A Variety Of Roles For ‘Support Staff’
Think of a legal practice and the first thing that comes to mind is ‘lawyers’ or ‘Solicitors’…but there’s a multitude of other opportunities within any large legal practice.
The lawyers (those who practise the law but who may or may not be Solicitors) are at the very heart of any law firm, but you may be surprised to know that there’s a vast range of roles that make the heartbeat.
With a strong regional base, 6 offices, great clients, a heritage that goes back over 100 years and a reputation that others envy. Our clients refer to us as:
“a well established firm; a name you can trust; a firm with a great reputation that covers most areas of law.”
At Wilson Browne Solicitors, we have a range of varied and exciting jobs that all contribute to the effective running and profitability of the firm. Just like any other business, there are various skills (and indeed other professional roles) that all go towards making the firm a success.
Secretarial.
A vital part of helping the lawyers focus on what they do best, is secretarial support: dealing with correspondence, preparing letters, helping with diary management, organising meeting rooms and having contact with clients to help keep them in the picture when the busy ‘fee earners’ may be otherwise engaged.
Secretaries generally work for dedicated teams so you’ll need to be able to build knowledge of a particular area of law as well as gaining a good understanding of other areas of law we deal with so you can see the bigger picture.
“Front of house” – reception.
Perhaps a term more widely used in the hospitality industry but we like to think of our clients as our guests whether visiting in person or enquiring over the ‘phone.
We expect high standards whether it’s meeting and greeting visitors in person or dealing with those many telephone enquiries: making sure they are warmly greeted , that we make them comfortable and deal with any questions or enquiries that have as efficiently as possible.
A dedicated ICT team.
Every modern business runs on technology whether it be mobile communications, networks, software, intranets, hardware, I.T security or bespoke programs and we have our own in-house team making sure there are no glitches.
Marketing, advertising and Business Development.
There’s no point having a great product or service if no one knows about it! From traditional adverts in print, through to internet advertising, radio, website, social media, branding, PR and more, there’s an award-winning team behind it making sure it’s as good as it can be.
Practice management.
Our Operations Team are responsible for developing our quality and LEXCEL systems and for ensuring compliance with them, as well as overseeing other important aspects such as Data Protection. The team provides key support to our lawyers to ensure that they can always deliver services to our clients in the way our clients want to receive them. Part of the role of the team includes developing a full understanding of what clients like and dislike about lawyers so they can work with our teams to ensure that our client service is always the best it can be.
The team also takes care of important day-to-day functions such as ‘facilities management’, ensuring that our offices run smoothly.
HR.
With over 130 Partners and employees, there’s a large Human Resources element! Whether it’s People Management, Recruitment, HR Policies, Compliance, Health & Safety, and Benefits. This might typically include Enforcing firm HR policies consistently across all staff; Training all staff on relevant HR policies; Maintaining employee compensation and benefit programs; Upholding compliance with current employment legislation…or anything else you’d expect of a large employer.
Finance.
With so many employees and even more clients, the finance function is another essential part of the business. There’s people to pay, suppliers who need invoices settling and clients who need to pay for a broad range of services.
And more…
…from Office Assistants who help with general tasks that contribute to the efficient running of the offices, to someone who makes sure that the buildings are well maintained. There’s a multitude of opportunities and the opportunity to develop your career. For example, we have Legal executives who started as secretaries and Office assistants who are now studying CILEx as their first step towards a legal career.