Assistant Secretarial Services Manager

CMS Law; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Hybrid working policy

Generous bonus scheme

Up to 25 days holiday (rising to 28)

Private medical insurance

Enhanced parental leave

Disability accommodations

Job summary

CMS Law in London seeks a seasoned ASSM to lead the secretarial function, aligning resource to partner needs and client service delivery. You will mentor staff, manage Workday processes, and drive improvements across the Practice Group.

You will collaborate with HoSS/SSM and other offices, ensuring high standards and effective operations in a hybrid working model with a strong focus on people development and service excellence.

Qualifications

• Proven supervisory/management experience in a similar role (min 3 years).
• Experience in a professional services environment, ideally within a law firm.
• Ability to lead a team and command respect; strong IT skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Copilot, MS Teams).

Responsibilities

• Manage all secretarial staff (office and home) within the Practice Group daily.
• Mentor and develop PA, Team Secretary, Admin Apprentice pathways; monitor learning and career progression.
• Oversee day-to-day workflow, ensure sufficient secretarial resource and cross-office collaboration.
• Encourage cross-practice collaboration and arrange cover for absences.
• Manage Workday annual leave, sickness absence, and records; coordinate new joiners and buddy system.
• Conduct annual/interim/probation reviews; lead appraisals and salary moderation.
• Review strategic plans; allocate secretarial support; contribute to recruitment decisions.
• Monitor working hours; manage emails/groups/leavers/joiners; track sabbaticals/secondments.
• Coordinate floor plans with Workplace Manager; quality-check output and adherence to standards.
• Lead Apprenticeship Programme participation and new hire onboarding; drive process improvements and AI adoption.

Skills

People management

Team leadership

Stakeholder management

Organisational skills

Communication skills

Confidentiality

Adaptability

Problem solving

Tools

Workday

Job description

The ASSM role is a key role within the practice group and will have primary responsibility for the day to day management of secretaries ensuring the Secretarial Model supports all partners and fee earners in receiving an exceptional and efficient service to aid them in their delivery of client services. They will have demonstrated and have a proven track record in people management skills and will use their knowledge and experience to align support needs to the firm’s strategy, working with ASSMs in other teams to ensure consistency across the London office_._

They will also have first class PA skills and provide strong organisational support in relation to operational tasks for the Practice Group Leader (PGL) and on occasion the Practice Group Manager (PGM).

Based : A mixture of office and home working (minimum 50% office)

Hours : 09.30 to 17.30 (flexibility needed to support as necessary)

Key Relationships:

• Head of Secretarial Services (HoSS)
• Secretarial Services Manager (SSM)
• London ASSMs
• Within your London Practice Group: you will have strong relationships with key stakeholders including PGL, PGM, Practice Group Team Leaders, Finance BP, HR BP and HR Advisor and other supporting business service teams as necessary
• Other Business Support functions to support in the fluid operation of the secretarial team

About the role:

• The management of all secretarial staff (office and home working) within the Practice Group on a day to day basis
• Support mentoring within the team. Working with the Mentoring Programme Manager to identify PA, Team Secretary, Administrator and Admin Apprentice mentoring opportunities to support development and monitor learning and training to identify career progression opportunities
• Managing the day to day workflow requirements of the group, ensuring that sufficient secretarial resource is available and using other resources i.e. in other offices, other business service teams where necessary. Ensuring priorities are met to suit changing business needs
• Developing and encouraging cross-practice working across the secretarial population
• Arranging secretarial cover for all absences
• Workday – responsible for managing annual leave and absence processes for the practice group, including holiday requests, sickness absence reporting and return to work meetings and fee earner allocations, ensuring all records are accurately maintained within Workday.
• Managing new joiner process including trainees and allocating buddies, arranging seating and ensuring workstations are ready, provide induction support for all new joiners to your team and production of a team information pack outlining relevant information
• Undertaking annual, interim and probationary reviews for the secretarial population, adopting the role of lead appraiser in line with Modus at 3 yearly check-ins and contributing in relation to secretarial salary moderation
• Understanding the strategic plans of the practice group, reviewing secretarial support in line with business needs and making recommendations to the PGL
• Reviewing and proposing secretarial/fee earner allocations (including the allocation of secretarial support for new fee earners and headcount recommendations which contribute to recruitment needs)
• Reviewing working hours to ensure adequate spread of resource, support and coverage
• Managing email groups/leavers and joiners
• Tracking sabbaticals and secondments within the fee-earner population with HR support
• Coordinating and maintaining the team floor plans in collaboration with the Workplace Manager
• Spot-checking/quality checking work produced to ensure consistency and adherence to the firm’s standards
• Regular meetings with the SSM/HoSS
• Regular meeting with the SSMs (Regional and Scottish offices) and ASSMs in other Practice Groups
• Supporting secretarial participation of Apprenticeship Scheme, collaborating with the Apprenticeship Programme Manager who will support individuals undertaking an apprenticeship qualification, both internally (PA Excellence Programme) and new hires on the Administration Apprenticeship Scheme FTC
• Lead and champion change initiatives across the secretarial function, supporting the adoption of new processes, technologies and AI-driven solutions. Drive continuous improvement by identifying efficiencies, reducing manual processes, embedding best practice and exploring opportunities for automation to enhance operational effectiveness and client service delivery.

Assisting the SSM/HoSS and/or HR in:

• Return to work interviews and ongoing monitoring of absence, where required
• Reviewing with fee earners/partners any issues regarding secretarial performance/quality of work
• Attending first line disciplinary and performance issue meetings
• Using the Secretarial Learning Journey to recommend team or individual’s development and refresher training and monitoring its progress

Assisting PGL/PGM in PG operational tasks:

• Which aid and benefit the day to day operational management of the PG e.g. BD travel initiative, trainee rotation, PGM support and other tasks which may arise in discussions with PGL/PGM

Key Performance Indicators:

• Builds productive relationships internally, within own team, across the wider secretarial function and externally
• Ensure own and team’s knowledge and skills are current and in line with business needs, organising training where required
• Dealing with day-to-day people management issues and resolving these effectively
• Performance management and the continuous improvement of secretarial staff including recruitment, coaching, training, monitoring, discipline and employment
• Creating and developing procedures, projects and systems to facilitate workflow and to ensure on-going improvements in quality
• Monitoring deadlines and ensuring an effective service for the team

About you:

• Proven supervisory and management experience within a similar role for at least 3 years’ duration and ability to demonstrate skill set
• Demonstrating learned knowledge by having undertaken courses such as excellence programmes, diplomas, NVQs or courses during current or previous employment
• Experience within a professional services environment is essential, ideally within a law firm
• Must demonstrate a clear ability to lead a team and command respect and lead by example

Skills & Knowledge

• Excellent IT skills i.e. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Copilot, MS Teams
• Able to relate to people at all levels with ability to deal effectively with more challenging and demanding situations both within the group and across the wider firm
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and discretion at all times on matters of a personal and sensitive nature to build trust and respect within your team
• Ability to engage empathetically and be seen as fair and unbiased in all situations
• Proven ability to design and implement new processes
• Ability to achieve goals and objectives within time-frames
• Strong and confident communication skills, both written and verbal
• Resilient under criticism, able to work effectively under pressure, calm in a crisis
• Flexible approach to working
• Proven ability to manage workflow
• A positive attitude with a practical, common sense approach

What’s in it for you?

We want to reward you today and help you plan for tomorrow. We appreciate that everyone is different, therefore we have designed a benefits system that offers choice and flexibility based on individual needs and lifestyles. To name a few, these include:

• Competitive basic salary (reviewed annually)
• Flexible, hybrid working policy
• Generous bonus scheme
• Up to 25 days holiday (rising to 28 days with service)
• Holiday exchange scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Enhanced parental leave
• Reasonable adjustments and accommodation for disabled talent in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

If you would like to read more information regarding our range of benefits, please visit our Rewards & Benefits page on our website.