Secretary

Overview

We're looking for a proactive and organised Secretary to join our Planning team. This is an excellent opportunity for a motivated and ambitious individual seeking to advance their secretarial career in a leading professional services environment. Working closely with our fee earners, you'll play a key role in ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the team by providing high-quality administrative and secretarial support.

As a Planning Secretary, you'll be responsible for managing busy diaries, arranging meetings and travel, handling correspondence, maintaining client files, and supporting the production of legal documents. You'll be a trusted point of contact for clients and colleagues, helping to ensure work is delivered efficiently and to the highest standard. No two days will be the same, making this a varied and rewarding role for someone who enjoys staying organised and working in a fast-paced environment.

We're looking for someone who is self-motivated, eager to learn, and able to use their initiative. You will have excellent attention to detail, strong communication skills, and a positive, can-do attitude. Whether you're arranging complex schedules, assisting with client onboarding, or providing vital administrative support to the team, you'll take pride in delivering an exceptional service and be keen to develop your knowledge and experience within the legal sector.

As the Secretary, you will:

• Diary management, including the day-to-day organisation and management of fee earners’ diaries, coordinating schedules, meetings and appointments
• Arranging meetings, including managing room and refreshment bookings and ensuring appropriate notifications are sent to the relevant people. Appropriate planning for fee earner absences both planned and unplanned.
• Planning and making travel arrangements and checking travel/accommodation details, including applying for any international travel requirements such as visas. Ensuring that all relevant information is distributed as soon as possible to the relevant individuals.
• File management, including opening, closing, archiving and retrieving files in accordance with Walker Morris procedures. To carry out regular filing of either hard copy or soft copy client-related correspondence and other documentation.
• Assisting with onboarding clients, including preparing client and matter letters and liaising with the client to ensure anti-money laundering and know your client requirements are met.
• Handling telephone and email enquiries, including responding on behalf of fee earners, either as directed or on own initiative.
• Helping to conduct file reviews and other compliance-related tasks.
• Typing and general word processing, including audio and copy typing, the preparation and production of documents, correspondence, bills/invoices, forms and checklists in keeping with Walker Morris house style. Preparing mail and enclosures for dispatch. Using different software packages and databases.
• Providing general administrative support.
• Providing secretarial and administrative support to other departments in the firm as required.

We are looking for:

• Experience of working within a similar position at a similar level is preferred but not essential. Good working knowledge of secretarial and office procedures. Legal secretarial experience would be an advantage.
• PC literate with knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and telephone manner and a high standard of written English.
• Ability to organise, plan, prioritise and meet deadlines
• Ability to work confidentially and on highly confidential matters; respecting and maintaining the confidentiality of all information relating to Walker Morris and client matters.

Some of our benefits include:

• Salary reflective of experience.
• Earn up to 10% of your salary with our annual bonus scheme.
• 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.
• Auto enrolled into the workplace pension scheme, and we’ll contribute a minimum of 6% of your salary.
• 4x your annual salary in the event of a death in service.

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:

• Embrace the fact everyone is different and unique.
• You can be serious without wearing a suit.
• Never lose sight of the bigger picture.
• Two heads are better than one.
• Take the bull by the horns.
• 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.

Type of Working