desire for self-development
• Demonstrates excellent attention to detail and thorough understanding of fee earner requests
• Demonstrates high level of integrity when dealing with confidential information
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft applications
• Good working knowledge of internal financial and document systems.

ABOUT US

DLA Piper is a global law firm with lawyers and business service professionals located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Our global reach ensures that we can help businesses with their legal needs anywhere in the world. We strive to be the leading global business law firm by delivering quality, service excellence and value to our clients and offering practical and innovative legal solutions to help them succeed. Our clients range from multinational, Global 1000, and Fortune 500 enterprises to emerging companies developing industry-leading technologies, as well as government and public sector bodies.

OUR VALUES

In everything we do connected with our People, our Clients and our Communities, we live by these values:

• Be Supportive – we are compassionate and inclusive, valuing diversity and acting thoughtfully
• Be Collaborative – we are proactive, passionate team players investing in our relationships
• Be Bold – we are fearless and inquisitive, challenging ourselves to think big and find creative new solutions
• Be Exceptional – we are strategic and driven, exceeding standards and expectations

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

At DLA Piper, diversity and inclusion underpins how we live our values and everything we do. We believe that everyone has a voice, and that everyone’s voice counts. We know that the rich diversity across our firm makes us stronger, more innovative and creative, which helps us to better serve our clients and communities. We are committed to providing an inclusive working environment and culture across our global firm, where everyone can bring their authentic self to work.

Diversity of perspective, thought, background and culture combine to make us the leading global law firm; that’s why we actively seek to build balanced teams. We welcome the unique contribution that you will bring to our firm and actively encourage applications from all talented people – however your talent is packaged, whatever your background or circumstance and regardless of how you identify.

HYBRID WORKING

We recognise that people have responsibilities and interests outside of their career and that as a business, we all benefit from working flexibly. That’s why we are open to discussing with candidates the different ways in which we are able to support requests for agile working arrangements.

PRE-ENGAGEMENT SCREENING

In the event that we make an offer to you, and where local legislation permits and where relevant, we will conduct pre-engagement screening checks that may include but are not limited to your professional and academic qualifications, your eligibility to work in the relevant jurisdiction, any criminal records, your financial stability and work-related references.