Practice Assistant/Legal Assistant – Commercial Litigation | Toronto, ON

Overview

In this position of Practice Assistant you will coordinate support services including delegating and reviewing the completion of document production, file management, copying/scanning work and other administrative work. You will take an active interest in, and obtain a thorough understanding of, all aspects of client requirements to provide exceptional service levels to the lawyers and clients. This is a fantastic opportunity to excel in a client facing role within a prestigious firm.

Summary of Responsibilities

Administrative

- Manage calendars, ensuring they are up to date and reminding lawyers of meetings etc. on a daily basis
- Arrange meetings, book conference rooms, refreshments, check rooms prior to meetings etc. and liaise with other attendees, both internal and external
- Arrange for travel bookings and related details to be made through the support teams
- Arrange photocopying, printing, organizing couriers, sending out of letters, faxes etc.
- Arrange for files to be opened and closed, supervise general filing requirements and record keeping
- Use effective systems to ensure that both short and long term tasks are completed within required timescales
- Support lawyers in marketing activities including involvement in preparation of pitches and presentations

Communication

- Take internal and external telephone queries, responding as appropriate and/or ensuring that all messages are passed on in a timely manner
- Monitor post and/or e-mails and dealing with as appropriate and ensure that all client related correspondence is passed on to an appropriate lawyer if the relevant person is out of the office
- Liaise with administrative support departments on behalf of lawyers as required
- Liaise with the department’s Team Leader over any planned absences, arranging cover as necessary and communicating this to the relevant lawyers.

Client Relationship Management

- Become an active part in the care of clients and be wholly familiar with contacts/clients
- Enter, maintain and update client details and relevant information in the Firm’s CRM contacts system
- Deal with basic client queries and general administration
- Arrange client meetings

Document Production

- Check correspondence, attachments, documents, reports, presentations, faxes etc. produced by the Document Production team before they are passed to the relevant lawyer and undertake basic/minor amendments where appropriate
- Type urgent/short/confidential correspondence and emails
- Produce and maintain Excel spreadsheets as required

Financial – Billing

- Assist lawyers in ensuring their time is recorded properly and entered onto the system on a daily basis
- Assist lawyers in the billing and credit control process by liaising with the lawyer and accounts and to produce standard prebill financial/time reports through the system
- Request cheques, bank transfers and paying in money received, as appropriate

Other Duties & Responsibilities

- In addition to providing support to the lawyer(s) to whom they report, a Practice Assistant will also provide assistance to their immediate colleagues in the department and, where practical, other departments.

Team duties

- Assisting other members of the firm, both proactively and at the request of the Team Leader
- Any other duties as requested by the Lawyers or Team Leader

Core Skills & Requirements

- Successful completion of a Community College legal assistant and/or law clerk program
- Experience in Commercial Litigation law
- Accurate typing speed of approximately 60 words per minute
- Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, research tools and other systems implemented by the firm
- Excellent telephone manner and competent knowledge of telephone system
- Excellent communication, organizational and team skills
- Excellent attention to detail
- Ability to think ahead and use initiative
- Flexible and dependable, able to take the initiative
- Able to remain calm under pressure and work to tight deadlines
- Conscientious, approachable and enthusiastic
- Able to quickly build confidence, respect and trust with others
- Have a positive approach to daily tasks and have a solutions focused working method
- Sound knowledge of support services
- A desire to enhance the skills of self and others
- A strong focus on ensuring the highest levels of service standards are delivered and maintained

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