Division Assistant And Legal Operations Lead (12 Month Ftc)

Mishcon De Reya; England; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Mishcon de Reya is seeking an experienced Legal Operations Leader to guide and develop a dedicated administrative team supporting fee-earners and clients. You will be a central point of contact for office management across the division, acting as an ambassador and inspirational leader in a client-facing environment.

The role emphasizes proactive team development, recruitment, training, compliance, and alignment with firm-wide improvement projects, while fostering collaboration with the Global

Qualifications

• Experience in administrative/management support role, ideally in a legal environment.
• Experience of managing a team with direct line management or supervisory responsibility for administrative teams.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Collaborative leadership; able to operate as both team leader and team player.
• Ability to influence, build networks, and utilise relationships to get things done.
• Excellent IT proficiency and adaptability to internal systems.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary point of contact for the Partners you are working for, dealing with calls, emails, meeting requests, correspondence.
• Full proactive and advanced calendar management, managing busy and frequently changing schedules to optimize time usage.
• Ensure Partners are fully prepared for meetings: collate information, prepare notes, attend meetings, take minutes, follow up on actions.
• Support fee earners in the smooth running of the client/matter lifecycle, following documented procedures to ensure compliance with the Firm's policies.
• Maintain key department/division documents and data; support department meetings as needed.
• Plan and oversee logistics for new starters, leavers and returners in collaboration with Bus Ops functions.
• Build relationships across departments and services; connect fee-earners, Legal Operations, and other functions.
• Drive a compliant mindset within the department; monitor compliance checklists and support staff in compliance.
• Lead recruitment, induction and development; set objectives, conduct reviews.
• Oversee workload, attendance, wellbeing; promote a cohesive, high-performing environment.
• Deliver Legal Operations strategy and engage with Global Capability Centre; feed into firm-wide improvement projects.

Job description

The Role

This role is to lead and develop a team of Legal Operations administrative staff within the Division/and or the Department to ensure the best possible support is provided to fee-earning staff and clients whilst delivering against the wider team objectives.

The person appointed will support Senior Partners in the Department, acting as a central point of contact for office management across the division/department.

This individual will be an ambassador for the Division as well as an approachable and inspiring leader. It will suit an experienced, proactive legal administrative professional who has a natural flair for managing and developing systems and people, to provide consistently high levels of service in a client-facing environment.

Duties and Responsibilities

PA Support

• Act as the primary point of contact for the Partners you are working for, dealing with calls, emails, meeting requests, correspondence.
• Full proactive and advanced calendar management, managing busy and frequent changing schedules to optimize time usage.
• Ensure the Partners are fully prepared for meetings: collate information, prepare notes, attend meetings, take minutes, follow up on action points.
• Support the fee earners in the smooth running of the client/matter lifecycle, following documented procedures, to ensure compliance with the Firm's documented compliance policy and guidelines.

Office and Division Management

• Maintain key department/division documents and data.
• Supporting department or division meetings as needed.
• Plan and oversee all the logistics for new starters, leavers and returners in collaboration with other Bus Ops functions (Tech, Facilities etc).
• Build strong relationships across departments and business services, acting as a connector between fee-earners, Legal Operations team, and other functions.
• Drive a strong compliance mindset within the department, overseeing and monitoring the compliance checklist to ensure legal operations staff are implementing and supporting the fee earning staff to ensure compliance with the Firm's document compliance checklist and guidelines.
• Attend quarterly Risk and Compliance meetings and implement agreed actions.
• Work with the Compliance and Academy teams to identify and implement training for team members to ensure individuals are kept up to date on changes to compliance requirements.

Team Leadership & Development

• Day to day leadership and development of the Legal Operations team who provide administrative and operational support to the department's fee earning staff.
• Be responsible for the recruitment, induction and support of team members; set objectives, conduct regular one-to-ones and twice year review meetings.
• Oversee work allocation and delegation of tasks, as appropriate, applying the Firm's frameworks for formal support when needed, in collaboration with the People team.
• Monitor attendance, job performance, and the wellbeing of team members.
• Promote a cohesive and supportive environment that drives collaboration and high performance.
• Ensure access to learning initiatives and professional development for the Legal Operations team.
• Organise support to cover holiday/sickness absence and workload peaks within the team.
• Identify cross-departmental resourcing needs and liaise with Legal Operations Manager and other assistants.

Strategy

• Working with the Legal Operations Manager to deliver and support the Legal Operations strategy.
• Supporting and leading the Legal Operations team in the departmental objectives and engagement with the Global Capability Centre.
• Feeding into and supporting firmwide improvement projects and process enhancement.
• Build strong relationships across the Legal Support Services Department and Global Capability Centre.

Skills/Experience

• Previous experience working in an administrative/management support role, ideally in a legal environment.
• Previous experience of managing a team, with direct line management or delegated supervisory responsibility for the performance and wellbeing of administrative teams.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Highly collegiate in approach; able to operate effectively both as a team leader and team player.
• Ability to successfully influence, build networks, and utilise working relationships to get things done.
• Excellent IT proficiency and adaptability to internal systems.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

About Mishcon de Reya LLP

Mishcon de Reya is an independent law firm, which now employs over 1400 people with more than 650 lawyers offering a wide range of legal services to companies and individuals. The firm has grown rapidly in recent years, showing more than 40% revenue growth in the past five years alone.

With presence in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Singapore, Hong Kong and UAE, the firm services an international community of clients and provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often do not apply.

The work the firm undertakes is cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and complex, centred around three increasingly entwined and connected sectors: the Innovation Economy, Private Wealth and Capital, and Real Estate. The firm is known as a disputes powerhouse with a formidable capacity firmwide for dispute resolution.

We strive to create a fully diverse and inclusive workplace where all our people are empowered to fulfil their potential. We are proud of our agile working culture and are always happy to talk flexible working.