We are recruiting for a PA Manager to handle the effective management of the firm’s administrative support functions here at Walker Morris, on a fixed-term basis.
You will be responsible for managing all of the legal secretaries and PA’s within specific legal groups within the firm. You will deliver a high-quality, efficient administrative support function for approximately 250 Partners and lawyers, proactively partnering with the Board, wider Partnership, and leadership team to enable the achievement of the firm’s strategic objectives.
As the largest, single-site law firm outside of London, you can truly make the role your own and implement the improvements that we strive for.
As the PA Manager, you will:
1. Joint line management and responsibility for the firm’s PA & Secretarial resource (centrally referred to as the PA Hub), effectively allocating workload to ensure that all stakeholders are provided with comprehensive administrative support.
2. Oversee the operational activities for the PA Hub, including the distribution and allocation of tasks to ensure an even ratio of work across the group. Provide advice, guidance and coaching to secretarial staff.
3. Working with the Legal Operations Manager, ensure the structure and impact of the PA Hub remains fit for purpose and continues to provide a cohesive, efficient, and trusted administrative service to the firm’s departments.
4. Working with the Legal Operations Manager, deliver strategies to ensure lawyered teams are relieved of as many administrative tasks as possible, allowing teams to focus on their responsibilities as fee earners.
5. Working with the Legal Operations Manager and finance team, support best practice financial hygiene across the fee earner group, focusing on task completion and proactive collaboration between secretaries, PAs and the lawyered teams.
6. Closely monitor the expertise within the PA Hub, proactively addressing any knowledge gaps to keep up to speed with the internal and external market demands and the firm’s wider strategy and objectives.
7. Ensure standard processes are carried out consistently and efficiently across the PA Hub, supporting the team on training needs and advising on issues when escalated.
8. Play a key role in the roll-out of new systems, processes and technologies, supporting the firm’s goal of accurate data capture of key client information.
9. Take responsibility for managing financial BAU and project budgets for the Hub.
10. Promote a culture of feedback, learning, and adaptability.
We are looking for:
11. Qualifications: No formal qualifications are needed for this role but any relevant qualifications in management / leadership would be useful.
12. Ideally have at least 5 years’ experience within a secretarial role in a professional services firm.
13. Knowledge and hands on experience of leading and managing a team preferably within a professional services firm.
14. Good IT skills including a working knowledge of Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint.
15. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills (both oral and written), with a proven ability to operate effectively and sensitively when managing a team, and to develop relationships that command respect, trust and confidence.
16. Excellent organisational skills.
17. Can lead, manage and operate flexibly as part of a team, is approachable with a commitment to professional development.
18. Good eye for detail, high level of accuracy is essential.
Some of our benefits include:
19. Salary reflective of your experience.
20. Earn up to 10% of your salary with our annual bonus scheme.
21. Minimum of 25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays per year increasing to 31 days with length of service, with the opportunity to buy/sell up to 5 days holiday per year.
22. Auto enrolled into the workplace pension scheme, and we’ll contribute a minimum of 6% of your salary.
23. 4x your annual salary in the event of a death in service.
24. Hybrid and flexible working with a minimum of 40% of your time spent in the office.
Find out more about working at Walker Morris here.
Company Values
Our shared values represent our culture and the things that are important to us. They define who we are as a Firm, as an employer and what we expect of our people. They provide direction and purpose by influencing the decisions that we make and the actions that we take. It’s really important that all candidates and employees demonstrate these values in their day-to-day activities:
25. Embrace the fact everyone is different and unique.
26. You can be serious without wearing a suit.
27. Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
28. Two heads are better than one.
29. Take the bull by the horns.
30. We win & lose together.
Walker Morris is committed to being an inclusive employer. We welcome applications regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, age, neuro diversity or disability status, family or parental status, race, religion or ethnicity. Click here to find out more about our diversity and inclusion work.
If you need any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to ask. We are a Disability Confident employer.