Legal Support Secretary

Who we are

Clifford Chance is one of the world's leading law firms, helping clients achieve their goals by combining the highest global standards with local expertise. The firm has unrivalled scale and depth of legal resources across the three key markets of the Americas, Asia and Europe and focuses on the core areas of commercial activity: capital markets; Corporate and M&A; finance and banking; real estate; tax, pensions and employment; litigation and dispute resolution.

Alongside world-class legal careers, Clifford Chance offers excellent opportunities in the support functions that underpin its business operations. By joining us in our Business Professionals Group, you will help us to innovate in the way we deliver our services and enable us to run a successful multinational business that never stands still. Business professionals are integral to the running of the firm and are critical to its success.

The Middle East practice mainly comprises of Financial Markets, Corporate, Litigation and Real Estate Departments. The role of the Legal Support Secretary (LSS) is to provide a first-class professional support service to the Middle East Partner's/Lawyers in the Abu Dhabi office.

Job Description

The role

Key Responsibilities

The support provided will be as part of a team with shared responsibilities, and the LSS will be expected to refocus tasks and priorities periodically as required by the practice area. The LSS reports to the Office Manager whilst predominantly supporting the Abu Dhabi Managing Partner, as well as Associates in the wider GF team. The LSS is also expected, on a daily basis, to create a positive working relationship with the fee earner(s) and the team with whom they work. Below describes the core areas of the support service which an LSS provides.

Core Services

• Calendar/Meeting Management - maintain and manage fee earner schedules and act as the key contact point for fee earners both internally and externally.
• Travel – organize complex travel bookings in liaison with the local travel agent together with any visa applications and transport bookings.
• Time & Expenses – oversee time entries and amendments for fee earners on a timely basis; timely submission of expense reports.
• Liaising with Reception for meeting and video conference set-up.
• Draft emails and letters, printing/copying/scanning, updates to client contacts in InterAction.
• Submit annual mandatory training summary for Dubai fee earners on CLPD portal.
• Client Support - support client activities and requirements in a proactive manner.
• Team Support - work collaboratively with other LSS team members to provide a responsive and professional support service to fee earners; covering for team members during absences with some occasional Reception cover.
• Onboarding – assist with onboarding of new fee earners through scheduling of onboarding sessions with various departments, office introductions, practice area introduction event, explanation of matter lifecycle processes, time recording, expenses and overview of LSS support.

Practice Support Services

Clearance, Risk and Compliance

• Handle client conflict checks and clearance with the conflicts team based in London.
• Coordinate matter set up in liaison with Partner/fee earner to ensure minimum mandatory information has been provided and liaising with HR regarding client secondment setup.
• Follow-up with Partners/fee earners in respect to compliance around engagement letters and MTM.

Matter Management

• Matter project administration, organize client & matter team meetings, regular document archiving drives, create matter folders, upload documents to matter site and create working parties lists.
• Monitor and recommend matters that would benefit from a project management resource or the use of certain Best Delivery tools to matter team.
• Notify Billing, Business Development and Best delivery when a Partner instructs a matter to be closed.

Matter Team Support

• Document Management/Production - manage document processing from beginning to end including edits, formatting, house styles and proofreading, liaising with the Document Production Unit in London if required.
• Assist the originals team with the original process (soft & hard copies) when necessary.
• Liaise with the print room staff regarding printing of bibles and bundles together with any other bulk printing requests.
• Liaise with clients on behalf of the matter team when necessary.
• Attend practice area meetings or client calls, taking notes and providing other administrative support.

Business Development

• Utilize Powerpoint skills to assist Business Development and Partners with creating and amending pitches.
• Coordinate updates to fee earner master CV's as per information received in Deal Updates.
• Monitor Live Pitch emails from Business Development and update all teams should there be any missing pitches/offers.
• Notify Business Development, Finance and Best Delivery of pitches that are won or lost if Business Development are not aware through their updates.

Finance

• Update and maintain all system information for fee earners' clients including working with the local billing team to generate monthly bills, running matter financial reports, amending billing narratives and invoice mark-ups.
• Add phases, tasks, rates and debtors to matter financial information.

Key Working Relationships

Along with all Secretarial Services staff, a key attribute of the LSS's success will be dependent on the positive and collaborative working relationships which they build with colleagues in the Practice Area. The key working relationships for the LSS will be:

• Fee earners to whom they provide first-line support and cover support
• Fee earners' clients
• Office Manager
• Local Finance, Business Development, Best Delivery and IT teams
• Local Offices Services team including other LSS and Reception
• London Document Production Unit

Qualifications

Your experience

• Minimum typing speed of 60+ wpm
• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint
• Previous work experience in a professional services environment
• A-Level standard or equivalent
• Excellent Communication skills
• Self-Management and Organisation
• Problem solving, judgment and decision making
• Working with others as a part of a team and on your own initiative
• Client focus
• Networking and organisational awareness

Please note, this role is based in Abu Dhabi full-time.

Additional Information

Equal Opportunities

At Clifford Chance, we understand that our true asset is our people. Inclusion is good for our team and their families, our firm and society.

We are committed to treating all employees and applicants fairly and equally regardless of their gender, gender identity and expression, marital or civil partnership status, race, colour, national or ethnic origin, social or economic background, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation, or age. This applies to recruitment and selection, terms and conditions of employment including pay, promotion, training, transfer and every other aspect of employment.

We have a variety of flourishing employee networks. These networks are a place for colleagues to share experiences and advocate for change wherever they see an opportunity for improvement.

Our goal is to deliver an equality of opportunity, an equality of aspiration and an equality of experience to everyone who works in our firm.

Find out more about our inclusive culture here