PA - Business Services

Job title

PA

Department

Legal Services – Business Services Team

Our Purpose

To forge long-term relationships that have a positive impact on our people, our clients, our business partners, and our community.

Our Commitment to Our People

We do not think there is a magic formula to the Higgs culture. The key is to listen to and respect our people. If we take care of our people and our people take care of our clients, then everything we want as a firm will take care of itself. We are friendly and open to new ideas.

Our Core Values

Higgs core values are “CLEAR” – Care, Legacy, Excellence, Authenticity, Relationships

Role Purpose

Our PA team provide an excellent level of support to senior lawyers in our business to help them maximise the amount of time they need to support their lawyers and clients.  Our PA’s work closely with our Secretaries who provide a comprehensive level of support to our lawyers across all departments. 

We aspire to deliver technically superior service.  We will ensure that our people have the knowledge and skills to achieve at the highest level.

Key Responsibilities

• Comprehensive and proactive diary and travel management, anticipating future demands of senior lawyers and actions required
• Organising and planning meetings, to include coordinating agendas and papers for internal and external meetings, booking travel and arranging for the necessary equipment and refreshments.
• Liaise with our Office Assistants to delegate administrative tasks, tracking progress through to completion
• Managing workflow of typing, making appropriate use of the secretarial team
• Acting as a liaison point for clients and colleagues. Dealing with and screening calls, delivering a positive client experience
• Assisting with client queries during fee earner absences, monitoring mailboxes and forwarding on emails as appropriate.
• Deal promptly with any finance requests such as billing, TT’s in/out and any other queries that may arise
• Mentor new Office Assistants, Secretaries or other new PA’s when they join the business
• Ensure that any new Secretaries are trained up in your area of expertise to enable them to offer the best service to you and your team
• Ensure that cover for holiday and non-working days in the PA team is handled within the group accordingly.

Person Specification

The PA has responsibility to ensure they are familiar with the Firm’s departments, key people, clients, internal systems and procedures. Any training requirements should be discussed with the Head of Legal Services.

In addition, the PA is expected to demonstrate:

• Excellent communication, organisation and interpersonal skills with the confidence to liaise with senior team members
• Always seeks to provide an outstanding level of client service
• Team orientated personality with the ability to work independently and with others
• Excellent problem-solving skills and using initiative, anticipates what is needed and takes appropriate action
• Be a champion for process changes
• Ability to remain calm under pressure and work to tight deadlines
• Conscientious, approachable and enthusiastic

 Technical Knowledge

• Extensive knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Teams and Word
• Knowledge of Excel and PowerPoint is required

What You Need to Know

Higgs offers hybrid working wherever possible. Our Higgs’ Best FIT (flexible, inclusive, together) principles are designed to ensure that people can complete their best work from the most appropriate location. If you are looking to work flexibly then let us know and we will do what we can to accommodate your request.

We encourage a ‘dress for your diary’ approach which means dressing in a manner appropriate for your schedule or the specific appointments you have on any given day.

Equal Opportunities

As charter signatories to The Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter, Higgs are committed to developing a diverse business by engaging with the widest pool of talent. We recognise this is an ongoing journey and regularly monitor our figures which can be viewed here.

People Driven. Legal Excellence.