Legal Secretary - Professional & Commercial Risk

DAC Beachcroft; Bristol; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international law firm is looking for a Legal Secretary in Bristol to provide high-quality support to a team of fee earners. The role involves managing calendars, arranging client meetings, preparing documents, and ensuring smooth office operations. Ideal candidates will have essential experience in a legal environment, a rapid typing speed, and excellent IT skills. This position offers opportunities for flexible working and collaboration within a dynamic team environment.

Benefits

Flexible working options

Collaborative work environment

Qualifications

• Must have a minimum of 5 GCSEs, including English and Maths.
• Previous experience in a legal environment is essential.
• Typing speed of at least 65 WPM is mandatory.

Responsibilities

• Provide secretarial support to fee earners across various departments.
• Manage diaries and arrange meetings.
• Handle client communications and document management.

Skills

Legal environment experience

Typing speed of 65 WPM

Excellent IT skills

Ability to multitask

Effective communication

Attention to detail

Education

5 GCSEs including English and Maths

Tools

Microsoft Office

VisualFiles

I-Manage

Job description

Description

With a leading Commercial Litigation Team, DAC Beachcroft represents clients in disputes across all industry sectors.

We advise across a diverse range of type and size of dispute from domestic to multi-million pound international disputes. We are actively involved in litigation in all levels of the English courts. With our network of offices and associated firms across the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and North America, our reach is truly international. We also co‑ordinate litigation through our extensive network of lawyers throughout the world.

We are seeking to recruit a Legal Secretary into the team to provide support to around 11 Fee Earners. The team currently comprises around 7 Partners, 6 Legal Directors, 5 Senior Associates, 3 Associates, 8 Solicitors, 2 Trainees, 1 Chartered Legal Executive, 5 Paralegal and 3 Secretaries. Working as part of a team, you will be required to provide an excellent standard of secretarial support to the Commercial Dispute Resolution team. You will also be required to provide support across other practice groups as and when required.

Key Responsibilities

The main purpose of this role is to provide an excellent standard of secretarial support to fee earners across the specified practice.

Able to working independently

• Effectively work with fee earners and secretarial team members as part of a 4 person secretarial team.
• Effective prioritisation of tasks whilst managing a full workload, including sharing of tasks with other members of the secretarial team.
• Liaise and build relationships as appropriate with clients and their support staff.
• Proactively manage diaries.
• Book client and internal meetings.
• Prepare correspondence and documents from digital dictation.
• Answer and make telephone calls.
• Manage the case management systems used by the team.
• Opening of files using case management system and / or setting up new client.
• File, archive, photocopy, scan documents as and when required.
• Managing outgoing and incoming post and saving to file.
• Ensure client contact information is kept up to date.
• Assist with the booking of travel or hotel arrangements.
• Proactively assist with ad‑hoc business development and communications activities e.g. client contact reports, team sheets, events and delegate packs etc.
• Maintain a level of individual knowledge required for the role including online training.
• Help maintain a clean office and clear desk.
• Handle confidential information in line with the firm’s data security protocols.
• Encrypt PDFs and create encrypted CDs, USBs and / or DVDs.
• Upload documents to Client's Management Systems.
• Share electronic documentation internally or externally using electronic sharing systems.
• Prepare bundles – using PDF Docs or BundleDocs.
• Submit monthly invoices, working alongside Ebilling, other routine finance matters such as claiming expenses, logging disbursements, arranging electronic payments.
• Debt management to ensure payments are made of our invoices in accordance with terms and conditions.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

• Qualified to a minimum of 5 GCSEs (including a grade C in English and Maths) or equivalent.
• A secretarial NVQ / Diploma or equivalent would be beneficial but is not essential.
• Previous experience within a legal environment is essential as is a minimum typing speed of 65 WPM.
• Must have excellent IT skills, particularly in Microsoft packages. Experience of VisualFiles or I-Manage would be beneficial.
• Team oriented and collaborative with a flexible, can do attitude.
• An excellent eye for detail with a concern for quality and accuracy.
• A focused client service approach.
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely orally and in writing.
• Demonstrable ability to multitask and prioritise a full workload under pressure and the ability to work independently within a team environment.

We are happy to talk flexible working with our Flex Forward scheme. We would encourage you to talk to us about our approach to flexible working during the hiring process if you would like to explore this further.

Note for Recruitment Agencies

DAC Beachcroft manages all vacancies via our in‑house recruitment teams, prioritising direct sourcing and referrals. When external support is required, roles are released to selected agencies on our Preferred Supplier List (PSL).

Speculative CVs sent to any DAC Beachcroft employee without prior instruction from our recruitment teams (LLP and CSG) will not be accepted, and no fees will be payable.

For PSL queries, please contact : [e-mail] or [e-mail]

We are a leading international legal business with over 3,000 colleagues and a diverse range of capabilities. We are market leaders in insurance, health and real estate but with a full‑service offering, including growing Financial Services and Tech capabilities. We represent a wide range of clients – from household names to government departments and NHS bodies. We act for nearly all of the top‑20 UK and global insurers, we're market leaders in the provision of strategic, commercial and regulatory advice to providers and commissioners in the health sector, and in real estate we advise all of the UK’s top‑five housebuilders.

We are a fast‑growing international business with offices around the globe. In addition to our 11 UK offices, we also have offices in Bogota, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Lima, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, New York, Paris, Rome, Santiago de Chile, and Singapore plus a representative office in Miami and broad network of affiliations across the globe.

At DAC Beachcroft we are committed to and recognise the importance of equity, diversity and inclusion across the board, including and beyond the protected characteristics. We take decisions based solely on merit. We value, welcome and seek out people with different backgrounds and life experiences, perspectives, beliefs, ways of thinking and identities.