Virtual PA/ Executive Assistant

Role & responsibilities

The Virtual PA will work with junior fee earners and other members of staff to provide proactive, timely and high quality administrative/co-ordination support.

In addition to PA services for assigned members of staff, the Virtual PA team will support the central Business Admin Unit with ad-hoc tasks that can be performed remotely. Business admin tasks will be assigned via a ticketing and task management system.

The Virtual PA will need to be a self-motivated, organised individual, who will be able to manage a busy workload and take responsibility for following tasks through to completion.

PA Support

The below activities represent standard PA support tasks for assigned members of staff. The list is not exhaustive and the exact support requirements and preferred working styles will be agreed with the assigned individuals as part of the onboarding process.

Diary & Inbox Support

• Full proactive and advanced international calendar management for assigned members of staff, including scheduling calls/meetings, looking ahead and following up as needed
• Ensuring the assigned members of staff are fully prepared for all client meetings by collating required information (and input from others), preparing background information and notes as needed, supporting the follow-through of action points etc.
• Inbox management and email filing, basic correspondence and meeting requests (both internally and from clients)
• Booking desks and meeting rooms for assigned members of staff
• Processing expense claims on behalf of assigned members of staff

Business Development

• Organising business breakfasts, dinners or smaller events
• Managing CRM lists, contact maintenance and logging referrals in Firm's CRM systems

Travel

• Managing all travel for assigned fee-earners, ensuring that business travel is booked through the Firm's in-house provider. This encompasses both routine and more complex travel arrangements, guaranteeing that fee-earners receive comprehensive itineraries and supporting materials. Additionally, ensuring that business expenses are captured, approved, and processed for payment in accordance with policy.

Matter Lifecycle

• Supporting fee-earners in the smooth running of the client/matter lifecycle, following documented procedures, ensuring all required information/documentation is obtained, issued and correctly stored on the Firm's systems.
• Developing a strong working knowledge of the Firm's billing systems in order to support the fee-earners in being able to prepare and issue timely and accurate bills and financial updates for clients.
• Ensuring all documents are maintained and filed in line with the Firm's electronic and hard copy filing protocols.
• Providing support with ad-hoc tasks as needed

Business Admin support

In addition to the 1:1 support tasks listed above, a Virtual PA may also be asked to perform wider ad hoc support for the firm as outlined below. These tasks would typically be delegated by London-based PAs and/or the central Business Admin Unit and will be shared out amongst the Virtual PA team by way of a ticketing system.

It is imperative that the Virtual PA engages with the ticketing and task management system throughout the duration of the task in a professional and timely manner, including accepting the instruction as well as communicating estimated turnaround times and delays back to the requestor.

Key Business Admin support responsibilities include:

• Booking basic lunches and events, ordering gifts/flowers as instructed
• Billing support supporting PA's with various billing and WIP management tasks, adhering to the firm's processes and protocols
• Filing support ensuring all documents are maintained and filed in line with the Firm's electronic filing protocols and as per instructions received
• Administration and maintenance of HighQ Collaborate matter sites and client portals
• Wider support with expense claims, travel bookings, desk and meeting room bookings, electronic filing etc. as outlined above

Collaboration (where applicable)

• Working closely with London PAs and central Business Admin Unit staff, as well as internal document/presentation experts in the Document Production Unit (for specialist tasks, such as the preparation of documents, pitch/presentation materials etc.)
• Liaising with other internal departments, such as the Billing team and Risk & Compliance, to obtain specialist input as needed, taking ownership of issues and following up where appropriate

Preferred candidate profile

• Strong time management skills will need to juggle a number of tasks at any given time, plan ahead, and have the ability to respond positively and willingly to re-prioritise and adapt to changes in requirements
• Previous experience managing calendars internationally for multiple individuals, with the ability to apply judgement and common sense to ensure the best use of people's time, and that any potential diary clashes are pro-actively identified and addressed
• Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to deliver work to a consistently high standard of precision (even under pressure) in an environment where accuracy is prized
• Organised and methodical, and able to operate effectively within structured work processes, in particular with compliance/quality control frameworks
• Well-developed interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively with a range of people and working styles.
• A strong team player willing to take on work for additional members of staff and/or help with other tasks as needed in order to meet the needs of the business
• Excellent English language skills, and the ability to communicate effectively, with warmth and professionalism, to clients and colleagues both orally and in writing, including drafting business emails/correspondence
• High levels of discretion, with the ability to deal effectively with sensitive or confidential information
• Previous experience using bespoke in-house systems (e.g. client contact databases, matter management systems, billing systems, ticketing and task management system etc.)