Secretarial Services Manager
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REPORTING TO: Head of Facilities and Health & Safety
HOURS: 09.00 - 17.30 Monday - Friday (*)
LOCATION: Any office (excluding Newcastle and Southampton) with flexibility to travel to other offices as required.
About Hempsons
With over 250 staff and lawyers working across our five offices nationwide, Hempsons is a leading law firm for the health and social care, life sciences, charity and social enterprise sectors. We help clients overcome a constantly evolving list of challenges. Our aim is to provide outstanding legal services that deliver the best possible client outcomes whilst nurturing a culture that makes us a "great place to work".
The Role
We are looking to appoint a Secretarial Services Manager to join us, based in either our London, Harrogate or Manchester office, with flexibility to be able to travel occasionally to other office locations (e.g. Southampton and Newcastle) as required. This role will manage all aspects of the secretarial service (which currently includes PA, Document Production and Practice Support functions) across the firm, playing a key role in ensuring seamless and tailored support is provided to our fee earners.
We are seeking someone with proven experience, or the ability to demonstrate strong transferable skills, in managing secretarial or business support functions, ideally within a professional services environment. The role requires a technically minded individual who understands the day-to-day work of support teams, while also being able to engage with fee earners and senior stakeholders to ensure services are aligned to business needs.
The successful applicant will be responsible for the ongoing development of the PA, DP and PS teams, ensuring they work efficiently, enhancing productivity, and continue to deliver exceptional support to lawyers. A strong client service mindset is essential, along with the ability to build working relationships and respond to changing requirements.
Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills are important, as the role involves managing and developing a diverse team across multiple locations. Close collaboration with internal stakeholders, including IT, HR and other business services teams, will also be a key part of the role.
This role presents an excellent opportunity to lead meaningful improvements, embed best practices, and make a lasting contribution to the firm's strategic goals.
Core Duties and responsibilities although not limited to:
• Lead, manage and develop the team to maintain high performance and foster continuous improvement through day-to-day supervision
• Resource planning to include monitoring and managing workload and ongoing secretarial and administrative needs of the business
• Working collaboratively with HR to identify and take ownership of performance management/development and 121s, annual appraisal reviews, capability and ER matters, L&D requirements, absence management etc
• Collaborate closely with the Head of Facilities and Health & Safety, as well as other department heads, to support and deliver key projects.
• Communicate directly with fee earners to ensure the delivery of high-quality, tailored secretarial and practice support services.
• Monitor and approve holiday, absence, overtime requests through a thorough understanding of business needs and with the oversight of resources and cost implication.
• Engage with legal practice departments to fully understand their support requirements and respond accordingly.
• Monitor, manage and report on service levels, identifying opportunities for improvement and implementing necessary changes.
• Develop and refine systems and processes to ensure services are delivered efficiently and meet firm-wide standards.
• Identify and delegate tasks within the team that enhance fee earners' productivity and workflow.
• Lead change management initiatives to support the ongoing evolution of secretarial and support services.
• Keep abreast of industry best practices and innovations both within and outside the legal sector, advising on relevant developments.
• Work with IT to build an understanding of new technology and assist in any roll out of updates where secretarial/DPC support assistance is required.
• Undertake any other duties reasonably requested by the Head of Facilities and Health & Safety.
Candidate specification
You will have:
• Proven team leadership and management experience in a supervisory or managerial role, within a PA or Secretarial services role gained within in a professional service environment (ideally in a law firm).
• Demonstrable experience in developing, improving, or enhancing the quality and efficiency of service delivery, with a proven track record of implementing practical solutions that drive consistency, increase client satisfaction, and optimise team performance.
• Strong leadership qualities, demonstrating the ability to guide teams effectively by setting a positive example in both attitude and work ethic, and confidently managing challenging or sensitive situations professionally and calmly when they arise.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build rapport and influence effectively at all levels across the firm, supported by excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively within a team environment.
• A strong client service focus, ensuring fee earners and clients receive attentive, professional, and reliable support at all times.
• Proven experience managing multiple priorities simultaneously, ensuring deadlines are met without compromising quality, with meticulous attention to detail to ensure accuracy and consistency in all aspects of service delivery.
• Flexible and reliable, with the ability to take initiative independently while also valuing and contributing to team efforts and adapting swiftly to the changing demands of the firm and its clients.
• A conscientious and approachable manner, with a positive attitude that contributes to a supportive and productive workplace.
• Good working knowledge of IT systems and software applications, with the ability and willingness to learn and adapt to new systems as required.
• A clear understanding of the structure and workings of an LLP.
• Willingness and ability to travel between offices on an occasional, as-needed basis to provide support across locations.
• Lead on people-related matters within the team, working closely with HR and key stakeholders to ensure a positive, fair and consistent approach. Address performance concerns, behavioural issues, and staff support needs in a constructive and timely manner, maintaining strong working relationships and following up as needed to ensure alignment with organisational values and procedures.
Hempsons is an equal opportunities employer
Hempsons is committed to providing equal opportunities for all and to encouraging diversity through recruitment. Applications are welcome from all sections of the community and decisions to progress will be made with reference to entirely objective criteria only.
(*) Advertised working hours are from 09.00 - 17.30 but staff may be required to work additional hours, sometimes at short notice, in order to deal with work in hand.
Please note, this job description is not contractual and may be amended or revised from time to time, to meet the needs of the firm or the department. It will be reviewed periodically.