Practice Assistant/Legal Assistant – Litigation | Toronto, ON

Payroll & Benefits Coordinator | Toronto ON; Toronto; On-site; CAD 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious firm in Toronto seeks a Practice Assistant to provide administrative support to lawyers. The successful candidate will manage calendars, take phone inquiries, and help maintain client relationships, ensuring high service standards. Applicants should have completed a legal assistant program and possess strong organizational and communication skills.

Qualifications

• Experience in Litigation law.
• Accurate typing speed of approximately 60 words per minute.
• Excellent telephone manner and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage calendars and arrange meetings for lawyers.
• Take internal and external telephone queries.
• Assist in the billing and credit control process.

Skills

Communication

Organizational

Attention to Detail

Team Skills

Initiative

Education

Completion of Community College legal assistant and/or law clerk program

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft PowerPoint

Job description

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 will therefore include:

• 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 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