Owen Reed is looking to recruit an responsible Team Administrator to join a top law firm in London.

Department

The Central Pool supports all practice groups across the firm, including Corporate, Tax, Employment, and others. The nature of work is varied and during certain periods you will support particular practices more than others. The work and tasks are distributed via a centralized inbox.

The Role

You will be expected to provide high quality, comprehensive administrative support to lawyers and PAs across multiple departments, as required.  You will proactively contribute to the department, and ultimately, the firm's success by actively seeking to improve working processes, anticipating the needs of those requiring assistance, and facilitating flexible and efficient administrative support.

As a Team Administrator, the expectation is that you will demonstrate the key characteristics described below.  While these characteristics are not exhaustive, they provide an overview of the fundamental expectations that the firm places on its Team Administrators.

Proactivity

Team Administrators are expected to understand the varying needs of the individuals to whom they provide support.  This will be realized through action and results oriented behaviour, where requirements and challenges are pre-empted and resolved, and where opportunities to add value are exploited.

Teamwork

Team Administrators are expected to contribute to assist the PA team as well as fee earners as required, operating as one seamless 'unit'.  This will involve maximizing individual strengths and drawing on the capacity of everyone in the team to collectively ensure that deadlines are met and excellent work product is delivered.  This is likely to include sharing knowledge, providing support to others at times when absence or capacity issues arise and collaborating with the wider team to suggest and implement improvements to processes.

Communication

Good communication needs to be channelled in multiple directions to develop constructive working relationships.  This will require managing expectations of key stakeholders by acknowledging and updating on the progress of tasks, including non-urgent tasks and those that are on-going. Strong communication skills will be evidenced by recognizing and assisting when colleagues require support.  Ultimately, good communication is vital for enabling effective team working and for developing trust.

Inspiring confidence

The value added by Team Administrators has a direct impact on the level of service provided to clients.  It is therefore imperative, as someone providing support for the department, that support is delivered with a genuine appreciation of the pace and extent of demands expected by the firm's clients. This will involve delivering work with a high degree of accuracy and professional presentation, turned around promptly to meet deadlines, with the parallel aim of going above and beyond wherever possible.

Key Responsibilities

• Work to ensure unique and individual support needs for all members of the department and more broadly the firm's clients are understood and met.
• Use effective systems to ensure that urgent and non-urgent tasks are completed within the required timescales, including collaborating with other Team Administrators.
• Use initiative to take responsibility of essential administration that will assist the wider department, for example, coordinating expense payments, archiving, emptying confidential shredding, arranging photocopying and developing administrative systems with the support of the Pas, as required.
• Be capable of operating all functions of the photocopiers and scanners including clearing jams, replenishing paper and replacing the toner;
• Assist other members of the department (including PAs, paralegals, Business Development ('BD') team as required; and
• Develop a general awareness of business issues and challenges within which the lawyers operate to gain their trust and confidence in the support provided by the Administration team.

Key Duties

• Deal with incoming and outgoing mail.
• Establish and maintain effective and accurate filing systems (hard copy and electronic), as required.
• Liaise with the Archives/General Office ('GO') department to send off and recall archived filing.
• Continually replenish the stationery cupboards and ensure that all stationery requirements are met.
• Arrange for the shredding and disposal of confidential documents;
• Liaise with GO to arrange couriers as and when they are required;
• Liaise with the GO, Facilities and Maintenance departments to progress issues that may arise within the office.
• Provide assistance with photocopying and scanning tasks as required; and
• Perform general ad-hoc administration duties including conflict checks and file opening as required and assisting to support departmental BD activities, including maintenance of the BD diary, updating Interaction contacts, assisting in the publication of content and departmental newsletter.

Documents

• Where document work and collation is delivered, ensure that the work product is accurate (spell check, page numbers etc.); and
• Assist the PAs, paralegals, and other fee earners with ad hoc document work, as and when levels of busyness and overflow work dictates.

Communication

• Demonstrate rapport and professionalism when communicating and use these skills to build and maintain collaborative working relationships with all colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
• Use internal and external networks to help you solve problems and devise effective solutions;
• Liaise with Business Services departments as required; and
• Communicate and work as part of the PA team to help cover busy periods and absences.

Skills and Experience

• Strong attention to detail.
• A good level of knowledge of MS Office applications (Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint);
• Confidence and ability to learn other technology packages and systems to provide support to the department.
• Interpersonal skills that will allow effective interaction with people at all levels across the firm;
• Confidence to proactively problem solve and seek assistance should issues arise;
• Ability to work in a fast-paced team environment while maintaining a high level of performance and focus on good client service;
• Excellent ability to organise and prioritise effectively while handling multiple deadlines; and
• Interest in working in a legal environment.

We are excited to be moving from our London headquarters in Snow Hill, to a brand-new building in the City – Stonecutter Court. The move is expected to take place in early 2026.