Legal Secretary

Birketts LLP; Sevenoaks; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 32,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days holiday (FTE)

Private healthcare with BUPA

Scottish Widows Pension Scheme

Staff Profit Share & Bonus Scheme

Life Assurance 4x salary

Job summary

Birketts LLP in Sevenoaks seeks a capable Family Team assistant to provide high-level secretarial support across diverse family law matters. You will work with fee earners to manage documents, drafts, and client communications, ensuring accuracy and timely delivery.

The role emphasizes diary management, data entry into Intapp, and coordinating meetings while maintaining confidentiality and professional standards.

Qualifications

• Strong administration experience with attention to detail.
• Professional, proactive approach and effective communication.
• Competence in MS Word, Excel, Outlook and case management tools.

Responsibilities

• Produce and amend documents and PDF court bundles with speed and accuracy.
• Format, paginate and present documents in Birketts LLP house style.
• Proofread to ensure correct spelling and grammar.
• Proactively support fee earners to meet deadlines and client expectations.
• Coordinate mediation enquiries and related matters.

Skills

Administration

Organisational skills

Attention to detail

Microsoft Word

Excel

Outlook

Intapp

Digital dictation

Tools

Intapp

Microsoft Word

Excel

Outlook

Job description

About Us

Birketts is a full service, UK Top 50 law firm. With a heritage spanning 160 years, we have more than 700 lawyers and legal professionals and over 600 staff based in Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich, London, Norwich and Sevenoaks. We advise businesses, government and public sector organisations and individuals in the UK and internationally across four principal practice groups: Real Estate, Corporate Services, Dispute Resolution and Private Client.

We are defined by our Next Level Law proposition. We work with our clients as a proactive partner, horizon scanning and thinking ahead to the changes, challenges or opportunities that they may face.

Next Level Law is also applied to our people. Our collegiate culture means everyone is encouraged to achieve their next level in everything they do. RollOnFriday recently ranked us as the 6th best law firm to work at in 2026.

With our ambition to succeed, comes a strong desire to make a positive contribution to the communities we serve, and we are committed to delivering the objectives set out in our ESG strategy.

Diversity plays an integral part in all that we do, with female partners comprising 45% of our partnership.

The team you will join

Our Family Law team sits within the wider Private Client Division and brings together an exceptional group of Partners, Solicitors, Mediators, Arbitrators, and trained One Couple One Lawyer practitioners, offering a breadth of expertise.

You will work with the other Family Team assistants to provide support to all fee earners.

The team covers

• Divorce


• Separation


• Relationship difficulties


• Modern Families - includes surrogacy, adoption, fertility law


• International family issues


• Pre and post marriage agreements


• Children arrangements


• Mediation


• One Couple One lawyer


• Arbitration


• Financial arrangements

The work you will be doing

You will work in the Family Team to provide professional, pro-active, high level secretarial support on a broad range of issues relating to all aspects of the family law services we offer.

Technical responsibilities will include

• To produce and amend documents including PDF court bundles with speed and accuracy.


• To format, paginate, number and present documents in Birketts LLP house style


• To proof read all work, checking for spelling and grammar


• To be a user of key software packages and take responsibility for any training needs to improve relevant skills needed to meet the needs of the business


• To proactively work with the fee earners to ensure relevant documentation is produced to meet clients’ expectations and deadlines

Administrative responsibilities will include

• Manage diaries of fee earners in Microsoft Outlook


• To scan and save incoming and outgoing post


• To add and amend data on Intapp, including contact details intermediaries, and referrals into and out of the team


• To open new clients and to open and close matters and carry out conflict checks where appropriate


• To complete the client engagement process, including preparing letters of engagement and sending Thirdfort invitations


• Arranging meetings/conferences


• To arrange payments


• To ensure that all electronic filing and paper based filing is up to date and maintained at regular intervals


• To keep team spreadsheets up to date


• To carry out photocopying and scanning as required


• Be the coordinator for mediation enquiries and matters

What we are looking for

You will have the ability to contribute at an operational level, with excellent communication skills and can demonstrate general skills in:

• Strong administration experience


• Positive, enthusiastic and professional approach to all work


• Strong organisational and administrative skills, managing tasks and priorities efficiently


• Strong attention to detail to produce work documentation which is consistently of a high standard


• Self-motivated, ability to use initiative and provide pro-active support to fee-earners


• A desire to share new processes to support the wider team


• To be competent in using Microsoft Word, Excel, time recording software, case management, Outlook and digital dictation

Benefits

As a Birketts colleague, you will be eligible to receive a wide range of benefits:

• 25 days holiday (FTE) plus Bank Holidays


• Long Service holiday award - 1 extra week every 10 years continuous service


• Private Healthcare with BUPA (offered after probation is passed)


• Scottish Widows Pension Scheme (5% employer / 5% Employee)


• Staff Profit Share and Individual Performance Bonus Scheme


• Salary sacrifice (Pensions, Staff Profit Share)


• Life Assurance - 4 x salary / Permanent Health Insurance


• Paid CSR Day


• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave


• Subsidised gym membership


• Electric car scheme


• Dress for your Day Policy

You can find out more on our website: https://www.birketts.co.uk/recognition-reward-benefits/

Inclusivity and Culture

At Birketts, our culture is driven by ambition and a commitment to positively impact all the communities we serve. We are dedicated to the success, development, and wellbeing of our colleagues, helping them achieve their goals and seize the opportunities that come with our growth.

Birketts is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer. Our policy is unequivocal: we do not tolerate discrimination based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, or sexual orientation.

We pride ourselves on being an inclusive organisation that actively promotes equality of opportunity for all, valuing the right mix of talent, skills, and potential. We welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates, and selection for roles is based solely on individual merit.

If you require this advert in an accessible format, please visit https://diversityjobsgroup.com/company/birketts/

#IMP

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

At Birketts, we recognise the evolving role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal profession and recruitment. We welcome innovation and understand that candidates may use AI tools to support their job applications. However, we expect all applicants to use AI responsibly and ethically.

Our expectations regarding AI use in applications

• Your application should reflect your own voice, experiences, and insights. AI may assist in structuring or refining your responses, but it must not replace your personal input.


• Do not use AI to misrepresent your qualifications, experiences, or skills. Any form of exaggeration or fabrication may result in rejection from the process.


• If you have used AI tools to assist with your application, be prepared to discuss how and why you used them during the interview process.


• Do not submit content generated by AI tools that may include personal or sensitive data not intended for public disclosure.


• AI-generated content should be reviewed and edited by you to ensure accuracy, relevance, and alignment with the role and our firm’s values.

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment practices. The use of AI should enhance, not compromise, your application. We encourage candidates to demonstrate critical thinking, commercial awareness, and a genuine interest in our firm.